A Diet's Not Always a "Diet"

I changed my diet strategy this week from one that will maintain my weight at a BMI of 22 to one that will increase my weight to a BMI of 24.8. I'm hoping to gain most of this weight through muscle-growth. How?

Diet: 3,488 calories/day (40% carbs, 30% proteins, and 30% fats) with 110+ grams of protein. No meat, no alcohol, no processed food.

Exercise:

• Mon/Wed/Fri: Calisthenics. I'm doing the 100 Push-up Challenge and the 200 Sit-Up Challenge simultaneously. On Week 5 of Both. Then some chin-ups and burpees until I'm seeing spots.
• Tue/Thu/Sat: Circuit Training. A 25-minute routine with my PowerBlock Dumbbell Set that incorporates overhead presses, bench presses, rows, lateral raises, squats, and a wild card or two.
• Sunday: Swimming (aka "rest"). 1,000-3,000 yards mixed at a mostly moderate pace with five to ten all-out sprints and a 500-yard crawl for time.

The above is a five-month building program that ends in May, after which I'll be transferring to six days of running/swimming and one day of lifting.


I realize some (most?) of you might be trying to lose weight on the road to health and might think we're on opposite paths.  Believe me, eating this much is no walk in the park. When Christian Bale built Patrick Bateman's body for "American Psycho," there weren't enough hours in the day to eat enough.  He had to wake up in the middle of the night to eat a chicken breast! I'm trying to get 3500 vegetarian calories, and I'm ill after most meals. Hopefully my stomach will adjust soon.


I've always been skinny (or a "hardgainer," as we prefer to be called); but that doesn't mean I have always been healthy. Quite the contrary. How could that be?

• I used to fear P.E. Running? Might as well have asked me if I wanted a side-ache and two lungs full of fire. Swimming? 50 yards before the dry heaves started. Weight-lifting? Sure, how about I demonstrate my weakness to all the fit people in the gym? No thanks.
• I used to drink. I liked to have a beer (read: >3 beers) after work. I liked to go out for cocktails with my friends on the weekends. Not only was I not thinking clearly while drunk, but I felt like hell many mornings. Plus I was consuming an extra 3,200 toxic calories each week.
• I used to be unaware of my diet. I just ate whatever was around. Junk food, snack food, greasy food, sweet food. Empty, wasted calories.
• I used to eat meat. I used to power through steaks and burgers. I loved meat. I didn't realize what it was doing to my gastrointestinal tract and my blood chemistry.

So what's the point? Skinny and healthy aren't synonyms, and my struggle to become healthy may not be the same as yours; but it's a struggle all the same.