Story time.
At age 27 I weighed 140 lbs., at 5’11". After a long series of comments by various people about my weight, of the loud “How can you be so thin?!?!” ilk, I decided to shut their mouths, and started strength training.
I did pushups, pullups, squats etc., and gained strength measurably. But I didn’t look any different. The ugly truth about strength training sunk in: eating is one half of the equation, and not the easier half.
At first I had to force myself to eat often enough, and with enough complete protein at every meal, but I did. I went from "eat one huge meal per day, usually in the late evening " to “eat every three hours, no matter what”. Voilá, I started to gain muscle mass, not just strength. With it, I could improve / increase my training effort, in a positive feedback loop.
People who hadn’t seen me for a couple of years were stunned silent at my transformation, including those assholes who made my lack of weight a public affront.
Men I had never met radiated silent approval at my physique, women started to throw themselves at me. I even got several jobs in part because of how I looked, and what people thought it told about me. I could be the poster boy for a Charles Atlas letter course, if I only did Dynamic Tension exercises!
Things I need to do with regards to exercise (that I didn’t use to do):
I never skip breakfast, making it the biggest meal of my day.
I always train two hours after eating a solid meal, when food has left my stomach but my blood sugar hasn’t yet dropped, and I can perform at my best.
I always drink a post-workout drink immediately after training, then a big, up to cheaty meal within two hours of that, to stop the catabolic post-workout state and to reload my starved energy + repair systems (to dumb it down).
I never skip a late night meal of slow complete proteins + berries, to have building blocks available in my body for the nighttime repair & overcompensation phase (again to dumb it down).
This approach saw me go from 140 lbs. to 210 lbs., with most of the gains from increased muscle mass. In the process I learned that one can adapt to almost any eating pattern, and also start to enjoy it. But to this day I sometimes eat because I need to, not because I want to. Well worth it.