did i GAIN weight for nothing?

Jessicaruby · February 2012

i did alot of reading, asking, and research before i decided bulking seemed like the best option to reach my fitness goals. i just completed a 4 month bulk. in the process i gained 15lbs and 12inces. i had to buy new pants because my butt wouldnt fit into my smaller ones :grumble: . i hated gaining but i knew it was for a reason...... well now im not so sure. i have talked to a few people who seem to have gained just as much muscle and definition while eating in a deficit. this goes against everything i have read so i am really confused now. i have had a few people tell me that to gain muscle you can still be in a deficit (so as not to gain fat). you just have to lift heavy and often and eat alot of protein. SO DID I BULK AND GET FAT FOR NOTHING? could i have stayed small (in a deficit) and just lifted and raised protein intake to achieve what i was trying to with a bulk?

UponThisRock · February 2012

The only people that can gain muscle in a deficit are those who are new to lifting. Other than that, you're going to have put on some fat in order to gain muscle. Your new muscles will be revealed after you cut (if you do it right).

Jessicaruby · February 2012

The only people that can gain muscle in a deficit are those who are new to lifting. Other than that, you're going to have put on some fat in order to gain muscle. Your new muscles will be revealed after you cut (if you do it right).

what is the right way to cut to achieve maxium results?

HeidiMightyRawr · February 2012

Maybe you would have gained a little, if you were new to lifting. I seriously doubt it would have been at the amount of a bulk though.

From my own experience, while in a deficit, I think I just uncovered the muscle I did have. Maybe I gained a TINY amount as I was just returning to lifting for the first time in 9 months, but it wasn't that noticeable. I got stronger though, although even that reached a point where it stalled for what seemed like forever.

After bulking, I gained significant strength in my lower body that was at a higher rate than what I had while maintaining previously. I also broke through a very long plateau on bench and improved quite a bit in shoulders. My overall increase in size/muscle seemed quite a lot too and while I gained quite a bit of fat, I could tell there was extra muscle. After cutting I feel confident I'd have more muscle than I did at the same weight previously

So, no I don't think you've gained for nothing. Let the main judge be your results after you have finished cutting though

If you get results that's all that matters right?

HeidiMightyRawr · February 2012

The only people that can gain muscle in a deficit are those who are new to lifting. Other than that, you're going to have put on some fat in order to gain muscle. Your new muscles will be revealed after you cut (if you do it right).

what is the right way to cut to achieve maxium results?

1) Small calorie deficit
2) Adequate protein (1g per lb body weight, or at least 1g per lb lean body mass)
3) Heavy lifting

UponThisRock · February 2012

The only people that can gain muscle in a deficit are those who are new to lifting. Other than that, you're going to have put on some fat in order to gain muscle. Your new muscles will be revealed after you cut (if you do it right).

what is the right way to cut to achieve maxium results?

-Keep your protein high: 2-3g per kg of target body weight
-cut some volume and focus on maintaining intensity (weight on the bar)
-lose slowly: .5-1 lbs per week
-take a week off from dieting every 6-8 weeks and eat at maintenance

Acg67 · February 2012

i did alot of reading, asking, and research before i decided bulking seemed like the best option to reach my fitness goals. i just completed a 4 month bulk. in the process i gained 15lbs and 12inces. i had to buy new pants because my butt wouldnt fit into my smaller ones :grumble: . i hated gaining but i knew it was for a reason...... well now im not so sure. i have talked to a few people who seem to have gained just as much muscle and definition while eating in a deficit.

Gaining 15lbs of muscle while in a deficit would be hard even for newbies or the obese

Rae6503 · February 2012

People go back and forth on this but obviously since I'm doing a bulk too, I don't think you can really gain muscle while on a deficit.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html

Rae6503 · February 2012

i did alot of reading, asking, and research before i decided bulking seemed like the best option to reach my fitness goals. i just completed a 4 month bulk. in the process i gained 15lbs and 12inces. i had to buy new pants because my butt wouldnt fit into my smaller ones :grumble: . i hated gaining but i knew it was for a reason...... well now im not so sure. i have talked to a few people who seem to have gained just as much muscle and definition while eating in a deficit.

Gaining 15lbs of muscle while in a deficit would be hard even for newbies or the obese

I'm guessing she didn't gain 15lbs of straight muscle. At least a third is probably fat, right?

Tasha_Star · February 2012

There is an article on bodybuilding.com about how not being able to gain muscle on a deficit diet is a myth. It explains how your diet/workouts need to be to be able to build muscle while on a restricted diet. It is definitely possible as I am doing it now and NOT new to working out. Obviously you arent doing to gain weight because you're losing fat. In saying that your weight loss wont be as dramatic because you will still be putting on muscle lbs...but the loss of fat makes that gain not noticeable, or at least from my experience, but you definitely wont be losing mad weight because the muscle gain makes that harder. I lose about 2lbs every cpl weeks while doing the heavy weight training/high protein/low carb/1200 cal diet...

did i GAIN weight for nothing?

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