As part of a tentative bulk, I weigh myself every Sunday morning, same time. Without wishing to be crude, I try to make sure all the variables are as constant as possible (i.e. bowel movements).
However for the last few weeks my weight has been all over the place, and it’s worrying me. (n.b. i have NOT only been training 4 weeks, this is a recent snapshot)
4 weeks ago: 12 st 5 lbs (badly created split routine)
3 weeks ago: 12 st 8 lbs (badly created split routine)
2 weeks ago: 12 st 10 lbs (upper/lower split)
1 weeks ago: 12 st 9 lbs (upper/lower split)
this week : 12 st 12 lbs (upper/lower split)
What I really don’t understand is this last week. How is it possible to put on 3 lbs in a week, when I’m eating 3000 cals per day and working out 4x per week? 3 lbs requires like 9000 calories excess in a week (3500 per week for 1 lb gain). The upper/lower split is a lot more physically taxing, with more compound moves and more iron shifted, so it’s not a case of suddenly burning off less calories per workout as the previous split was far ‘‘lighter’’.
Honestly, I think you are worrying about nothing. I can easily put on a meaningless 10 lbs. in one day if I want to. Weight fluctuates on a daily basis, and the heavier you get, the greater the relative variation. I fluctuate a couple pounds every day, let alone every week, due simply to water intake, caffeine intake, food, etc… This is why often the mirror > scale.
True true, I know that’s the sort of advice that I’d give someone else, it’s just hard to hear when it’s you! I just worry because I keep track of my diet keenly, knowing calorie intake etc, and I wouldn’t have said I have drunk or eaten any more in the last week, if anything less. And if anything, I feel a little bit trimmer…
Well, I understand the desire to detail everything and I’m all for measuring things to track progress, but weighing yourself once per week might not be a good method. It’s just not a reliable measurement. You could try weighing yourself every day and then taking the weekly average instead. That would allow some of the daily variation to wash out.
I wouldn’t call 3000 cals a day bulking. At your age a fairly muscular male lifting heavy 3 times a week will probably have a maintenance line of 3000 to 3500.
Perhaps you should up the calories a bit more and see if that will provide a more steady gain. It’s all trial and error.
Dude, regardless, you’ve put on 7lbs in 4weeks, thats a good effort. Leastways, weight can vary massively on a variety of factors. For instance, each gram of stored glycogen holds 3grams of water, so just having differences in glycogen levels can massively change your weight.
Heck, just from water levels alone, i can weigh 6lbs or so more in the day compared to when i’m ‘empty’ when i first get up.
Anyways, i’d say just strip out the trend, ie your weight is going up, and don’t sweat it!