TO anyone who; if you could shine some light on me. I just started lifting about 3 weeks ago. I’m 21. I did lift in high school but that was a while back. I m 5'6 150lbs with approx 8 body fat maybe less. I’m looking to gain size and strength while maintaining a chiseled look. I m not taking any supplements nor have I ever (except for whey protein which I am not taking either at the moment). Right now my diet looks like this: b – fast 2 egg and cheese crosson-wichs from BK’s (not the best b- fast but hey better than nothing right) snack can of tuna 32 grams of protein in it. Lunch either a chicken breast or lean piece of steak with brown rice and some veggies (steamed) snack a can of tuna (32 grams of protein). Then an hour before I go to the gym I eat another can of tuna. After the gym I eat another can of tuna followed by dinner usually same as lunch but with a green salad. I try and drink at least a gallon of water a day. I train 5 days a week doing 3-4 exercises per muscle group for 4 sets. 12, 10-8, 8-6, 6-4. I usually only do one major muscle group a day for example. Monday chest. Tuesday back. Wedensday Legs. Thursday shoulders. Friday Bi’s and tri’s. Sat /sun rest. I do cardio also 5 days a week for 15-20 min on the treadmill starting of at 6.5 up to 8.0 at zero incline. I don’t know if this is sufficient enough to gain weight and get stronger. I put up 185lbs on my 4th set (flat bench) the other day 4 times but I want to be able to work with at least 2 plates. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

I would focus on adding mass first if I were you. From the impression I got from your post is you have fairly high metabilism rate, and probably never had much problem cutting. I will bump up the calories to above 500 -1000 maintenance level. Aiming to gain about a pound or 2 a week of weight gain. If you are not gaining as much as you like, bump up another 10% of your total calories. After you reached your mass goal, start cutting back to low bf % you have now.

Other thing I would change is post work out meal. Try some fast absorbing protein like whey with carbs such as dexrose or maybe white bread.

Yeah i do have a pretty high metabilism rate, I ve never had to cut except when Im tring to keep my six pac going. Thanks for the advice but umm, Im not really sure what you mean by 500- 1000 above maintenance level? Should i buy a weight gainer? Whey protien? That dexrose stuff for carbs? Im really ignorant of whats out their and what I should be taking. I have been reading alot of posts but it seems most of that doesnt apply to me cause I m so freash into it, and probably cause Im still pretty young want to stay away from PH's. Any additional help ?? What supplements should I be taking? ANY comments??? I d be more than happy also if any ideas about my work out program. THANKS for all the help and advice.
My bad for sounding so ignorant gotta start some where.

Diet:
Now I have more time to look at your first post. I will difently change the breakfirst of yours. Go with something like oat meal or cereal with eggs. You probably don't have much time in morning, but it is a crap you are eating. I am not sure how much calories you need a day to maintain your current size. Meaning no change in muscle mass or fat. The easiest way to increase your calorie intake a day is to double your serving size or add a little something to each meal. For example, you can add baked poteto with these tuna your taking. Or make it tuna sandwich adding bread to it. Or you can double it to 2 cans. ALso make sure to get at least a gram of protein per lb. Since you are 150 lb try to get at least 150 gram of protein a day. I personaly go pick up whey protein powder. It makes so much easy to meet this goal. ALso, your goal is to add the size try to consume 1.5-2 gram of carb per your body weigth. Based on the meal plan you wrote you seemed to eat very little carb or fat. I would start eating some complex carbs like brow rice you mentioned. I persoanlly like 40:40:20 ( protein:carb:fat ) but it is something you need to play around and find out what ration works best for your for your goal. Of course, it is different when you cutting. Stick to the same diet for two weeks, and if you dont gain muscle at all, I will bump up total calories, maybe 10% up. The diet is bascially trial and error. You have to play around to see what kind of food and how much is the best for you.

"Im not really sure what you mean by 500- 1000 above maintenance level?" If you eat, say 2500 calories a day, it wont change your weight ( no fat/musccle gain or loss) that is your maintenacne calorie. Try to eat 3000-3500 calories a day to gain some weight.

Supplements:
Ahhh supplements. I dont know how much money u want to spend it, but follwoings are ones I feel you cannot go wrong. You might want to invest in whey protein powder, multi vitamines, and creatine. If you have an additon doe, check out some essential fatty acid. I have never took wieght gainer, but they are loaded with sugars. It might work well as a post work out meal, though, but other times it has too much simple carb in them.

Workout:
Therer are so many things you can do. I think there are training section on this board. Go check it out. The most important thing is learn how to lift right. If you doing bicpet curl, but using shulders and buck muscle. There msut be something wrong with your technique. ALso remmeber to use right weight.
You are just back to lifting again so I assume you will repsonse to pretty much any program you pick at this point. Stick to current one for maybe another 8 weeks or so and see where that will take you. Remeber if it aint broken....

I wouldn,t take creatine yet if I was you. Supplements are not necessary for the first year of training. You will grow quick when you first start as long as you train with high intensity and eat to grow. Only thing you should supplement is whey protein go with Opti Nutri's because it is easy on the wallet and high quality. Eat,Eat,Eat, Train Hard and Rest. You will grow.