Weight gain fears

CptJinxx

I'm 20, 5' 10" , 142 lbs, dropped from 170 lbs.

Now everyone advises me to gain some good weight ( muscle gains as they've described ) because I look too thin with almost no lean body mass. ( I agree on the last one. )

But I'm worried if I start bulking ( eating at a calorie surplus in order to gain muscle ), that I'm going to end up getting fat again and wasting my time and efforts.

I do weight lifting 3 days/ week + sprinting cardio 3 days/week. Eating around 1700 calories per day.

Any suggestions?

msf74

Yes.

Read this:

http://www.jcdfitness.com/2009/10/the-former-fat-boy-syndrome/

Signed,

a former fat boy.

shining_light

You don't need much of a calorie surplus to gain muscle. If you still have fat to lose, your body can use that. If not, then you have to figure out(often through trial and error because everyone is different) how much of a surplus you need. It will be very slight, I promise you. Also, if you're a beginner, gains happen easily despite a lack of ideal conditions. I gained significant muscle in my first 6 months of lifting eating at a deficit, AND I'm female. Try not to worry too much about the extra calories. Up them slightly on days that you lift (say even by only 100-200 calories) and use that as your starting point. Good luck!!

waldo56

T/he fear of fat gain is the primary impediment to success when it comes to muscle gain.

_Calypso_

If you're just trying to gain some lean muscle and some definition - you don't need a large surplus. You could probably stick to 1700 cal a day, but add more heavy lifting and reduce your cardio a bit.
If you were trying to gain a lot of muscle (competition, etc) then you'd want to up your calories to about 2000 and lift a lot more.

But from what you wrote, and from personal experience... you don't need to add much if any calories to your diet. Just add more weights to your workout routine!

MityMax96

I'm 20, 5' 10" , 142 lbs, dropped from 170 lbs.

Now everyone advises me to gain some good weight ( muscle gains as they've described ) because I look too thin with almost no lean body mass. ( I agree on the last one. )

But I'm worried if I start bulking ( eating at a calorie surplus in order to gain muscle ), that I'm going to end up getting fat again and wasting my time and efforts.

I do weight lifting 3 days/ week + sprinting cardio 3 days/week. Eating around 1700 calories per day.

Any suggestions?

Honestly, 5'10 and 170 doesn't sound all that fat.....
Sounds to me that you just needed to find a weight room and push around some iron about 4 times a week.

At 140, I would have to think you feel really small, no?

Start bumping up your calories
Try your current intake + 200 or 300 calories......so if you were at 1700 (which sounds like BMR for you), then go to 2000
For about 4 weeks....see where you are and adjust accordingly.

msf74

T/he fear of fat gain is the primary impediment to success when it comes to muscle gain.

This is very true.

Don't fear fat gain - it can be tremendously beneficial in the right circumstances.

MityMax96

T/he fear of fat gain is the primary impediment to success when it comes to muscle gain.

This is very true.

Don't fear fat gain - it can be tremendously beneficial in the right circumstances.

Very true....prolly my biggest problem. :laugh:

CptJinxx

I'm 20, 5' 10" , 142 lbs, dropped from 170 lbs.

Now everyone advises me to gain some good weight ( muscle gains as they've described ) because I look too thin with almost no lean body mass. ( I agree on the last one. )

But I'm worried if I start bulking ( eating at a calorie surplus in order to gain muscle ), that I'm going to end up getting fat again and wasting my time and efforts.

I do weight lifting 3 days/ week + sprinting cardio 3 days/week. Eating around 1700 calories per day.

Any suggestions?

Honestly, 5'10 and 170 doesn't sound all that fat.....
Sounds to me that you just needed to find a weight room and push around some iron about 4 times a week.

At 140, I would have to think you feel really small, no?

Start bumping up your calories
Try your current intake + 200 or 300 calories......so if you were at 1700 (which sounds like BMR for you), then go to 2000
For about 4 weeks....see where you are and adjust accordingly.

True, my BMR is ~ 1670, I guess I'm eating at too much of a deficit? Haven't tracked my weight in 2 weeks since 142 lbs.

MityMax96

True, my BMR is ~ 1670, I guess I'm eating at too much of a deficit? Haven't tracked my weight in 2 weeks since 142 lbs.

Yes, you will get no where doing that....
You are just spinning your wheels, any muscle gains will diminish.

Take a methodical approach to this.
Track your intake, and measure things.
Take measurements/pictures of yourself.
See where you are in 4 weeks......look back over your numbers and tweak where needed.

But your TDEE is prolly ~2300, I have not taken the time to calculate, but that is my guess.

wilsoje74

I'm 20, 5' 10" , 142 lbs, dropped from 170 lbs.

Now everyone advises me to gain some good weight ( muscle gains as they've described ) because I look too thin with almost no lean body mass. ( I agree on the last one. )

But I'm worried if I start bulking ( eating at a calorie surplus in order to gain muscle ), that I'm going to end up getting fat again and wasting my time and efforts.

I do weight lifting 3 days/ week + sprinting cardio 3 days/week. Eating around 1700 calories per day.

Any suggestions?

You are a male 5'10" and 142??? Can I ask why you lost so much weight if you were not overweight to begin with??? You must look extremely thin now.

CptJinxx

If you're just trying to gain some lean muscle and some definition - you don't need a large surplus. You could probably stick to 1700 cal a day, but add more heavy lifting and reduce your cardio a bit.
If you were trying to gain a lot of muscle (competition, etc) then you'd want to up your calories to about 2000 and lift a lot more.

But from what you wrote, and from personal experience... you don't need to add much if any calories to your diet. Just add more weights to your workout routine!

I've been eating around 1700 for 3 months of weight lifting and I haven't gained almost any muscle.
My BMR is around 1670.
Calorie deficit wouldn't help gain muscle no matter how hard someone workouts, basic science and personal experience too

CptJinxx

You are a male 5'10" and 142??? Can I ask why you lost so much weight if you were not overweight to begin with??? You must look extremely thin now.

I don't know, I guess I always hated how I looked.
I'm kind of happy with how I look now, although I'm the type of a skinny-fat guy at the moment.
That's why I wanted to gain some muscle, but you know, how the brain works and all the fears of going back to the old shape and stuff.

CptJinxx

True, my BMR is ~ 1670, I guess I'm eating at too much of a deficit? Haven't tracked my weight in 2 weeks since 142 lbs.

Yes, you will get no where doing that....
You are just spinning your wheels, any muscle gains will diminish.

Take a methodical approach to this.
Track your intake, and measure things.
Take measurements/pictures of yourself.
See where you are in 4 weeks......look back over your numbers and tweak where needed.

But your TDEE is prolly ~2300, I have not taken the time to calculate, but that is my guess.

Yes, it's about 2300 if I'm lightly active, which I think I'm more of a moderately active person with 6 workouts per week, ditching my car and walking, taking the stairs and other stuff.

Anyways, I'll start eating at about 2300 calories and see where that takes me, like you said.

Sounds like Trial and Error is the only way around it, and 3~4 weeks wouldn't fat-wreck me that much, I believe.
Thank you, everyone.

msf74

You need to stop with the attempted body recomp - it is inefficient.

Accept that you will put a little fat on and be cool with that. I'm not saying accept rampant fat gain though and keep it in manageable levels.

Bulk and then cut. You will get to where you want to be much faster that way if you can get your head around the controlled fat gain.

NRBreit

Eat! I spun my wheels in the gym for years trying to eat at or below maintenance. Gain some weight back in a controlled manner and then lose any accumulated fat.

waldo56

Bulking is not this big scary thing once you do it.

Unless you are being very reckless, the fat gain is very slow, a fraction of the pace of fat loss when losing weight. Anyone who lost weight knows that the actual visual changes from weight loss are very slow, unless you are taking progress photos or measurements, they can be almost imperceptible. Now apply that to a much slower rate of fat change.

You'll notice some bloat right away, but if you are doing it right, there is virtually no perceptible fat change for a couple months. You shouldn't ever go up in pants size.

MityMax96

Yes, it's about 2300 if I'm lightly active, which I think I'm more of a moderately active person with 6 workouts per week, ditching my car and walking, taking the stairs and other stuff.

Anyways, I'll start eating at about 2300 calories and see where that takes me, like you said.

Sounds like Trial and Error is the only way around it, and 3~4 weeks wouldn't fat-wreck me that much, I believe.
Thank you, everyone.

Yep.
Stick to about 2300 for about 4 weeks.
See how things are going at that point....and then you may want to up the daily calories from there by about 200-300.
Remember, 2300 is just the energy you need for what you are doing.....again muscle gains may not happen.
Strength gains? Yes.

Don't be afraid of the food....
Just know where you are at with your intake daily, and don't go over.....
You obviously cut back and lost the weight, so you know the trick.....
Now just make the stuff work for your goals.

Good luck

sarahg148

Wow...I didn't really get into your profile but thought you were a female. I'm 5'11'' and currently about 174, and my goal weight at the very LEAST is about 150. The advice of eating more and lifting a bit more sounds good to me! Good luck.

AverageUkDude

I'm 20, 5' 10" , 142 lbs, dropped from 170 lbs.

Now everyone advises me to gain some good weight ( muscle gains as they've described ) because I look too thin with almost no lean body mass. ( I agree on the last one. )

But I'm worried if I start bulking ( eating at a calorie surplus in order to gain muscle ), that I'm going to end up getting fat again and wasting my time and efforts.

I do weight lifting 3 days/ week + sprinting cardio 3 days/week. Eating around 1700 calories per day.

Any suggestions?

Id suggest, eating more and cutting out the cardio.

What lifting plan are you following? hopefully something with good progressive overload.

EDIT: Ive just seen that your a guy, at the same height as me, i have 40ish lbs on you and i dont consider myself fat, just eat more and lift heavy.

whitebalance

Dude. I lift three times a week, walk up to five miles a day, and only do any significant running maybe once every couple weeks. I'm female, several inches shorter than you, about 10-15 pounds lighter. I eat 1800-2200 calories a day. And I recently upped my net calorie target because I was *losing* weight.

Eat, man.