Gaining weight only on stomach

Did he just start strength training?

If so, a calorie surplus is not appropriate, it will lead to fat gain more than anything.

Ideally you should spend 4-6 months strength training first, get as strong as you can with your existing muscle mass, before attempting to gain more. You'll know you reached the point when you are ready when strength gains begin to stall out when in a calorie deficit.

To lose stomach fat a calorie deficit is needed.

Your advice would only apply to someone who's really fat.

It makes absolutely no sense when this guy is only 5'8, 138lbs. He's a toothpick. With those stats, a deficit should be the last thing on his mind.

He needs to keep eating in a surplus.


Mzbek, I'd make sure that first of all he's following a decent weight lifting routine. If he's going to the gym and just bull****ting around then that would be a problem of course.

Now if he actually has a decent routine and he's gaining too much fat, then he should eat at a smaller surplus.

And make sure he's getting in at least 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight.

Did he just start strength training?

If so, a calorie surplus is not appropriate, it will lead to fat gain more than anything.

Ideally you should spend 4-6 months strength training first, get as strong as you can with your existing muscle mass, before attempting to gain more. You'll know you reached the point when you are ready when strength gains begin to stall out when in a calorie deficit.

To lose stomach fat a calorie deficit is needed.

Your advice would only apply to someone who's really fat.

It makes absolutely no sense when this guy is only 5'8, 138lbs. He's a toothpick. With those stats, a deficit should be the last thing on his mind.

He needs to keep eating in a surplus.


Mzbek, I'd make sure that first of all he's following a decent weight lifting routine. If he's going to the gym and just bull****ting around then that would be a problem of course.

Now if he actually has a decent routine and he's gaining too much fat, then he should eat at a smaller surplus.

And make sure he's getting in at least 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight.

When you first start strength training, virtually all your surplus goes to fat if you are in a calorie surplus.

That strength gain slowdown point is very important. Set to set recovery times increase a great deal as do workout to workout recovery times. At that point you are generating about as much tension as your muscles are capable of producing with the current CSA and you are much more thoroughly fatiguing them, both are important factors for muscle growth.

When still in the noob gains territory, actual muscle gain in a surplus will be minimal.

While the person in question may be too skinny to cut much more (though why not work on excess belly fat as you work on getting strong), unless strong a surplus isn't going to be very helpful either.

Think about it for a second, if your muscle has adequate CSA to bench 150 lbs, but you are only strong enough to bench 80 lbs, why on earth would the body grow more muscle in response to training? It'll just increase neuromuscular efficiency, using what you already have better, and use any excess calories to save up for times of famine. It sucks but that is how it works.

I'd argue the two most common issues with bulking are:

- Underestimating calorie needs and/or trying to "lean" bulk, in the end spinning your wheels and accomplishing very little.

- Bulking before you are strong enough to bulk efficiently, in the end gaining a lot of fat and very little muscle for your efforts.

If he makes sure he lifts heavy (ie a proper strength training routine), then he could happily eat around 2500. I'm shorter than him and heavier than him yet don't have the pot belly you describe despite me eating up to 3000 calories.

hormones caused by stress or lack of sleep can contribute to storing fat on the belly, but so can genetics.

Stronglifts while a good solid program is NOT a hypertrophy program.

This is Lyle McDonald's "Generic Bulking Routine":

http://forums.lylemcdonald.com/showthread.php?t=1696

Did he just start strength training?

If so, a calorie surplus is not appropriate, it will lead to fat gain more than anything.

Ideally you should spend 4-6 months strength training first, get as strong as you can with your existing muscle mass, before attempting to gain more. You'll know you reached the point when you are ready when strength gains begin to stall out when in a calorie deficit.

To lose stomach fat a calorie deficit is needed.

Your advice would only apply to someone who's really fat.

It makes absolutely no sense when this guy is only 5'8, 138lbs. He's a toothpick. With those stats, a deficit should be the last thing on his mind.

He needs to keep eating in a surplus.


Mzbek, I'd make sure that first of all he's following a decent weight lifting routine. If he's going to the gym and just bull****ting around then that would be a problem of course.

Now if he actually has a decent routine and he's gaining too much fat, then he should eat at a smaller surplus.

And make sure he's getting in at least 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight.

When you first start strength training, virtually all your surplus goes to fat if you are in a calorie surplus.

That strength gain slowdown point is very important. Set to set recovery times increase a great deal as do workout to workout recovery times. At that point you are generating about as much tension as your muscles are capable of producing with the current CSA and you are much more thoroughly fatiguing them, both are important factors for muscle growth.

When still in the noob gains territory, actual muscle gain in a surplus will be minimal.

While the person in question may be too skinny to cut much more (though why not work on excess belly fat as you work on getting strong), unless strong a surplus isn't going to be very helpful either.

Think about it for a second, if your muscle has adequate CSA to bench 150 lbs, but you are only strong enough to bench 80 lbs, why on earth would the body grow more muscle in response to training? It'll just increase neuromuscular efficiency, using what you already have better, and use any excess calories to save up for times of famine. It sucks but that is how it works.

I'd argue the two most common issues with bulking are:

- Underestimating calorie needs and/or trying to "lean" bulk, in the end spinning your wheels and accomplishing very little.

- Bulking before you are strong enough to bulk efficiently, in the end gaining a lot of fat and very little muscle for your efforts.

This is an interesting thought I have not seen presented before, which makes a lot of logical sense to me. As a thin guy with more jiggle in the midsection than I would prefer, and less strength than I would like, I am intrigued by this thought.

Did he just start strength training?

If so, a calorie surplus is not appropriate, it will lead to fat gain more than anything.

Ideally you should spend 4-6 months strength training first, get as strong as you can with your existing muscle mass, before attempting to gain more. You'll know you reached the point when you are ready when strength gains begin to stall out when in a calorie deficit.

To lose stomach fat a calorie deficit is needed.

Your advice would only apply to someone who's really fat.

It makes absolutely no sense when this guy is only 5'8, 138lbs. He's a toothpick. With those stats, a deficit should be the last thing on his mind.

He needs to keep eating in a surplus.


Mzbek, I'd make sure that first of all he's following a decent weight lifting routine. If he's going to the gym and just bull****ting around then that would be a problem of course.

Now if he actually has a decent routine and he's gaining too much fat, then he should eat at a smaller surplus.

And make sure he's getting in at least 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight.

When you first start strength training, virtually all your surplus goes to fat if you are in a calorie surplus.

That strength gain slowdown point is very important. Set to set recovery times increase a great deal as do workout to workout recovery times. At that point you are generating about as much tension as your muscles are capable of producing with the current CSA and you are much more thoroughly fatiguing them, both are important factors for muscle growth.

When still in the noob gains territory, actual muscle gain in a surplus will be minimal.

While the person in question may be too skinny to cut much more (though why not work on excess belly fat as you work on getting strong), unless strong a surplus isn't going to be very helpful either.

Think about it for a second, if your muscle has adequate CSA to bench 150 lbs, but you are only strong enough to bench 80 lbs, why on earth would the body grow more muscle in response to training? It'll just increase neuromuscular efficiency, using what you already have better, and use any excess calories to save up for times of famine. It sucks but that is how it works.

I'd argue the two most common issues with bulking are:

- Underestimating calorie needs and/or trying to "lean" bulk, in the end spinning your wheels and accomplishing very little.

- Bulking before you are strong enough to bulk efficiently, in the end gaining a lot of fat and very little muscle for your efforts.

The extra weight will help him lift bigger in the long run if he's a chicken *kitten* right now.

I just saw those stats again and reminded me that that is basically my BIL. Tall and thin. 5'10" and 60kg.

I gave him my beginner strength program and he went from a 40kg squat, 40kg bench and 60kg deadlift to 120kg squat, 85kg bench and 150kg deadlift. He maintained weight at 60kg but is visibly "larger". (Muscle being more dense than fat)

In summary, lift stuff often and consistently