Water Weight Woes

__freckles__

Since I started bulking a month ago I've gained 3.6 pounds. Ha! My calories are set to gain .25 lbs per week, so we're talking a few pounds of water weight. I was expecting some water weight gain, but it's still annoying. I can't gauge my rate of real gainz until this water weight thing levels off.

So how much water weight did you gain in the beginning and when did it stop?

I just don't remember gaining it all in the beginning with my frist bulk. After my bulk was over and I started cutting, I lost like 4-5 pounds of it, so my body likes the water weight.

A friend told me that if I eat a lot of fats I will gain it quickly and seriously sometimes I eat like 100 grams a day (yum). So maybe that's the reason. Contemplating doing a few low fat days just to test that theory.

PwrLftr82

Higher carbs actually tend to produce more water weight. I'm up 6 lbs in a couple of weeks--mostly water weight from new bc pill and creatine. Don't worry about your initial gain...take about a month or so to level off. A goal of only .25 lbs/week is very small...you will be lucky to make any gains on that.

__freckles__

Ah, thanks for this. Yeah, my carbs aren't relatively high - so that's not the problem. It's just strange that I'm gaining so much in the beginning compared to my last bulk.

As far as 0.25 lbs/ week - I chose that because I'm wanting to do a very long bulk. Last time I bulked for 15 weeks and ate 400 calories over TDEE every day. I gained 8 pounds and ended up losing half of it right away and didn't feel like I made much progress in the muscle department. I figured I'd try doing a more conservative bulk and see where it gets me.

What would you suggest? Last bulk my calorie goal put me at a gain of around 0.8 lbs per week and it just seemed like too much in the end as most of it was fat and water weight.

PwrLftr82

There's going to be an initial water-retention phase no matter how you do it, but once that wears off, your gains should be more steady (not necessarily linear, but graphically, over time, should show a steady raise). If you're going to do the .25 lb/week, then I highly suggest not doing the mini bulk-cut cycles, but rather keep going low and slow. If you want to do the mini-cycles, then I think a higher bulk rate or you won't see much change.

__freckles__

All right, these are good things for me to look into. Thank you my fellow bulking friend. :flowerforyou:

PwrLftr82

Trust me, I did a super slow bulk last winter and feel like I short-changed myself a bit. I'm trying to learn from my mistakes!

3laine75

Tend to agree with pwrlftr on this one. If you're doing it long and slow, I'd keep it consistent.

You might get away with the mini-cuts on a more traditional +0.5 bulk but not on the slower one - bear in mind I'm just guessing though

SilentDrapeRunners

You may be gaining a lot in the beginning because you're coming off a cut (I can't remember what your cals were prior to bulk #1, but I'm guessing that they were around TDEE). After a cut, sometimes the metabolism can be depressed a bit. I'm also seeing a similar issue with myself- I seem to be gaining at a somewhat rapid rate and my cals aren't that high- less than what they were at the beginning of my first bulk. But, I'm also trying to get off a prescription medication that has raised my metabolism (side effect)- so I know that's playing a huge role. Lots of different factors to consider.

Also, about the high fat vs high carb- with me I think I tend to see increased water retention when I go higher carb.