lordbean
11 Jul 2009, 9:32pm
So, I've always been underweight. I'm one of those individuals who is both gifted and cursed with a fast metabolism. My body won't keep fat, period. Add on top of this a genetically uncooperative stomach (permanent reflux, lactose intolerant, fat intolerant, sodium sensitive) and I have a very difficult setup for gaining weight.
I was depressed for many years of my life. Between about '03 and '07, it was bad, and I'll admit I was suicidal. Fortunately for me, I hate pain, so I could never bring myself to actually kill myself.
Sometime in '07, something snapped, and life resumed. I've moved on, and am now a fairly happy individual. However, my bout with depression had consequences. My diet consisted of nothing but junk for at least 2 years. I very rarely ate more than 500 calories in a day, and none of it was healthy. Since my body had no fat to consume, it turned on the muscle.
When I emerged from the funk, my weight was no more than 105 pounds. For a guy who's 6 feet tall, that's critically low. I had ZILCH muscle on my body - I looked like a walking skeleton.
Then, I got into weightlifting. Slowly at first, and gradually over the months adding more exercises and intensity to the workouts.
As of today, my weight's 130 pounds. I've gotten advice from professional bodybuilders for how to properly work a muscle group, and my eventual low-end target is 150 pounds. Optimally, I want to hit 170, but that's a long way off. I lift weights regularly, doing intense resistance sets using dumbells. I'm not huge yet, but I have visible muscle.
When I weighed 105, I could hardly lift my computer, let alone a dumbell. Now, I can heft my 16-kilo (33ish pound) tower without a second thought, and carrying it doesn't tire me. I currently use 25-pound dumbells for my arm exercises, and I started with 8-pounders.
To anyone out there like me, who's at a critical point of underweightness - you CAN come back from it. The key is in the food more than anything. Make sure you eat a healthy, high protein diet, and ease into a pattern of working out. Before you know it, there will be muscle growing back onto your body.
I was depressed for many years of my life. Between about '03 and '07, it was bad, and I'll admit I was suicidal. Fortunately for me, I hate pain, so I could never bring myself to actually kill myself.
Sometime in '07, something snapped, and life resumed. I've moved on, and am now a fairly happy individual. However, my bout with depression had consequences. My diet consisted of nothing but junk for at least 2 years. I very rarely ate more than 500 calories in a day, and none of it was healthy. Since my body had no fat to consume, it turned on the muscle.
When I emerged from the funk, my weight was no more than 105 pounds. For a guy who's 6 feet tall, that's critically low. I had ZILCH muscle on my body - I looked like a walking skeleton.
Then, I got into weightlifting. Slowly at first, and gradually over the months adding more exercises and intensity to the workouts.
As of today, my weight's 130 pounds. I've gotten advice from professional bodybuilders for how to properly work a muscle group, and my eventual low-end target is 150 pounds. Optimally, I want to hit 170, but that's a long way off. I lift weights regularly, doing intense resistance sets using dumbells. I'm not huge yet, but I have visible muscle.
When I weighed 105, I could hardly lift my computer, let alone a dumbell. Now, I can heft my 16-kilo (33ish pound) tower without a second thought, and carrying it doesn't tire me. I currently use 25-pound dumbells for my arm exercises, and I started with 8-pounders.
To anyone out there like me, who's at a critical point of underweightness - you CAN come back from it. The key is in the food more than anything. Make sure you eat a healthy, high protein diet, and ease into a pattern of working out. Before you know it, there will be muscle growing back onto your body.