Muscle Gained During A "Bulk"?

GW4321

I'm not trying to gain weight or do body building, but it seems like most of the bulking information goes in this section. I decided this would be the best place to post this.

Over the past 18 months or so, I’ve gone through an accidental bulk of about 20lbs. I had previously lost 125lbs and attempted to go into a maintenance phase to take a break from my diet. I started eating more and probably underestimated how much my metabolism had decreased after losing that much weight in just over a year. During this “bulk”, I still lifted weights 6 days per week and walked a lot every day which probably kept my weight gain from being more significant.

I’m actually not that disappointed with my weight gain. During this time, my arms and legs have gotten noticeably bigger. I still wear the same waist size and my shirts still fit ok. I’ve also gotten stronger. My bench max was 205lbs about 10 months ago, but I just did 5X5 with 235lbs this week. I’ve doubled my squat, but that’s not saying much because I’m limited during lower body exercises due to a previous severe injury.

I realize it is impossible to say for sure, but I’m curious how much muscle I could have gained during this period of time? What is the typical fat to muscle ratio during a bulk?

Is it possible that I did better than the typical ratio since it was a slow gain by bulking standards (and I was probably regaining some muscle that I lost during my weight loss)?

I don’t have body fat percentages before or after, so I’m just trying to get a general idea. I definitely need to lose more weight, but hopefully the past 18 months weren't a complete failure.

AnvilHead

Lyle McDonald wrote a pretty extensive piece on the math of muscle gain: https://bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/muscle-gain-math.html/

He lays out the numbers in there, to at least give you a ballpark idea of how much muscle you may have gained during that time period. With the proviso that without reasonably accurate before and after BF% numbers, it's all just guesstimating.

GW4321

AnvilHead wrote: »

Lyle McDonald wrote a pretty extensive piece on the math of muscle gain: https://bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/muscle-gain-math.html/

He lays out the numbers in there, to at least give you a ballpark idea of how much muscle you may have gained during that time period. With the proviso that without reasonably accurate before and after BF% numbers, it's all just guesstimating.

Thanks for the link. Good information.