I'm going to echo Orcishgamer a bit and also ask your age. Adding 10-15 pounds of muscle is a lot easier when you are younger. I'm only 5 foot 8.5 inches, although I lie and say I'm 5' 9, and at my skinniest in highschool I was 130 lbs. Today I weigh in at 180-185.

I'm 17.

I'm about 172 and people are calling me fat now. How tall are you?

(I'm 5'8")

Holly merde, you made me laugh.

Seriously? I'm 5'11" and 172 when I was emaciated looking. I do have extraordinarily dense bones (never broken one, though I should have, I assume this is part of the extra weight, could be wrong though), though, and a lot of fitness folks guessed I was 145. Though muscle weighs a lot too and I was running A LOT in those days.

12 hour shifts of none stop patrolling and push ups made me lose weight.

Like most though I eat at stupid times that when you gain weight, Muscle is like weight though in the way it builds. Iif you eat and eat, its when your relaxing that you build fat. Where as when you train and train, its when your eating properly and relaxing that the muscle starts to appear.

A lot of it comes into your natural build as well. Not two people will have the same body build.

That's perfect! At your age the human body is producing enough hormones to get an MLB player accused of juicing. So why isn't everone your age looking like comicbook heroes? Because it still takes a lot of work to actually build muscle. You need to eat a lot as well and your metabolism is like that of a humming bird right now. If you have access to weights it would be a bit easier but if not there is plenty you can do with just your own bodyweight. Since the Olympics are going on right now take a look at the different body types, Swimmers vs Runners vs Power Lifters vs Gymnasts. Each train hard but differently and you can clearly see the different results.

Damn, I can't seem to make a proper protein bar. I tried using peanut butter to stick the powder together, but it always turns out to look like the product of food poisoning.

Here is a recipe that I have used before. It still turns out kinda funky looking but otherwise they are not bad.

1 cup soy protein powder
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups dried fruits (1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup dried cherries, 1/2 cup dried blueberries ,1/2 cup dried apricots or any other combination you like)
1 (12.3-ounce) package soft silken tofu
1/2 cup unfiltered apple juice
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large whole eggs, beaten
2/3 cup peanut butter
Canola oil, for pan

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper and lightly coat with canola oil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the protein powder, oat bran, wheat flour, wheat germ, and salt.

Coarsely chop the fruit and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk the tofu until smooth. Add the apple juice, brown sugar, eggs, and peanut butter, 1 at a time, and whisk to combine after each addition. Add this to the powder mixture and stir to combine. Fold in the dried fruit. Spread evenly in the prepared baking dish and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes (temperature should be 205 degrees F in the center)

Allow the dish to fully cool before cutting into bars. These can safely be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

Looks like a good recipe. I'll try it out this weekend. Thanks man!

Have to kick this thread awake since I hit a cool milestone today. Got on the scales and am now at a sleek 173 pounds. This is great news for me since I was 213 pounds 6 months ago. So, yeah, 40 pounds lost. I'm only 5' 9", so I was rather rotund.

All the more remarkable considering I have a hernia that's in need of repair and also have some neck problems (one of which is a bulging disc which causes significant pain all down my right arm and into my thumb), which makes exercise problematic.

Anyway, we went with lean proteins and veggies and cut out the sweets and treats. We also cut back on alcohol - just having a drink on weekends (not that we drank a lot, mind you, but we were having one drink every other night). And walking every day. My wife and I walk at least an hour every day without exception (in the past 6 months we've missed a total of 2 days due to circumstances beyond our control). She's lost 30 pounds as well.

Just had to celebrate a little.

Well done, both of you. Hope you get yourself fixed soon.

Thank you. Being in Canada, I'll get fixed, but it's a matter of waiting around to get into a specialist. Not generally a fast process Public health care is great in many ways, but has its drawbacks.

Any of you done the Insanity Workout and know if its any good? One of my friends has it and says it is and that he definitely feels fitter and stronger because of it, then again he was already pretty fit before he used it and doesn't look much fitter after finishing it. I've never had any faith or interest in various workout DVDs but I thought this does actually seem good (if a little intense for folk of lesser fitness levels) and I refuse to judge with only his results to go on.
Thing is a bit pricey too :/

Saw him do one of the routines when I visited him, thing does look hard and he was starting to sweat pretty heavy barely 5 mins after the warm up. :D

You deserve it! Passing on all that great scotch deserves a reward:)