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)?

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

    1500 calories is where I’m at currently on a cut and losing weight, so I take it what you’re saying is if you stay at 1500, you’ll lose more weight which is dangerous as you are currently underweight?

    Yeah, exactly. I don’t want to become even more underweight. I was overweight like 2 years ago, but now I’ve become severely underweight I’d say for my height.

    I would tell you to snack on nuts during the day. 100g of nuts contain 550 calories, they contain good oils and a lot of protein.

    Yep I love nuts! I try to do this as much as possible.

    Otherwise, add oil to your cooking. Oil has 884 calories for 100g, so adding just two teaspoons of oil to your cooking quickly adds up to 100 calories. If you cook twice in a day, that’s 200 extra calories.

    I usually avoid products cooked in oil, but I’ll give it a shot.

    Is there something in your life or diet that makes you feel full so quickly, or has it been like this forever?

    It hasn’t been before like this, as I’ve mentioned above I was overweight for a major portion of my life, although not severely. Without having any knowledge of nutrition and fitness I began losing weight around 2-3 years ago. Since then I’ve basically been quite underweight. Perhaps I mentally conditioned myself to eat less? I remember back then I used to eat lots of bread, now I just eat 4 slices perhaps per day.

    • CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
      4·
      2 years ago

      I’m guessing what happened was that you severely cut your consumption in terms of volume and your stomach got used to that new standard. At least based on what you’re saying here.

      It’s possible to “retrain” your stomach to accept more food and not send the signal for fullness so soon, but the only way I know how is by forcing yourself to eat, and eventually you’ll adjust.

      Additionally I should point out that foods high in salt, fat and sugar are sort of a cheat code for fullness; your brain loves them and so you don’t feel full after eating them, which is why some people still feel hungry after eating fast food. But I wouldn’t recommend dirty bulking, it’ll just make you put on fat and no muscle. But I’ve never tried dosing this myself, e.g. adding a teaspoon of sugar to my (air-fried) fries because I’m on the other end of the stomach spectrum, I’m always hungry lol. This would reduce the salt, sugar and oil to let’s say healthier levels and might still not send the signal for fullness.

      You could also look at caloric drinks; it’s another cheat code. Our body doesn’t interpret fluids as having calories and you don’t get that feeling of fullness, but we’re back to the same problem where drinks add calories by adding sugar. I mean there’s protein drinks and everything but I’m not sure they would fix the problem of not satiating you.

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

        I’m guessing what happened was that you severely cut your consumption in terms of volume and your stomach got used to that new standard. At least based on what you’re saying here.

        Yep, most likely.

        It’s possible to “retrain” your stomach to accept more food and not send the signal for fullness so soon, but the only way I know how is by forcing yourself to eat, and eventually you’ll adjust.

        I see.

        Additionally I should point out that foods high in salt, fat and sugar are sort of a cheat code for fullness; your brain loves them and so you don’t feel full after eating them, which is why some people still feel hungry after eating fast food. But I wouldn’t recommend dirty bulking, it’ll just make you put on fat and no muscle. But I’ve never tried dosing this myself, e.g. adding a teaspoon of sugar to my (air-fried) fries because I’m on the other end of the stomach spectrum, I’m always hungry lol. This would reduce the salt, sugar and oil to let’s say healthier levels and might still not send the signal for fullness.

        You could also look at caloric drinks; it’s another cheat code. Our body doesn’t interpret fluids as having calories and you don’t get that feeling of fullness, but we’re back to the same problem where drinks add calories by adding sugar. I mean there’s protein drinks and everything but I’m not sure they would fix the problem of not satiating you.

        Thank you for detailing this here more! I’ve already read the portion where you explain this in your guide. I’ve never got into fitness properly due to the whole reactionary content involving it, it’s hard to find reliable information without it being sponsored by a food corporation or so. Thank you for your work comrade!