Hi comrades

I want to start handling my nutrition and fitness better. I usually work out at home and can do pushups etc., I would say I’m quite underweight.

While I’m reading the guide by CriticalResist on Prolewiki, I decided to count my calories. I barely reach 1500 calories a day which at this point I’ll go malnourished. I just feel full very quickly. I do not eat processed sugars and avoid sweets, and I’m basically vegan at this point.

I exercise too and can do push ups, squats etc with no problems whatsoever, though as expected I cannot build muscular mass, most likely because of my nutrition. I don’t have the money to go to a gym so I want as much as possible to work out at home, I saw that calisthenics might be a good option? Though they seem unreliable for building muscle mass and strength. I want to put more weight but not fatty weight, which had happened to me in the past. I do eat healthy, but I eat way too less because I feel I just get full quickly. This might be due that in the past I was overweight and conditioned myself to not eat much, but now I’m basically starving myself.

How would I go about increasing my caloric intake while putting muscle mass (preferably at home)?

  • non-diegetic screams@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    3·
    2 years ago

    Idk if I have advice to share, but you’re definitely not alone in wanting to get bigger! I guess there’s a couple of baseline questions:

    What’s your protein intake like? What kinds of food do you eat for protein? You might feel satiated before you’ve eaten enough protein as a vegan, but I’m always surprised by how little protein I’ve eaten when I track. Maybe nutritional yeast could be helpful for a little boost?

    You say you work out at home, how often do you do that? What kind of exercises and progression are you doing (i.e., if you can do 3x10 pushups one session, do you do more the next)?

    I think there’s something to raising your exercise level to give yourself an appetite. I’m usually pretty hungry in a day that I do a heavy set of 20 on squats!

    Personally, I’d want some equipment or gym access. I know people have success with callisthenics, though. And it’s probably better to spend some time establishing habits before dumping lots of money into them!

    You might have luck with: https://old.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine

    • 201dberg@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      5·
      2 years ago

      Beans baby. In fact, with the right kind of beans you can actually get in your daily protein needs at a caloric deficit with JUST beans. It’s would be a lot of beans, but you can do it. I know because I was doing math on how I could do this the cheapest way possible in the event I lost my job and had to go hard on money. lol. A 25lb bag of Kidney beans (I think) could be all the protein you would need for close to a month I believe. Not like, hard muscle mass building levels but more of a steady maintain and slight growth situation. lol

      I need to double check my notes. It may have been a different kind of bean but I’m pretty sure it was kidney beans.

    • Chay ☭@lemmygrad.mlOPEnglish
      3·
      2 years ago

      What’s your protein intake like? What kinds of food do you eat for protein?

      As I’ve said in another comment, I aim to be fully vegan or at first vegetarian, so at the moment I eat nuts and eggs in this case.

      You say you work out at home, how often do you do that? What kind of exercises and progression are you doing (i.e., if you can do 3x10 pushups one session, do you do more the next)?

      I try to work out daily. My exercises are the following:

      (The ones from CjkOvPDwQw’s comment a bit modified)

      1. 1min Jumping Jacks
      2. 2x10 push ups
      3. 1 min High knees
      4. 5x10 squats
      5. 1min plank

      And these:

      1. 3x10 leg raises
      2. 2x10 heel touches
      3. 3x10 knee crunches
      4. 2x10 bicycle crunches

      I think I need to vary them a bit more to be more full-body focused

      • non-diegetic screams@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
        3·
        2 years ago

        On your routine, the only things I think are worth thinking about are:

        • progression or periodization - you might check the link I shared with the bodyweight fitness routine, and take some of those ideas. You have to basically add more weight/reps over time for your body to build muscle!

        • pulling motion - there’s no rows or pullups there. You can do rows under a heavy dining table, if necessary. Your back is a huge amount of your muscle mass!

        • appetite - if you’re building up the work over time, your body will create the appetite for you. No need to force yourself to eat!

        On eating, I drink (pasteurized) egg whites to get in extra protein. Beans work well too!