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Nutrition am I gaining too much weight too quickly?

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marcelotine

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Okay..so beginner weight lifter here in my early 30s.. a little over 5'9, thin boned individual.

I am only on my 4th week of Faleev's 80/20 and have gained about 14lbs..!. Is this too much weight? Realistically, how much of this is muscle at best? 2 lbs..?

I have not significantly changed the content of my diet, but I'm eating a lot more, and drinking a lot of milk (something I don't do normally), trying to eat more protein etc...

I'm hungry a lot...all the time.

Would appreciate all insight and advice.
 
Hello,

I am what we call a "hard gainer" (both due to lifestyle and genetics). Usually, a calorie surplus of 300kcal a day is what folks due to optimize lean mass gain without too much fat.

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
For most folks I'm going to say about 1/2lb a week is the most you can gain in lean muscle, and that would be really nailing it.

Exceptions to this might be:
- people who were previously bigger and lost size will regain that size very rapidly under ideal conditions

- people who were continuously running under weight can put on a ton when exposed to ideal conditions.

I'd say trust the mirror and don't sweat it. If you were very lean and are now putting on muscle and fat you probably needed both.
 
Agree with @North Coast Miller, but you don't want that rapid gain to continue too long. It is entirely possible to overdo the eating on a heavy lifting program, and then it's a struggle to get it back off. I'd suggest logging for a few days so you can get an idea of what your intake and macros are. In grams of protein, something like 1.6g per kg of bodyweight is about right, maybe just a bit more, but more than that won't help you much muscle-wise and is only excess calories. Caloric surplus, you want maybe a few hundred calories... not 1,000 or more. Try to get quality food, not junk. I'm not a nutrition expert, so take that FWIW. Good luck!
 
Wow! Congrats! It also depends on where you started. 130 lb or 230 lb.

14 lb on 4 weeks, assuming 3500 cal/lb. Means that you are earing in excess of about 1750 cal/day. If I'm gaining weight, I usually like to target 500 cal/day excess.

If you are a bigger guy to start with, maybe slow it down some (but still eat at a slight surplus). If you are a smaller guy, I wouldnt worry too much about it, you will reach an equilibrium soon, but still consider slowing down some. I'm hesitant to tell you to slow down because I dont want to interfere with your strength gains. That should be the primary focus right now.

Dont freak out if your body fat goes up a hair. This is how I monitor my body composition : Google "dave draper body fat calculator". Its the 1st link that pops up. Sorry. Having trouble linking it here.
 
Thank you all for your responses.
@North Coast Miller @william bad butt @Anna C
I should have mentioned..my starting weight was 156 lbs. I'm about 5,9 or 5'10 ish.I'm currently hovering around 170 lbs. I'm skinny/thin boned (slightly bulging belly notwithstanding).

Before Faleev's 80/20 I did a few cycles of PTTP and gained a pound or so I believe despite that fact it's not a supposedly a program for gaining weight.

Last year, I competed in grappling at 154 lbs... If I keep going at this rate I'm gonna be several weight classes higher next time I compete..yikes..

The year before while fasting during Ramadan my weight was as low as 146 lbs...

As far as my diet is concerned I'm not on any specific diet but eat very clean...havent had sugar in 7 years..don't eat any processed food.. all organic and directly sources when possible.

Typical brekafast is 2-3 eggs, and 2 pieces of sourdough bread.
Lunch varies..these days I have having a large salad with canned tuna.. throughly drenched in olive oil...
Dinner is typically salmon and rice .. occasionally pasta.. or lamb ..(I buy a whole animal,.and eat salmon when I run out).. occasionally chicken (but as Pavel says it's "a weak bird" :))

As I said with the exception of whole milk which I'm drinking about 1-2 glasses a day..I'm eating pretty much the same foods as I always eat, just more of it..

I'm looking a little bigger all around...belly has grown too but no disproportionately so...:)

I'm also not grappling at the moment and working form home for the most part so largely sedentary lifestyle besides the lifting.
 
Hello,

I am what we call a "hard gainer" (both due to lifestyle and genetics). Usually, a calorie surplus of 300kcal a day is what folks due to optimize lean mass gain without too much fat.

Kind regards,

Pet'
I always thought I was a hard gainer...so I'm interested in seeing where my current trajectory goes .
 
If the trajectory continues another week or 2, consider backing off on the food (maybe drink 1 glass of milk). But I wouldnt be too concerned yet. Also, make sure you are least walking and getting some excersise in (easy aerobic). If you squat/dead/bench and eat and sleep well, you will put on weight, at least until you reach equilibrium. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it just depends on your goals.

I powerlift. I'm 40. 5'9". And I weigh in the 230's. I am by no means 10% body fat, but I am leaner than you would think looking at my obese BMI score. Many years ago if I would have known I was going to weigh this much I would have been terribly worried. But Im healthy, feel good, move well, look OK (I dont have much to work with :cool: ) and I am OK with where I am at. I am by no means recommending you get as heavy as me, just using myself as an example.

Regards,

Eric
 
I would definitely like to gain muscle mass, especially as that is not something I have never seriously tried to do before, and as the time right now is an unique opportunity for me to do this as I'm not grappling due to the lockdown and am working from home, etc - however, I definitely do not want to gain too much extra baggage in the process for the reason that Anna mentioned: once you put it on, it's difficult to lose, but also I would not care to compete several weight classes above where I am used to competing (>154lbs) .. the next weight class is >168lbs, and I'm already creeping past that.

I have been advised protien shakes. I have not looked into it too closely, but I have some reservations based on my general understanding of nutrition and health. I would like to get all my nutrients from whole foods if possible. Any thoughts on this?
 
I would definitely like to gain muscle mass, especially as that is not something I have never seriously tried to do before, and as the time right now is an unique opportunity for me to do this as I'm not grappling due to the lockdown and am working from home, etc - however, I definitely do not want to gain too much extra baggage in the process for the reason that Anna mentioned: once you put it on, it's difficult to lose, but also I would not care to compete several weight classes above where I am used to competing (>154lbs) .. the next weight class is >168lbs, and I'm already creeping past that.

I have been advised protien shakes. I have not looked into it too closely, but I have some reservations based on my general understanding of nutrition and health. I would like to get all my nutrients from whole foods if possible. Any thoughts on this?

I drink protein shakes. No more than 1 per day. It is a convenience thing to hit my protein goals. I mostly try to eat whole foods though. FYI, I use Intek Protein from Jax Nutrition.

If you can get by without them, eat real food, of course. But if you are having troubles getting enough protein and are hungry all the time, the shake is better than eating convenience (junk) foods.

I'm an amateur, wannabe powerlifter. So I do a lot of squats. The squat, for me, is so anabolic. My body just want to add more and more muscle to my frame. I've never been able to healthily lose weight while squatting. NEVER. If I quit squatting for a couple months, I rapidly drop 10-20 lb with no effort.

Not sure if others experience this.
 
When I want to put on weight I do what the "experts" recommend, 4 hi-pro meals of 30+grams protein, spaced out about 4 hours.
I also limit dietary fat to prolong how long I can gain before I have to stop and train off the extra body fat.

If you're lifting heavy and with volume, listen to your body and eat more. Pay attention to the mirror and the weights you move. If your pants are getting tighter in the waist and not in the butt or thigh, or are gaining weight while your lift numbers stall, you should decrease your diet. These are the signs you've gone too quick with the overfeeding.
 
I have been advised protien shakes. I have not looked into it too closely, but I have some reservations based on my general understanding of nutrition and health. I would like to get all my nutrients from whole foods if possible. Any thoughts on this?

I think protein shakes with high quality whey or pea protein are a great way to supplement to get at least 1.6g/day of protein per kg of bodyweight, IF you are not getting that through your food. If you are getting that through your other food, then no need for them... except they do offer the slight advantage of a big enough dose of leucine to effectively trigger muscle protein synthesis. @kennycro@@aol.com has written a lot about that in past posts.

One think I learned to look for is grams of protein relative to the grams in a serving size. Some are a lot better than others in that regard. The cheaper ones have a lot of filler.
 
Hello,

Maybe another approach like "Lean gains" can be worth considering:

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
Okay..so beginner weight lifter here in my early 30s.. a little over 5'9, thin boned individual.

I am only on my 4th week of Faleev's 80/20 and have gained about 14lbs..!. Is this too much weight? Realistically, how much of this is muscle at best? 2 lbs..?

I have not significantly changed the content of my diet, but I'm eating a lot more, and drinking a lot of milk (something I don't do normally), trying to eat more protein etc...

I'm hungry a lot...all the time.

Would appreciate all insight and advice.
I'll go back to the oft mentioned subject of goals. What are yours? If you engage in weight class sports (which it sounds like you might because of grappling) or participate in sports where you dance with gravity, then weight is obviously important. My lifestyle sort of dictates the need to be as light as possible without compromising strength and endurance.
At the end of the day, you have to carry your own engine...
 
I'll go back to the oft mentioned subject of goals. What are yours? If you engage in weight class sports (which it sounds like you might because of grappling) or participate in sports where you dance with gravity, then weight is obviously important. My lifestyle sort of dictates the need to be as light as possible without compromising strength and endurance.
At the end of the day, you have to carry your own engine...

As someone who has never done any strength training my primary goal is to increase my absolute strength - hit some basic standards with the three big lifts. Secondary goal is to gain size/muscle mass. This is a unique window of opportunity given I'm unable to grapple at the moment. Once I go back to the mats I will probably need to switch to PTTP.

I definitely don't want to gain too much extra baggage. I like the advantages that come with being light; speed and agility. And like I said, I wouldn't fancy having to compete several weight classes above what I'm used to.
 
Hello,

I'll go back to the oft mentioned subject of goals. What are yours?
+1 to that

At the end of the day, you have to carry your own engine...
+1 to that as well

As a precision, I think there is some kind of "threshold", assuming we are not involved in a weight class sport. For instance, when I had to do the carries in the mountains during an OCR, I was not as good as heavier guys who had my height.

To a certain extent, there were sort of of two ratios:
- bodyweight / added weight to carry
- bodyweight / endurance (for pure running event)

I am not an expert, but for general health purpose (no competition, no weight class) maybe we could consider that the formula "cm - 10" can be a rough estimate. For instance, if your height is 1,80m -> roughly 70kg

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
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