A few years ago I had considerably more fat mass on my body. I have manintained my weight more or less for the past 5 years. IN the past few months I havebeen trying to “bulk up” but I seem to just be getting fat.
I am not overdoing calories and am eating clean.
Is my body trying to get back to its “fat cell memory/setpoint” before it will allow to add muscle?
Has anyone else has a problem like this?
All input is appreciated T-nation
Just how lean were you before you started to bulk? it is possible that your body may want to get to 10-12% bf before it is happy letting you add alot of muscle. It is also worth reviewing your diet and training if your goals are not being met. could you perhaps give us some info regarding your stats, diet and training? then I am sure someone may be able to help you out here.
bikeboy
Any time I have dieted after bulking up to a heavier weight, after I return to gaining, I eventually end up back at that bulked up weight with more muscle than before. Are you saying that you are getting your body fat percentage checked and there is no muscle growth at all and only your body fat percentage is going up? Unless you are getting your percentage checked, you shouldn’t think it is all fat gain. Your strength isn’t increasing at all? I have seen several posts on this board from you that, frankly, seem very paranoid about everything you do in the gym. You ask about every dieting routine that you read about from that diet you posted before that greatly resembled the ABCDE diet to eating maintenance calories all week and only eating above that on weekends. I would be surprised if you are even following a specific diet long enough to know what works or what doesn’t. It seems to be very common for people who used to be very overweight to be afraid of any weightgain. That is why I am reluctant to believe that all you are gaining is fat tissue with absolutely no muscle gain and no strength gains. Also, exactly how fast are you expecting these gains to come? How much do you weigh right now? How much have you gained in the past 2months? How tall are you? How old are you?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
exactly how fast are you expecting these gains to come? [/quote]
That would be my question too.
Adding lean muscle is a slow process. If you are truly buling up, then you should assume some fat gain will happen, along with some lean muscle gain.
One way to gauge if you are overreacting is to see if you are consistently gaining strength in the gym. If your weights are continuing to go up at a reasonable pace, then you may very well be generally on the right track. If you’re just getting fatter, and still doing the same workouts and pretty much same weights you’ve always done, you need to re-assess your program.
One of the major goals of a bulking program is to get stronger, because heavier weights = bigger muscles.