Goal of gaining 0.5lb/wk, actually gaining 2lb/wk?

omegadrh

I'll start out by saying that yes, I'm sort of a skinny guy. I've always been pretty active, a light and/or healthy eater, and have a decent metabolism. I also do have a very slender frame (narrow shoulders, chest, etc.), so my weight has always seemed quite low for my height at face value, but I've never looked emaciated--just pretty lean. I've been roughly 5'11" and 125-130 lbs (home scale vs doctor's scale) for about the past decade.

That said, I've always kind of wanted to add some more muscle mass and definition, and while I've worked out plenty in the past, the visible gains have been incredibly small and very slow to manifest. While I am a patient person, seeing so little change over the course of about two years of working out fairly regularly is still pretty frustrating, so I decided to get a bit more serious about it. Part of that came with the realization, after joining MFP, that my "standard" caloric intake (i.e. if I just ate like I naturally would) usually put me somewhere around a "lose 0.5 pounds per week" level (according to their calculator).

After keeping my MFP goal at 'maintain current weight' for a while, and not being very vigilant about meeting it, I recently set it to "Gain 0.5 pounds per week," and have been trying pretty hard to eat up to that. It's been quite a struggle to force myself to eat this much, and I admit that some days I'm still ~1000 calories away from my post-exercise and fitbit-adjusted goal (of 3410 calories for yesterday, for example) when I finish logging my meal intake at night. Depending on how late that is, I will sometimes eat another peanut butter sandwich or something to try to get closer to the goal, but other times--for instance last night--I'm trying to get to bed in a few minutes, so I just live with it.

To get to the meat of the story, though, my results over the past few weeks have shown a gain around two pounds per week, and it seems to be adding inches (well, an inch) to my waist. While I have seen some nice improvement in some muscle areas (most visibly my arms, but I know from the gym that I'm gaining strength everywhere), I'm alarmed by the rate of weight gain, coupled with the added inch on my waistline (and, subjectively, my stomach seems to protrude visibly more than it used to at rest). I've only been making it to the gym roughly 2 of my normal three days per week lately, but is that a make-or-break difference that's somehow accounting for adding an inch to my waist instead of, say, my chest, and adding an extra 1.5 lbs per week?

So ... it seems like maybe MFP's estimate of my BMR might be high? Or the fitbit calculation of extra calories I can eat from "exercise" is completely bogus (walking, mostly, since I record my gym workout manually)? I wasn't actually losing weight at my natural consumption level, even though MFP believed that meant I should be, and being around (or a bit under) its level for me to gain half a pound per week has resulted in gaining almost two pounds per week. Does this seem like a reasonable explanation? Is it reasonable for me to drop my target back to 'maintain,' under the premise of that target *actually* being closer to "gain half a pound per week" for my body than MFP thinks?

If I'm being a crazy person, feel free to tell me, but I'd appreciate some accompanying actual explanation for the results I'm seeing, and some assurance that I'm not going to keep adding unwanted inches to my waistline. (Adding inches at my chest and arms are fine, but I'd very much like a flat stomach. Frankly, I'd like to drop BF% a hair to bring out definition in my lower abs, but that's mostly a pipe dream I have no idea how to accomplish healthily, and probably a topic for another day.)

Thanks!

neanderthin

Water weight my friend. Anytime we increase calories and have already been working out like you have, glycogen is increased. It's too soon to come to any conclusions, especially someone with your build and history of frustration for increasing size. Personally i'd be pleased given your stats, and like i said just keep an eye on your progress going forward.