my weight and BF% went up, but I feel much stronger!

anson808

OK, here's the premise, so don't go thinking that this is for everyone...

I'm 6'2" and at 180lbs when I started a small experiment. My scale says I'm at 12% BF, but I know better. I believe I'm closer to 18-19%.
My goal has been to gain weight until about 185lbs, and then try to get my BF to around 15% (probably around 9-10% on my bathroom scale).

I think I'm a hard gainer, but in any case, the past few months, I've been watching my calories and keeping them within a couple hundred of what MFP has been telling me to do. My weight's not changing much, but I've been feeling weaker little by little.

The last two weeks, I decided to try my own thing, since I don't think I have a weight problem. I decided to just eat what I want and not worry about the calories. Granted, I only eat a lot more on my heavy workout days, my double days, or days where I'm both playing and working out.

Here's how it's been working out. No puns intended.

My weight has been fairly steady. I might have gained a pound or two, but it doesn't seem to feel too bad. Yeah, there's a little more tummy now, but I told myself not to worry about it for this experiment. I weigh in about 183lbs and BF is about 12.2% still.

The good part? Man, I feel a lot stronger. I'm playing a lot harder, moving faster, jumping higher, and for a longer period of time.

Sooo - hmm, I guess now I have to ask myself - do I want ripped abs, or do I want to play well? Surely, it can't be this way for everyone. There's people out there who are ripped AND play well - or could they actually be playing better with more BF/more calories?

I've read some articles that say male VBall athletes are ideally between 11-14% body fat. I wonder if I'll be okay at the higher end of that scale. It sure seems that way. I feel like I'm all skin and bones.

any other atheles out there feel like they're cheating their bodies out a little when on a cutting diet? Am I not giving myself enough time to adjust to the lower calorie intake and I should go back to the lower calories (my strength will return on the lower calories I just need time to adapt)?

GiGiBeans

I'm not an athlete but I like to run a little, lift a little. And little is pretty much all I could do eating at maintenance. Around Thanksgiving I loosened the reins, upped cals, upped carbs, BAM, running faster and longer. Weight is up but BF the same +/- 1.5%. Setting new PRs lifting week after week. Me likey. Going to keep this up at least til the end of April when I'll probably feel like the Pop & Fresh Dough Girl then cut. For now, weeeee!