You'll need to attack this on two fronts. First, nutrition. You'll probably need to increase your caloric intake and add some additional protein to your diet. A quick search of the internet will yield some formulas to help you out figuring your BMR (base metabolic rate) and daily caloric use. You'll need to eat like 10-20% higher than your normal daily caloric use to gain muscle. You should also try to get a good amount of quality protein and limit the number of calories you get from crap like sugar, pop, and bread. Since you probably need to gain muscle more than you need to lose fat, don't worry about losing fat in the beginning. It's OK if you gain weight, since that's really what you want to do anyway. After you gain some muscle, you'll be able to take off any excess fat you have in no time.
Second, you'll need to exercise. At first, walking is probably all you'll be able to handle. You should probably start at three sessions per week, thirty minutes per session. If you can't make it that long, don't worry about it. After a while, you should be able to increase the intensity of those sessions. I also encourage you to try other aerobics like aerobics, biking, (maybe) jogging, Dance Dance Revolution, etc. This list of good aerobics (some people call it cardio due to the implication that they're talking about step aerobics like people did in the 80's) goes on for quite some time.
You'll also need to add in some weightlifting. It doesn't need to be much, but it'll help you gain muscle much more than the aerobics (you need the aerobics too, though; they're both very important.). I recommend two to three sessions per week. You don't need a gym or fancy equipment (although it helps); you can just lift household objects or your own body weight. Try to hit all the major muscle groups in each session. I recommend doing (for beginners) weightless squats (just squat down), push ups (from the knee is fine), good mornings (keep your back and knees straight and bend down to touch your toes (you won't get that far since you need to keep your back straight); staying straight, bend back up, repeat), crunches and found object curls and presses (lay on your back, push object up). Which exercises and how many reps are really up to you. The internet is your friend in this department and will be much more help than I can be in one simple post.
Anyway, there you go. To gain muscle, you just need to exercise, doing both aerobics and lifts, and eat more. When you're satisfied with your muscles gains, lower the number of calories down below your daily caloric use level and continue exercising. Just be forewarned that your body can't both lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time (except at the very beginning), so pick a goal and stick to it. You can always switch again later.
Also, you talked about BMI. Don't worry about BMI. It's as worthless as body mass. Instead, get your body fat percentage measured. That's the number you should worry about.  | 
04-01-2007, 10:21 PM
Linear Mode
Similar Threads