Lifting= acne?

rawvegpower wrote: »

I started lifting about a month ago and I’m astonished by my results this far putting on about 4-5lbs. But as a result my adult acne has been consistently getting worse. Have you experience this? Is so any suggestion for what helped you, or did it taper off naturally?

Thanks MFP community.

I haven't had any issues yet this bulk (3 months in), but I've noticed that between the increased cals and creatine during previous bulks that it has become an issue for me.

IIRC increasing your calories sometimes have the effect of increasing acne (or perhaps it was the other way around, that short term calorie reductions can reduce its incidence). Either way, it should level out. I don't know what you're doing skincare-wise, but if you aren't already using one, a BHA or AHA (or both) after washing your face might help with the acne - just make sure you moisturise afterwards, and ideally use sunscreen.

Any skincare products with glycolic acid/AHAs will help control it. There's a bunch now so will be easy to get your hands on it but Proactiv is one of them.

Have you changed your diet per advice received here recently? If so, your hormones could be re-regulating which can do funky things but it will be short term.

i'd say try making your changes one by one, so you can isolate which one might be the deciding factor. no sense in throwing out your entire existing routine just because one thing among all of them was the one that caused things to calm down again.

on the 5 pounds . . . not to discourage you because gains are gains and if you're stronger today than you were on day one then the rest can be kind of irrelevant. but just as an info point, most people experience a few pounds' worth of water retention when they start out on a lifting programme. it's a good thing in its own way, but i'm afraid if you're assuming your body put together a pound of muscle a week over the past month, that's not terribly likely to be strictly true.

[edited here because i started doubting that one, not being a man myself or having any ideas about what's 'realistic' for men. almost certainly others will know, though.]

Have you been eating more to support your gains? Look at the foods have you added or increased in your diet as possible contributors.

Mainly face but sometimes on chest or back. It isn't too extreme but still makes me wonder what is going on. It might be what @Lean59man or something completely else. Since it's only a few here and there I don't worry about it. Still, it seems that everytime one batch clears up another crop pops up and it gets annoying. Maybe diet related?

I've got acne all over my back pretty sure it's more from my diet than from lifting or sweat. Once I start cutting and Clean up my diet up it goes away even tho I do cardio and sweat way more.

I'm dealing with this as well! But I'm now discovering it's the protein powder that I have been taking that is causing brake outs for me.