Copyright (c) 2010 Nick Clipton

People may envy you because you're as thin as a reed yet you know that you need to build up. You don't want to look like Kate Moss did when she was in scrutiny because of claims of anorexia. So what do you do if you look like Olive Oyl but want to turn out like Jessica Alba?

Muscle building is the only option for you. You definitely don't want to put on fat, but you should bulk up enough to get yourself toned and in shape.

First thing to do is to get a check-up with the doctor to find out your overall health, if you have any hormonal imbalances or any problems that you need to watch out for. Once you have your medic's go-ahead, you can start gearing up for what is coming next.

Take a long, hard look at your diet and figure out where you are going wrong. If you are eating a lot of high-fat, high-sodium, and processed food, toss them out now. Donate them to a shelter if that will make you feel better about getting rid of them.

Start buying healthy food, like whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and lean protein like extra-lean beef and pork, lean cuts of poultry but fatty deep-sea fish like wild salmon or vegetarian sources of protein like gluten and soy meat substitutes, tofu, nuts, and beans. You can start putting rations on your plate in a different sort of proportion: two servings of healthy carbohydrates would complement one serving of lean protein and one serving of healthy fat.

Don't think you can take in any old fat, either. Better to focus on good fat in deep-sea fish, anchovies, or fresh sardines, avocados, virgin coconut oil, and extra-virgin olive oil.

Get yourself a gym membership for a few months or work out with a more experienced friend if you can. Do cardio exercises alternated with weights training. Simple exercises to start out with at a brisk walk twice a week for about half an hour to start and exercises like push-ups, lunges, lifts, weightless squats, or pull-ups. Add a few weightlifting moves once you are comfortable, alternating working out the upper body and lower body every day.

If you want to build up muscle, slowly increase the amount of weight you lift. Although, it's really easy to lift more weight that you should so get the approximate mass of the maximum weight you can lift using a bench press calculator. That will keep you within the safe range of weights to lift.