60 years old, wanting to gain weight

[Bestafter60]

Hi Jordan,
I'm 6'4, 185, just getting going with SS and looking to set some age~appropriate goals. Assuming I want to maximize strength and size, and follow directions well, what sort of nutritional advice would you be able to provide me? For background, I was lean and fit all the way to 55, then added 30 pounds of belly fat. Got rid of that with paleo+ crossfit, then broke my foot. Decided to preserve my favorite part of CF, the Olympic lifts, so I focused on that once recovered. Then I discovered SS. I'm working out hard, making slow gains, but losing some weight instead of gaining. Seems like nutrition is the limiting factor, but maybe I'm too old to make significant gains, or genetically predestined to stay the same size?
What are reasonable expectations, assuming I follow your advice?
Thanks in advance,
Mike

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

It's hard to say just how robust you're response is going to be to training compared to the 24 year old version of you, but you'll still respond on some level. I think you need to gain weight slowly over time in order to gain strength and thus, become more resilient. We know that amino acid sensitivity wanes as you get older, so you'll need more protein. We also know that you'll use fat a little better as a fuel substrate than carbohydrates so we'd have a bit higher fat level and lower carbohydrate level than if you were 24.

I think gaining a pound a week or so for 6-8 months is what the doctor ordered (though I'm not a doctor). First things first, you need to be getting 200g of protein/day everyday before complicating things any further.

[Bestafter60]

Thanks, I'll do that first, check back with you later with a progress report.