Can't eat more than one big meal a day

**Toby Christensen** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 2:58pm

I weigh 70kg and most of that is upper body. With my shitty back and legs I'm 179cm, maybe 182 if straightened up.

I can eat lunch, but can only manage tea for breakfast and eat no dinner. I walk and walk and walk and do pushups and genuflections and dynamic resistance etc but I just can't eat nor put on weight.

**Fearless Ukemi** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 3:27pm

I'm not sure what your point is, but I only eat one big meal a day also. Made possible by snacking all day long on health foods of different sorts.

**rsobrien** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 3:28pm

I had a friend who was a textbook endomorph. He didn't eat too much and he didn't understand why he wasn't getting bigger using a bowflex.

Eventually my friend started eating fast food and take out intermixed with protein shakes. Then he started hitting free weights. He started packing on some mass but then he started track and then he did cross country and last time I saw him, he was pretty skinny.

Bottom line, to get big you gotta eat big and lift big. Figure out out your basal metabolic rate, eat more than that and take in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

**Fearless Ukemi** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 3:32pm

You might want to try protein shakes as a meal replacement. Don't overuse them though, just drink one on the days you lift. Too much protein is bad for your kidneys.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 4:48pm

Without heavy lifting with leg compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts or leg presses, I'd dare to say it's near impossible to gain a substantial amount of lean mass, which is what we want we we put on weight. And this is not taking nutrition into consideration.

There is truth behind the old saying of "squats and milk".

***Cassius*** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 6:04pm

And steroids. Lots and lots of steroids.

**Cuchulain** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 6:10pm

Originally Posted by El Macho

Without heavy lifting with leg compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts or leg presses, I'd dare to say it's near impossible to gain a substantial amount of lean mass, which is what we want we we put on weight. And this is not taking nutrition into consideration.

There is truth behind the old saying of "squats and milk".

So are you saying that squats are neccessary to build upper body mass? If so...how does that work?

**Fearless Ukemi** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 6:19pm

Your leg muscles are the largest muscle groups in your body. When you "rip" those (which is what you are essentially doing when you work a muscle group), the repairing process prompts your body to produce more testosterone. The more muscle tissue that needs to be repaired, the more testosterone that gets produced.

While it isn;t necessery to work your lower body to build your upper body, it will help keep your testosterone levels higher than if you didn't. (Besides looking like a gorilla with a large upper body and tiny legs is uncool)

**GIJoe6186** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 6:26pm

If I remember right, Angry Spastic has some problems with his legs, mostly that they dont work, he cant walk. Am I right? So I dont think Squats or Deads will help much.

**PizDoff** · Posted On: 4/02/2007 6:36pm

I don't know if Post #8 is the best answer....
When lifting you create micro-tears in your muscles, these heal and you grow.

Originally Posted by seanyseanybean

So are you saying that squats are neccessary to build upper body mass? If so...how does that work?

Squats are necessary to maximise upper body growth. You will still see gain upper body if you do not work your lower body, but eventually gains will slow. Working your whole body will maximise these gains.
Your body grows as a whole.