What are you at now, 180 / 20%?  Give a little more detail.

Just eat until satiated and keep it as "clean" as possible.  You'll see gains man, especially if your lifts are going up

I've been trying to build mass while eating paleo for a few months now.

I just recently added milk and sweet potatoes to my repitoire, fruit just wasn't cutting it and was too expensive to eat in the amounts needed to gain.  This is my first week with the milk and tubers added so we'll see how it works.

I think my job burns too many calories

I'm looking to put on 10 lbs lean muscle.  I lift weights 2-3 times per week and I'm making great gains in my strength.  Yet, the muscle doesn't seem to be coming with it.  My current diet might be the constraint.

If you are making "great gains" in your strength, then you are putting on useful muscle.  Probably the reason you aren't gaining weight overall is that you are, at the same time, losing fat and water weight, which is almost inevitable on the paleo diet.

It might be worthwhile to set some expectations here.  In particular, here are pictures of two different guys both at 10% body fat.  How many more pounds of muscle do you think the guy on the left has?


More pics at http://cavemanforum.com/miscellaneous/body-fat-example-pictures/

The answer is, the guy on the left has "only" about 15 pounds more muscle.  15 pounds of muscle - or even the 10 pounds of muscle you're trying to put on - is a huge difference!  It's going to take more than a couple of months.

Now, you can certainly gain weight with nonpaleo foods like milk and tubers.  The truth is, though, it won't be muscle weight - it will be fat and water weight.

Quote from: brandonjayjones on September 09, 2010, 02:09:51 PM

I'm looking to put on 10 lbs lean muscle.  I lift weights 2-3 times per week and I'm making great gains in my strength.  Yet, the muscle doesn't seem to be coming with it.  My current diet might be the constraint.

If you are making "great gains" in your strength, then you are putting on useful muscle.  Probably the reason you aren't gaining weight overall is that you are, at the same time, losing fat and water weight, which is almost inevitable on the paleo diet.

It might be worthwhile to set some expectations here.  In particular, here are pictures of two different guys both at 10% body fat.  How many more pounds of muscle do you think the guy on the left has?


More pics at http://cavemanforum.com/miscellaneous/body-fat-example-pictures/

The answer is, the guy on the left has "only" about 15 pounds more muscle.  15 pounds of muscle - or even the 10 pounds of muscle you're trying to put on - is a huge difference!  It's going to take more than a couple of months.

Now, you can certainly gain weight with nonpaleo foods like milk and tubers.  The truth is, though, it won't be muscle weight - it will be fat and water weight.

You can't gain weight without consuming more calories than you burn, and as has been discussed in another thread, you can conune a LOT of calories from low carb paleo foods and still not put on any weight.

I'm becoming more and more convinced that mass amounts of carbs are needed to build muscle at any decent speed.  I put on 30lbs of muscle (went from 115 to almost 150, cut down to 140-145 on paleo) in a year by eating the typical bodybuilding diet, but 3-4 months of literally stuffing myself with paleo foods until I felt like puking has resulted in very little progress for me.

Maybe it's possible to bulk with only low carb foods, but it would take an insane amount of work and money (or maybe a very slow metabolism, mine is super high). I wouldn't be able to actually have a job, would be too busy eating all day long.   

Yes! Start by eating a minimum of 270gr. of protein a day.Iif you give me your height and age I can give you a complete macro breakdown. What is your training program? Details+?!
How long have you been training?
What are you training for?

My height is 6'1" and I'm 28 years old.  I'm been training using Mark Rippetoe's starting strength program 2- 3x per week alternating workouts each time I go. I've been working out on this program for about 3 months.  I'm actually pleased my weight has only dropped 5 lbs to 180 since switching to Paleo (about 3 months ago).

Workout #1:

Squats 3X5
Bench Press 3X5
Deadlifts 1X5
Dips 2X5-8
Hyperextensions 3X8
Weighted situps 3X5

Workout #2:

Squats 3X5
Press 3X5
Cleans 3X5
Chins 3X8
Hyperextensions 3X8
Weighted situps 3X5

I'm not training for any particular sport.  I just would just like to look more "stocky"  Thanks for everyone's suggestions so far.

My height is 6'1" and I'm 28 years old.  I'm been training using Mark Rippetoe's starting strength program 2- 3x per week

Excellent program!
Food- I have you calculated at 2982 kcals a day.
PRO-288gr.=1152 kcals
CHO-150gr. training days = 600 kcals/100gr. non-training days = 400kcals
Fat-137gr.=1230kcals

Eat majority of carbs (fruit) pre- and post-training

You guys were skinny and managed to put on a significant amount of mass eating paleo?

Not me. Already big. I have been training for a long time. Makes it significantly harder to add muscle.

 I already put on 30lbs, I know how to gain, but I just couldn't manage it eating paleo foods.

I've trained with a lot of "hardgainers". The true hardgainers suffer for decades trying to add 10lbs. of muscle. They don't add 30lbs. of muscle

The other so called "hardgainers" generally don't eat nearly as much as they think they do and waste a lot of time in the gym doing the things that make you tired but not big.

Food- I have you calculated at 2982 kcals a day.
PRO-288gr.=1152 kcals
CHO-150gr. training days = 600 kcals/100gr. non-training days = 400kcals
Fat-137gr.=1230kcals

Eat majority of carbs (fruit) pre- and post-training

Out of curiosity, how are you calculating this? I'm interested in the math here, as there's a few ways to calculate BMR and all that stuff. I'm curious which you prefer.

Care to do me? 5'10", 155lbs, 28 years, 16% BF according to my scale (I don't think it's right). I work out in the morning, 5-6 days a week, and do conditioning work M/W/Sat in the evenings.