I want to use the summer to work out a bit since I normally do very little activity. I used to be overweight, but I lost it. Currently, I am around 140 pounds, 5’8 and 19 years old. My arms and legs look scrawny, but my chest and stomach still show the weight.

I started doing about half an hour of weights and half an hour of cardio 3x a week. I thought since I’m trying to build muscle more than anything, I should increase my food intake. Two weeks ago, I was 136, which I’ve been for probably 2 years now.

Unfortunately, I did not measure my neck and abdomen until now, so I don’t know how much has changed since then. Right now my neck is about 13 inches and my abdomen around 33.

Was increasing the amount of food I ate the right thing to do, or should I have been keeping it the same. Primary goal: be stronger, secondary goal: lose the fat in the chest and stomach.

Thanks for any help!

one of the main things you need to do when trying to build muscle is to eat a sufficient quantity of protein, while limiting excess calories and fat.

do a search about protein on this site and read a bunch of the threads. there you will find recommendations on how you should build your nutrition plan and the ratio of carbs/protein/fat in your diet.

if you eat properly and work out hard you should start seeing muscle gains soon. as you build lean muscle mass your body will burn more calories even while resting. continue your weight workouts and cardio, and focus on getting your diet correct.

good luck :tu: