Started out around 185ish 15 or so percent BF. Currently 205 in the am roughly 20-22% BF. Did everything wrong for the first year even though I got most of my gains in the first 6 months. I have all the pieces to the puzzle but I seem to be unable to put them all together correctly. I started as skinnyfat and still fit that bill today.
I though about getting to a low bf and starting over but I am sure I haven’t put that much actual lean mass on in the past 2 years so all of that would go away and I would end up with a skeleton base to start with lol. My plan is to eat like a horse for 6 months and lift hard to see what happens. Either I will just soar into the high 20’s to low 30’s in BF or I will even out and grow some nice LBM. Here is the best pic I have of before and the second is current. Any input is welcome thanks guys!
What would be the best approach for me in this scenario? I do not want to cut at this point because I believe I haven’t truly gained at all what I should have in 2 years.
[quote]Derek542 wrote:
First: What is your current program?
Second: What is your current Macros?
Third: What is your overall goal? [/quote]
Upper/lower 4 day split.
40/40/20 @ 3500 cals tracked in MFP
goal is to get a good amount of lean mass on my body along with some good strength. I started struggling with 100 pounds on bench, 185 dead, 135 squat. Highest 1rm I have achieved in 2 years is 275 on bench, 265 squat, 415 dead… All 1rm. I’m not terribly concerned about having a 6 pack. I want to fill out my chest, shoulders and arms as well as legs and my stubborn calves. I don’t want to go on an all out cut because I fear I don’t have much to cut to. My arms are fairly lean and I don’t have much fat on my pecs or legs. It all hangs out on my belly and love handles giving me a not so aesthetic look unless I flare my lats… When I eat carbs look out! I retain water like a camel. Long story short, I want to get big…for me. It’s a personal thing. Thanks for the responses so far!
In two years you’ve gained 20 pounds, a substantial portion of which appears to be LBM. That is excellent, especially considering you “did everything wrong for the first year.” You also improved your lifts by really impressive margins. Congrats on what you’ve achieved.
Now let’s crunch the numbers. 3500 cals/d @ a BW of 205 is about 17 cals/lb/d–just about perfect for an adult trying to do a nice slow bulk (unless your job is extremely demanding physically). I doubt very much that any slowdown in strength/LBM gains of late are attributable to undereating. The fact is, you are now exiting the ‘noob gains’ phase, and are going to find that strength/LBM gains will be significantly harder to achieve henceforth. Patience, grasshopper. (70s pop-culture reference.)
In short, I think you should stay the course diet-wise. If you try and force the issue by increasing cals, I’m afraid you’ll find that extra size gains will accrue mainly to your belly/love handle region.
[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Now let’s crunch the numbers. 3500 cals/d @ a BW of 205 is about 17 cals/lb/d–just about perfect for an adult trying to do a nice slow bulk (unless your job is extremely demanding physically).[/quote]
Jpr, as I was reading through the last comments, I was wondering what you do for a living. EyeDentist beat me to mentioning it, but I can tell you from experience that he’s right. If you work a desk/sedentary/light activity job, you should be fine at that number. But if you have a demanding job (like I do), that’s probably not going to be enough. At least, it wasn’t for me.
I work a warehouse job at the moment. I had a small computer business for 4 years and it started diving so I had to take the first thing I could get. I work 4:30PM to 1:30AM. I spend my nights picking things up and putting them down. I have to mention that all of my PR’s have gone down significantly after trying a failed cut over a month and a half. I got weak and was under eating. According to my Fitbit I burn roughly 3800-3900 calories on a workday. Thanks for the insight so far guys.
I used a caliper with a 5 point measurement. When I sit I can grab a fistful of gut literally. Perhaps I’m wrong but who knows. Not sure where I can get an accurate measurement.
