Gaining weight - very skinny frame here?!

Gaining weight - very skinny frame here?

I'm built very skinny. Like from far away people would think I'm some 12 year old. But, I'm actually 32. I'm just now starting to gain a tiny bit of weight, BUT it is only the "spare tire" area - nowhere else. So my arms, chest, legs, etc. are skinny as sticks, but I'm gaining only weight right around my waist line. How do I lose this weight??? I've been lifting weights, drinking protein shakes, etc. but no matter what that waist line weight won't go away without the rest of me looking all super skinny??? HELP. Should I do lipo or something? I can't be skinny as heck all over except for that one area.

From what you are saying it sounds like your an ectomorph body type. Congrats, you have the fastest metabolism available and you are what we in the bodybuilding community call a "hard gainer."

I'm an ectomorph body type and then tell you gaining good quality muscle is very difficult compared to say a Mesomorph.

Your "spare tire" area is simply excess bodyfat. As an ectomorph, all if your excess weight will go straight there leading to a pregnant man type of look lol (which is what your referring to). Mesomorph will get more block like and tend to carry excess weight better than us.

Anyway, have you ever gotten a bodyfat test before? You should get one. Get what is called a skinfold test. The trainer will pinch your skin and measure the pinch to obtain a estimated bodyfat %. Find out what your bodyfat percentage is because you should go by this and not by actual weight.

Also, what is your eating like? You state you do weight and drink protien shakes...but what exactly are you eating? Is the stuff lean and are you eating lots of veggies? Are you cutting carbs at night? Do you drink caffeine? Do you drink alcohol? Do you smoke? Are you getting 8 hours of sleep a night? Do you work a stressful job? Do you drink enough water? etc etc etc...A trainer would want to get a full background on yourself and I would expect you to do the same assessing yourself. A good exercise is to write down a food log of everything you eat by hour, by day for two weeks and show this to either a nutrionist or trainer and have them tear apart your food intake.

Now we get to lifting. How much time are you spending at the gym. What is your routine like. If you tell me your spending 2 hours at the gym lifting and you are going 5 time and doing full body workouts...then I say your overtraining. I was a notorious overtrainer for years. As an ectomorph, you need good form and high intensity. I'm talking about 4-8 set reps to positive failure. It's intense stuff you need a good amount of recovery time.

Also be aware that the average male cannot produce more than .25-.50 pounds of dry muscle a week in ideal conditions. If your gaining weight faster than this, your gaining fat. This is why you need to monitor your bodyfat levels. In other words, building 15 pounds of quality muscle a year is about as good as it's going to get naturally. Don't be fooled by those muscle magazines that claim they have programs that can build 25 pounds of muscle in 8 weeks. No one builds 25 pounds of pure muscle naturally in 8 weeks. That can only be done with the assistance of performance enhancers.