Thanks bud! 
Be back in a year with an update LOL
Hey dude, Iām in the same weight class area as you, and iām weighing in at around the mid 190ās right now. I just want to echo what everyone else has been saying for the most part in that you should eat a caloric surplus, but not in ridiculous excess. Really, as long as your lifts are going up, you donāt necessarily have to worry about gaining weight at all.
If you start to stagnate on your workouts and you do everything else right, just add more calories.
Also, you should get your bf% measured by calipers, so you know what it actually is. My bf% is 23% and I thought I was around 15%. Obese is 25% bf.
Or just use the mirrorā¦ If you have common sense and not a disability in perceiving the reality, youāll be able to see if youāve gained fat or not.
And really, who the hell cares if you waist increases by 1 inch, if your chest gets 2 inches bigger, your leg 2 inches bigger, your arms 1 inch bigger, and your shoulders 2 inch bigger? Proportionally itās going to look like your waist is smaller, assuming your clavicle width donāt suck.
Dropping weight is also way easier than gaining. I also decided to get ālean for the summerā. In 3 weeks I dropped about 4kg, without much effort. Then I realized abs are bullshit as long as you donāt have the whole package, so I continued bulking.