[Ri_Dragon]

About 2.5 years ago I began to undertake a task which everyone told me would be near impossible to do, citing my age and my then current size. I was always a skinny man never weighing more than 140 lbs. Then I got in me to change me physically. It wasn't easy, I had never worked out before and my eating habits were terrible. My lifestyle needed to be changed as well.

I began to research and spent hours each day online researching as well as double checking things with my primary doc. When I found a program which I felt was perfect for me, I had the doc examine the program against my medical history and then present condition and was given his support along with his skepticism that I would improve myself but no where near to what I expected or set my goals to.

Anyway, I chose to follow a guy named Anthony Ellis (You can google his name) and undertook his program which was a specific combination of meals, supplements and workout regime. It involved alot of hard work, extra expense for supplements , alot of rest, and generally cutting out of things or making alot of sacrifices in my eating habits, lifestyle and other things we take for granted.

To give you a clear pic:

When I started the Anthony Ellis "Gaining Mass" program, my phyiscal stats were 139.25 lbs, 30" waist, 11" biceps flexed, 14% body fat, 36.25" chest;
6'1" tall, very bad posture and generally sickly more often than not.

By week 40 into the program, my stats were 187 lbs; 33.5" waist; 15.5" biceps not flexed; 9%body fat;44"chest; posture totally improved to 97% and had been sick with cold, etc not at all compared to the usual every few months.

Then I noticed that I reached a plateau and no matter how much more I ate or harder I worked out, I couldn't get anymore weight on me so I turned to my doc.

My doc, although now a believer and quite amazed at my transformation, tried to tell me I dont need anymore weight, that I was in the high end range of healthy according to BMI statistics and refused to support my goal anymore. That I was in the high end range of healthy weight for my height wasn't what I was aiming for. Because to me at my height I will still look good with up to 210 lbs. Besides, I still hear people calling me "skinny" and it bothers me just as much as someone calling an overweight person "Fatty".

So I asked the doc to run a blood test to check my natural levels of free testosterone think if it was low he can order hrt and the injections of testosterone would get me growing agian. He agreed. But I was in for a very dismaying surprise.....

The blood test revealed that I was infected with hepatitus c and later confirmed with a special test to determine the viral load amount in hep c." Well, no need to do all these liver biopsy and further tests. You know I have the virus, treat it!", was my attitude a few weeks after making this discovery.

Now this means I will be treated with alpha interferon and ribvarin. So now my lifestyle has to change again and the possibility of severe side effects is 80%. And the main side effect that will concern me is extreme weight loss in light of all the hard work it took me to get where I am today.

I no longer will be able to use high protien supplements, will have to be careful of what I eat and perhaps best to contrive a mostly raw food/organic diet.On top of that, the gastro guy whom will be treating my infliction told me that most of the time I will have no appetite and alot of nuasea, so I will have to contrive methods to eat things despite nausea and no appetite.

To make matters even worse, you all know how bad the economy is with all the jobs going down and the rises in costs of food, living, etc. I am on a very low income fixed by disability income.

So I need support. And I need help contriving a "poor man's" diet of substance which will be beneficial to me maintaining, if not adding, to my achievements and which promotes a healthy liver as well.

The doc gave me these numbers to go by " Consume daily:2791 calories,215g protien,279g carbs and 92g of fats via six meals spaced out every 3 hours"
but how to concot a specfic plan on the numbers he gave me is difficult for me.

Thank you for taking the time to read this thread.

[Jomar]

Do you have MS also?

You might find more info on the meds and such in our Medications forum -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum72.html

[lady_express_44]

Geez, just come spend a month with me . . . I can show you how to pack it on, no worries!

Cherie

[Ri_Dragon]

[QUOTE=Jo55;441499]Do you have MS also?




I guess if I have to ask, then I don't have it. So what is MS?

[Ri_Dragon]

Originally Posted by lady_express_44

Geez, just come spend a month with me . . . I can show you how to pack it on, no worries!

Cherie

Well Cherie, just packing on weight is easy, just go on a "see food diet", limit activity and do alot of sleeping. The harder task is packing on lean muscle mass while keeping the Body Fat (BF) percentage as low as possible. The avg female is with 21% BF which is considered a normal range. A male should not exceed 15% BF otherwise he is out of healthy range. The ideal for a male is 7% BF but that specific percentage is no easy task to maintain. In my case, with 9% BF, I am better than avg and I appear to look bigger than someone whom weighs 20lbs more than me simply because my weight is mostly muscle weight and very defined. Incidently, my roots are from Canada from my mother's side. They came from Quebec and in the town originally called Blueberry Town but renamed after the asbestos mines to Asbestos. So it is of no consequence to me to travel to Canada. But I heard that currently a passport is required to enter Canada and that waiting lists are a few months long to acquire the passport and permissions, etc. , so you will have to wait for awhile before I can get there and let you show me how "to pack it on". Hahaha! Nice pic BTW.

[Curious]

If you look above...you posted in a Multiple Sclerosis forum.

[Ri_Dragon]

Originally Posted by Curious

If you look above...you posted in a Multiple Sclerosis forum.

Thank you for pointing this out to me, I was unaware. I looked for any section specifically relating to hep C and in my haste I opted for Stumble Inn thinking it was a general chat and relax section. I will pay more attention to detail now.

[Curious]

We do have a Weight Loss and Healthy Lifestyle forum and a regular ole Social Chat. I can post the links if you want.

BTW....my husband and I own a gym. He was a professional body builder. I've been inthe biz for almost..gulp...20 years.

[Jomar]

We could also move this whole thread to Social, Medications, General Health or any of the other forums for you.
main forum page- http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/index.php

Just let us know which one to move it to - if you want to do that.

[Ri_Dragon]

I have since found the forums you have mentioned. Incidently, I tried using the machines in a gym and I found that it was too easy, that most of the machines were easy even when I used the max weight the machines were capable of. I ended up sticking to old school methods utilizing free weights (Dumbells, barbells and simple body exercises)....all of which I have in my cellar/gym thereby eliminating costs of using a public gym.