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My question is specific to my food diet and it isn't a direct duplicate of this question

I'm 5-11 and weigh about 60kgs. My body is extremely thin and I recently I noticed a belly and it's pretty pronounced. I started the gym about 1.5 months back doing mostly compound exercises such as benchpress, squats, shoulderpress, deadlifts. I work out on 4 days a week (but try to do 5.)

Now this is the gym portion. My concern lies in the food/diet portion. I read that more calories = more weight. Since I'm not a heavy eater, I tried to narrow down on food that are less in quantity yet give good enough calories.

I now eat these two heavily to push my calorie count

What really concerns me is, everyone mentions that too much pasta will actually add fat to my body. Is it true ? I don't know if that particular Pasta is really helping me gain good calories ?

Also, do I need to starting doing treadmill to reduce my belly ? (will it reduce my muscle or fat ?)

I want to gain weight but not in belly. :|

EDIT: I do strong lifts 5x5. My main question is that will eating pasta simply contribute to my tummy or will it distribute evenly (given that I exercise as I am doing now.)

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    @Fattie As a skinny person, Carbs are your best friend. To get the calories you require to gain weight and to match your metabolic rate. You need to have high carb intake and hit the right amount of protein. Not getting enough carbs will significantly reduce the speed of progression (speaking from experience) rice and potatoes were what I lacked in my diet
    – Twyxz
    Oct 1, 2018 at 12:57
  • If you look around at the gym, you'll notice most of the people have guts/bellies. That's because getting your body fat down to 6-7% (that's when your six-pack becomes well defined is no easy feat. Measure your body fat now (I bet it's around 15-20%), and look for ways to get it down (eat less, and do more cardio, lift). You'll lose some muscle, but you'll also look better. Also get your gym attendance up to at least 5 days a week. I personally go every day.
    – Eternal21
    Oct 1, 2018 at 12:59
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    @Fattie I don't do cardio at all. I only do strength training. I'm concerned only about the pasta adding to my tummy rather than overall distribution. See my exercise schedule in the post.
    – Pirate X
    Oct 1, 2018 at 14:28
  • @PirateX - It's still a duplicate. But for that specific, just like you don't target fat loss, you can't target food distribution. But pasta is probably not the best carb to eat, as it is highly processed. The linked answer (as well as many others on the site) also addresses basic nutrition for lifting weight gain.
    – JohnP ♦
    Oct 1, 2018 at 14:39
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    @Fattie You can still get fat on a ketogenic (low - zero carb diet) if you eat too many calories in fat and protein (arguably, it's easier to get fat eating a high fat diet because of the calories per gram of fat compared to carbohydrates). Each person handles carbs and fat differently, there is no definitive answer (despite what many authors would have you believe), some people just function better and have better body composition (less body fat) on a higher carb diet.
    – Dark Hippo
    Oct 2, 2018 at 11:38

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If you're slim (like I was) Gaining weight without gaining fat even the smallest amount is almost impossible. You don't want to be doing cardio unless your fitness is a priority. As you're extremely light you may notice your belly a bit more than others as your muscles may not be proportionate.

To answer you question, no treadmill (cardio at all) and gaining weight is inevitable, as long as you train hard, eat enough calories then once you gain significantly visible muscle mass then you can cut down

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  • As Twyxz says DONT to cardio/aerobics, do strength training!
    – Fattie
    Oct 1, 2018 at 12:55

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