To My Fellow Hardgainers - A Word of Encouragement

I'm a 55 yr old guy who started weight workouts and sprint intervals about 3 years ago, in conjunction with a radically reworked diet and NoFap, to naturally raise my testosterone levels. I am your classic ectomorph who reached most of my adult height (a hair under 6 ft) by the time I was 16 and have alternated between skinny fat and just plain skinny virtually all of my adult life.

A few weeks ago I was really starting to wonder if it was all worth it. I knew my shirts were a little fuller in the right places and my calves had grown but for all the hard work and calorie counting and macro management, the guy looking back in the mirror at me didn't look that much different than the guy 3 years ago.

But then yesterday my wife took my chest measurement for a sweater she's knitting me. She took it, looked at it, took it again and asked "did you work out today?" I said no and she said, "it's 41 1/2 inches" and I said, so what, and she said, "the last one I knitted for you, you were 38 and it still came out too big."

Now granted 41.5 is still a weenie chest for a guy almost 6 feet tall but I thought 3.5 inches was worth something anyway. And with still wearing the same size jeans at 183 lbs as when I was significantly underweight at 165. What's more, at this time last year I was measured at 39 for a tuxedo so that's 2.5 inches in just the past year alone.

My point being, keep at it. For guys like us the gains are incredibly, painfully slow but they DO come. Don't expect people who haven't seen you in awhile to say "wow you've really bulked up" because that's not how it works for us (unless we're getting "help" of course). Don't expect women to check you out or want to put their hands all over your body (although I'm told some go for the thin-but-toned types). You have to do this for you, and only you. And don't forget to celebrate the little, but regular, wins. Good luck and good lifting!

 

I'm married but on semen retention (involuntarily) since January due to wife's health issues preventing sex. I don't really know how much or little of my recent gains can be attributed to not cumming in over half a year. Some say it makes a huge difference, others say it doesn't make any and still others say it does but only if you abstain a ridiculous amount of time i.e. a year or more.