Skinny to Strong

It has been a while since my last post. I got pretty busy at work fitting into a new role. But truth be told, I am just lazy :). Reality aside, I have been very strict with both my diet and exercise. Never missed a meal or workout in the last couple of months. Eating clean and often has become second nature to me. I have almost no craving for bad food. In the past month, I only had dessert just once. Given the amount of tasty free food we have at work (I routinely pass by 6 to 8 yummy desserts in a day), that is quite an achievement. I am still eating white rice several times a week, lots of fruits and a ton of milk everyday. Which may not be ideal for most people, but for ectomorphs like myself, it is not a problem at all. Yet I barely gain 0.5 lbs a week. I shake my head in disappointment. There were times when I ate as many as 10 meals, but routinely it is more like 6 to 8 meals. Other than eating some junk food, I am not sure how I can eat any more calories than that. Weight in...

Now that I am in the leaning phase I made some changes to my diet. Instead of force feeding myself with a lot of food every 2 or 3 hours, I relaxed it to "eat when hungry" mode. I don't force myself to eat every few hours whether I feel hungry or not. I eat when I start feeling a bit hungry. This means I still have to keep food stocked all the time so I can eat at the first indication of hunger. I try and keep each eating session to a modest 400 calories or less so I don't strain my body into digesting a lot at a time and it also helps me feel hungry in 3 or 4 hours. So far this new regimen is working well. I am slowly reaching my goal of losing 3 lbs of fat in 3 months. Still have to do something about gaining muscle though. I also switched to a more relaxed 2 workout sessions per week. Each session involves a full body workout with more emphasis on chest and triceps. In general this is what I do Day 1: Monday Decline Bench Press (Chest and Triceps) Squats (Le...

I believe that diet and rest constitute to 70% of the mass gain, rest of the 30% is exercise. So what you put in your mouth is more important than what you lift at gym. I am also a strong believer in eating natural food and try not to depend too much on supplements. Supplements should be the last 10% of the diet. The only supplement I use regularly is Optimum Nutrition Whey. The other supplements I use from time to time are SportPharma Multi V vitamin tablets, CLIF builders bar and Optimum Nutrition Casein Protein. My daily diet consists of: Morning snack (because I don't have time in the morning as I rush to work) 1/2 glass 2% reduced fat milk 1 table spoon honey 1 scoop (about 24 grams) ON whey protein powder 1/2 glass water I mix all the above and drink it first thing in the morning right after I brush my teeth. About 30 minutes later I drink 500 ml of water. Breakfast 1 cup cereals with 2% reduced fat milk and muffin or bagel with cream and 1 muffin or waffles with...