Would like Everyone's input, too late after natural chemicals?

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I'm new to the group. And am grateful for those who continue to

keep the group running. I've tried to go back the past thousand posts

so as to find specific posts regarding my situation/questions but did

not seem to find anything that fit, so I'm going to post this and ask

all that might know to please respond.

At 20 years old, I'm rather small. 5'7, 119 llbs and have been

here for the past 4-6 years. At around 14 years of age, I entered

high school and my habit was to stay up all night until about 6:30am,

then get about 5 mins of sleep, and then go to school at around

6:45am after getting ready. This was my routine for about 5 years

(ages 14-19). During those five years, most of my sleep would be 5

mins in different classes until I was woken up by the teachers, and

then sleeping an hour or so after school then up and doing the same

late night thing all over again (Sedentary things like staying on the

net). I ate VERY little...probably less than 1500 calories a day. And

I'm lactose intolerant, and have always been since I was born, and

when I was born I was in a third world country until I was five years

of age so I had hardly any nutrition... infact my legs are bowed

possible due to rickets so I am told.

Now... I felt the background was necessary as a setup for my

question. And that is... during my most important developemental

stages... be it childhood in the third world country, to my stupidity

of a lifestyle during the growth spurt adolecent/teenage years... I

lacked nutrition, sleep and continued to play basketball which

exaughsted me even more. So my question is... AM I too late? Are the

chemicals responsible for growth that makes body parts that are

suppose to be " Manly " done and over with? Once again, I am twenty

years of age. I still look 15. My hands are small, my fingers are

small. My whole Physical body is just " Small " ..and I'm tired of being called

small, little, and " SkinnY " .

Now I'm really serious about giving my body what it's never

gotten. And I've started to eat lots of pasta, but that's helping me,

as I always feel to stuffy, and I get dizzy, and light headed after I

eat too much, I basically try to get at least 600 calories of pasta

and then I add on the sauce, and drink some liquid with lots of

calories. And I've been doing it for the past 4 days now, 3 meals a

day. Of course i add some protien into it. But I thought I'd write

to this group and ask am I doing it right, because someone once told me

that too much carbs can give me blood sugar problems.

I could write more if you all need anything else answered.

Here are further questions that I'd like some answers on as I find

myself completely confused in all the materials out there about

what to eat, what to do as far as weight lifting goes. And I have

lots of misconceptions in my mind.

1. Is it too late to develop the body, My hands/fingers...just

to look more manly and less like a boy.

2. What mealplan should I use

3. HOW can I learn about OVERALL body restoration as far as

muscles go. I DO NOT look bad...i just know that due to the lack of

sleep, nutrition, and continual overuse of the muscle... didn't do me

much good. SO how can I get an overall body tune up, because all I

know so far are that most of the workouts are for SPEcific msucles

like the chest, and biceps.

4. I want to feel confident in knowing my body, what to feed it,

and KNOwing what the heck i'm doing, as the fear of not knowing what

to do is what stops me. So if you could recommend any materials to

read..books...anything for a beginner like myself, I'd love it. Or

if anyone is in Southern california and can show me a thing or two,

i'd appreciate it. You all seem like a group of very dedicated and

caring people, so many thanks to those who will be replying.

Shane So

Los Angeles, CA

[Guest guest]

Shane -

Hi ! Looks like you have lots of interesting questions, let me take a stab at

answering a few or at least making some hopefully helpful suggestions:

> 1. Is it too late to develop the body, My hands/fingers...just

> to look more manly and less like a boy.

- NO! You need to do two things:

1) Start a resistance training, i.e. weight lifting, program. This needs to be

the primary focus of your exercise regime and NOT aerobic exercise although can

still do some (limited) basketball for example if that's what you like.

2) See an Endocrinologist. You need to see a doctor who is qualified in

evaluating whether or not your body, skeletal system, etc. has developed

properly from birth. Tell him your nutritional third world background as you

have done here. He will also ask you about how you compare in size to your

parents and siblings. If he/she indeed thinks that you are not completely

properly developed he can correct that via growth hormone therapy.

> 2. What mealplan should I use

- You need more of a protein emphasis than a carbo emphasis. You definitely

need carbs for energy but you need protein to BUILD. What you are trying to do

at this point is 'build'. Also, the crappy feeling you are experiencing is

probably from the high carbs/blood sugar levels. Also (in addition to normal

food sources of protein) don't let your lactose intolerance let you get spooked

from taking a regular protein drink/supplement. Many are lactose free.

Proteinfactory.com provides good info on this and breaks it down pretty well.

> 3. HOW can I learn about OVERALL body restoration as far as

> muscles go. I DO NOT look bad...i just know that due to the lack of

> sleep, nutrition, and continual overuse of the muscle... didn't do me

> much good. SO how can I get an overall body tune up, because all I

> know so far are that most of the workouts are for Specific msucles

> like the chest, and biceps.

- Your muscles are not broken and they will be fine. You just need a basic

'full body' resistance training routine. See Q.#4 for more. Also, sidenote:

You make several referrals to lack of sleep - If you are taking any type of

stimulants on a regular basis (caffeine, amphetamines, cocaine, etc.), this will

definitely inhibit your ability to sleep and therefore to grow.

> 4. I want to feel confident in knowing my body, what to feed it,

> and KNOwing what the heck i'm doing, as the fear of not knowing what

> to do is what stops me. So if you could recommend any materials to

> read..books...anything for a beginner like myself, I'd love it. Or

> if anyone is in Southern california and can show me a thing or two,

> i'd appreciate it. You all seem like a group of very dedicated and

> caring people, so many thanks to those who will be replying.

- There is TONS of info out there on good weight training and diet information.

There is not any one good source and rather than send you to an exercise site

homepage and bury you under a lot of reading, just start with this article here

and branch out as needed -

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460561 .

Final note, there are plenty of people, trainers out there who could be helpful

in getting you on your way but you could easily spend a lot of money and not

necessarily get any more out of it than what you could do on your own if you

just did some some of your own research and tried a routine(s) that you

select(IMHO). Depends how much money you have, how independent you are, and

other factors including motivation as some people need a trainer just to ensure

that they show up to the gym. If you are one of those people then I would

definitely pursue this avenue.

Hope you find this helpful.

Dennis Nixon

Mckinney, TX

[Guest guest]

This article (perhaps it was posted here earlier)

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040405fa_fact

says the following:

" Biologists say that we achieve our stature in three spurts: the

first in infancy, the second between the ages of six and eight, the

last in adolescence. Any decent diet can send us sprouting at these

ages, but take away any one of forty-five or fifty essential

nutrients and the body stops growing. "

But the article, as I understand it, is about height and nothing

else. In my adolescence, I lived off a diet of hamburgers and

sandwiches. Mom didn't cook and I hated the stuff they called food in

school, and I was too lazy to cook for myself. But I'm still - though

not exceptionally - tall (184 cm). I was always skinny, though. When

I started working out I was 63 kgs (just slightly heavier than you if

I know how to count and quite a bit taller) and was up to 75 after 15

months, by which time I got bored of the whole thing (the weight

increases dropped off to zero) and stopped training for a long time.

I don't see that there's anything you can do but starting working out

with weights in a sensible way and be patient.

But there are a lot bigger brains around here who can give you

detailed information on how to eat and train. Personally, I don't see

any reason for stuffing yourself with pasta until you faint.

Ulf Karlsson

Halmstad, Sweden

[Guest guest]

Shane,

First of all, is this on the level? I'm a bit suspicious as this story is

sort of far fetched. With that sort of sleep schedule, you should be dead or

on life support. You live in Southern California? Man, you are in weight

training paradise. Open the phone book, find a gym with some form of

personal training available (hopefully by trainers with a useful background

such as NSCA-CPT or CSCS), get your butt down there and get busy!!

Ernie Roy PT, CSCS

Northfield NH USA