(M21) My progress from underweight to healthy (115 lbs -> 148 lbs) in 16 months

Before/after picture: Imgur link

Body Stats

Starting height/weight/age: 5'9" / 115 lbs / 19

Ending height/weight/age: 5'9" / 148 lbs / 21 (elapsed time: 16 months)

Goal and initial steps

Some important context:

I have a rare autoimmune disorder, but without going too much into detail basically I can eat only about ten foods. Everything else sends me into anaphylaxis. This makes gaining weight difficult since I basically have to eat huge amounts of the exact same food over and over, no variety, in order to get a caloric surplus. I'm giving this little bit of context because the diet will seem very strange without it haha. I take certain vitamins/supplements to make up for what I can't get from my food. Despite these restrictions, I decided I wanted to be healthier. There wasn't really anything that made it impossible for me to not be underweight, it was just harder.

I started trying to turn stuff around in January, but only gained about 10 lbs from January 2020 to July 2020. This is entirely because I wasn't eating enough--only about 2800 calories a day. August 1st 2020, I started tracking my calories using a spreadsheet and keeping track of my weight, and I turned up the amount I was eating per day to around 3300-3500 calories, with a 40/30/30 protein/fat/carbs split. I chose this daily calorie goal because I wanted to gain about 1.5-2 lbs a week to hit a goal of 150 lbs. I also began working out from home 5 days a week (previously I was hitting the gym 2-3 days a week). This combo worked. From August 1st 2020 to October 1st 2020, I went from 125 to 140 lbs! After that, I started gaining slower, but I still progressed, and by February 2021 was 148 lbs, just 2 lbs shy of my 150 lb goal. Before I get into specifics, if you take away one thing from what I learned, let it be this: if you think you're eating enough, eat more.

Diet

Day A:

• Breakfast: 1 cup chicken, 3 servings cereal, 1-2 apples
• First lunch: fried chicken (1.5 lbs), french fries (3 heads of potato), 2 cucumbers
• Second lunch: 1.5 cup cold salmon, 3 servings cereal, 1 apple, 2 cucumbers
• Dinner: 1 cup chicken, 3 servings cereal, 1 apple

Day B:

• Breakfast: 1 cup chicken, 3 servings cereal, 1-2 apples
• First lunch: 2 cups hot salmon, 3 servings cereal, 1 head mashed potatos, 2 cucumbers
• Second lunch: 1 whole hen, 3 servings cereal, 1 head mashed potatos, 2 cucumbers
• Dinner: 1 cup chicken, 3 servings cereal, 1/2 head mashed potatos

I do Day A 4-5 times a week and Day B 2-3 times a week.

Workout routine

Here's how I workout:

All I use are two sets of dumbbells: 2 five pounders and 2 30 pounders. This is because I am pretty weak so 30 lbs is enough to hit my bigger muscles and the five pounders are enough to hit my weaker muscles.

NB: XxY = X sets of Y reps

Day A:

• Very wide pushups: 5x15
• Adjusted bicep curls: 5x12 (I grip the 30 lb weight with both hands, pull my elbows towards my body, and curl)
• Clap pushups: 3x10 (push up hard, clap before catching yourself on the way down)
• Bicep curls: 4x(20 reps, 16, 14, and 10 reps)
• Triangle pushups: 4x10
• Tricep press: 5x10
• Shuffle pushup: 3x8
• Plank: 3x30 seconds

Day B:

• Calf raises: 5x20 (hold 30 lbs in each hand)
• Dumbbell standing row: 5x10
• Goblet squats: 5x10
• Dumbbell overhead press: 3x10
• Weighted Russian twists: 5x20 (holding both 5lb weights close to my chest)
• Front shoulder raise: 5x10 (holding both 5lb weights in one hand for each shoulder)
• Plank: 3x30 seconds
• Lateral shoulder raise: 5x10 (holding both 5 lb weights in one hand for each shoulder)
• Weighted crunches: 3x10 (holding 30 lb weight on my chest)

NB: on Day B, I do 1x20 set of shrugs in between each exercise.

I raise the volume as I get stronger, but will definitely be going back to the gym once I get the COVID vaccine.

I do Day A MoWeFri and Day B TuThu.

What's next

I want to shoot for 160 lbs next. I'm gaining a lot slower than I was at first, but I'm enjoying the challenge. I'd also like to develop my lower and upper back more, something that was pretty hard for me to do from home.

Thanks for reading!

submitted by /u/wisequokka
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* This article was originally published here