Gaining Muscle, But Not Weight

Q: I finally received your books (Volume 1 to Volume 4). I hit a plateau of the 10-8-6-15 program (modified somewhat because of a muscle strain), which I've been doing for the past 4 weeks.

I gained muscle on my chest, shoulders, lats, lower back, thighs, and arms. I do feel like I'm making progress. My body looks stronger also. Yet I didn’t put on any weight at all. I’m still around 121-123 pounds. And I didn’t do aerobics.

My macronutrient ratio for the past 4 weeks according to Fitday.com is 48%, 29%, 23%. Average calories are 1,600. Yet it may have some error. I didn’t count on rice, because I couldn’t weigh them when I ate at restaurants. At home I can, LOL. I concentrate on hitting my goal of 126-130 grams of protein intake a day. But I couldn’t count servings on some meats or beans, because I didn’t weigh them or couldn’t possibly know what macronutrients they are even after looking it up on Fitday.com. So I estimated them by the way some teachers told me. Yet I weigh the meats when I’m home.

I consider my problem of not gaining actual weight as follows:

1. I didn’t take enough carbs or calories so that my body took the protein I ate as energy to burn?

2. Is it because of my training frequency? I train at least two times a week. I can do the third time if I get up really early because of my courses later in the morning. I can’t go to the gym at night, because it's full of people.

3. Does it take time to gain lean muscle weight?

Now I eat 4-5 meals a day. I take more carbs during training days, while the macronutrient ratio is 40% 30% 30% during off days.

Here are some other questions:

1. Should I now take a deload week training or reset my metabolism of high protein intake and for how long? What to do after resetting metabolism? Keep the high protein intake?

2. Should I do another program? I saw previous articles saying not to do the program more than 6 weeks. If I should change another one, which one is now suitable for me? EX: 5x5 training, GVT, etc. Or should I remain with the standard program for weeks if my muscles have recovered?

3. I read your book talking about Paleo diet. Would you tell me what are the advantages about coffee and green tea? Is that good for fat burning?

Thanks a lot for your patience and help. And keep the good books and videos coming.

All the best,
Mike


My Answer: Let's do some rapid fire answers.

"I didn’t take enough carbs or calories so that my body took the protein I ate as energy to burn?"

If you don't eat enough carbs AND fat, then you will burn protein. But given your macronutrient intake, that's not the case.


"Is it because of my training frequency? I train at least two times a week. I can do the third time if I get up really early because of my courses later in the morning. I can’t go to the gym at night, because it's full of people."

Two days a week is not enough to stimulate muscle growth. You have to get that 3rd workout in.


"Does it take time to gain lean muscle weight?"

YES.


"Should I now take a deload training week or reset my metabolism of high protein intake and for how long? What to do after resetting metabolism? Keep the high protein intake?"

Switch to another program, preferably 5x5. Choose completely different exercises. Keep the protein and calorie intake high.


"I read your book talking about the Paleo diet. Would you tell me what are the advantages about coffee and green tea? Is that good for fat burning?"

Coffee and green tea have a lot of anti-oxidants and are good for fat loss. I don't recommend them for you, since your metabolism is already too high. You're burning off more than you are gaining, which is why you are not gaining weight, but the look of your musculature is improving. Plus green tea kills your appetite, and you need a healthy appetite to eat a lot of food to gain weight.