High calorie intake but still not gaining!

[Hypnotix]

U should be discussing this issue with 3j.bro

If I felt the issue was diet related I would be.

Looking for out of the box ideas here. Not run of the mill answers.

49ER, I appreciate your opinion. I've definitely considered that as a reason.

 

[clman8585]

Lol dude you arent going to make gains off cycle. That is why we cycle.. who the fuck can actually say they came off cycle, and kept gaining..NOBODY

 

[Hypnotix]

Ripped I think I'll take you up on that.

Glad to track day by day and show you my macros. Assume that the meals are healthy and well balanced as I won't disclose the actual foods or order of.. blah blah blah. Lol

I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

 

[Roush]

there is no mention here of your type of weight training Hypnotix.. this is an important factor when bulking.

if your training for myofribillar hypertrophy then your weight gain will be very very slow, but strength will go up.. if your training for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy then weight will go up quickly, and strength will come on more slowly.

what type of training are you doing-- ?

 

[barrysanders]

I know someone said it, " what am I missing" but i still don't get it buddy. You want to gain weight at 20-25% body fat??? What's the rational?
And secondly, your concerned about why your not gaining weight with the macros your currently
Consuming? Is that correct?

 

[PrinceDianabol]

Lol dude you arent going to make gains off cycle. That is why we cycle.. who the fuck can actually say they came off cycle, and kept gaining..NOBODY

I can. Also I believe if someone can't make any gains as a natural then they have no business using gear at all... but that's just my opinion.

I know someone said it, " what am I missing" but i still don't get it buddy. You want to gain weight at 20-25% body fat??? What's the rational?
And secondly, your concerned about why your not gaining weight with the macros your currently
Consuming? Is that correct?

He said above he's only trying to maintain. I'll place my bet on miscalculated caloric intake.. but we'll see.

I don't think its a training issue as if he was in a surplus he would still be gaining weight, whether he's training hard or not at all.

 

[Matt0071]

It's already been mentioned bro but if u are currently at 20 to 25 percent body fat, why wouldn't u want to chop that, get down to a lower body fat percentage and work from there?

 

[49ER]

Prince nothing against you but lets see some pics of you as a natural so your saying I have no business using aas? I didn't see anything to brag about natty looked better than when i started thats it

 

[Hypnotix]

there is no mention here of your type of weight training Hypnotix.. this is an important factor when bulking.

if your training for myofribillar hypertrophy then your weight gain will be very very slow, but strength will go up.. if your training for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy then weight will go up quickly, and strength will come on more slowly.

what type of training are you doing-- ?

I did say the past two weeks my training was shitty, but you're right, I didn't make mention of what I'm currently doing or "trying" to follow.

Let's see, before and during cycle I was very strict to 3J's Reverse Pyramid program. It trains to failure at rep ranges high and low, (4 to 20). I'm sure you're familiar, but if not.. here's a basic workout to sum it up.

Chest
Bench Press - Warm-up 15 reps to failure, Overload 4-5 reps to failure, Working Set (1) 6 reps to failure, (Working set (2) 8 reps to failure, Superset Burnout Set 20 reps to failure)
Incline Bench - Ditto
Decline Bench - Ditto
Dumbell Flyes - 20 reps (failure) x 3 sets

45 seconds of rest in between sets. Longer for the Overload set usually.
1 second up, 4 seconds down.

-----------------------------------------------

That's the breakdown for a single workout done on his program. In my opinion it works just fine.. can't blame that workout for my lack of results. I always use the max weight I can handle at whatever rep range I'm shooting for.

Chest, Back, Shoulders, Legs, Arms, Rest, Rest.

Now, at the tail end of my cycle.. my work picked up. ALOT so I exchanged an every day program for a 3 day program where I literally just combined Chest/Back, Legs/Shoulders, and then still did arms alone. I did not drop any exercises off any original workout.. Instead I just SuperSet Push/Pull. Bench Press and Barbell Row or Lying DB Press and Bent over DB Rows.. I hit all the same weight to failure, if not more, because of the opposing work doing it's "magic".. and still maintained the same rep ranges and normal supersets at the end of each exercise.

If this doesn't make any sense to you, feel free to ask more.

When I was on cycle.. I went about it a little differently once I hit Week 4-5. Instead of going 15, 4, 6, (8,20) SS). I went 15, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15-20. I would modify anywhere from 1-3 exercises volume depending on how I felt after work each night. All still to failure, max weight for the range.. whatever you want to call it.

Thanks for your consideration!

 

[Hypnotix]

I should repeat myself again. I'm not necessarily trying to gain now! I'm trying to maintain, I ended cycle at 201!. After PCT, few weeks now.. I'm at 197. MAINTAIN!

Now that I'm at 197.. I still want to stay as close to that 201 if not get there if at all possible that I ended at. All there is to it. FFS. I am not trying to gain an exorbant amount of weight at 20-25% bf.. I simply need to maintain for a while before cutting! I will be cutting back down... just not for a month? At the very least now I'd imagine. I can't exactly say how long 3J will want to wait after cycle to cut!

Again, I AM NOT TRYING TO GAIN.... but I'm sure as fuck not trying to lose right now.

 

[barrysanders]

This is just above my head. I still don't get it. You want to loose weight, you
Don't, now
Just maintain.

Hmmm...Gluck bro. It's
Simple science. Find your baseline and increase
Or decrease macros.

 

[Hypnotix]

I can. Also I believe if someone can't make any gains as a natural then they have no business using gear at all... but that's just my opinion.



He said above he's only trying to maintain. I'll place my bet on miscalculated caloric intake.. but we'll see.

I don't think its a training issue as if he was in a surplus he would still be gaining weight, whether he's training hard or not at all.

I really appreciate you reading all my posts lol

There are surely weeks where a Sunday I'll fuck up and miss a meal, or only get in a partial meal instead.. Or during the week I'll miss out on a scoop of peanut butter, you know small fuck ups! We're talking 500-600 calories missing.

I went into MyFitnessPal and checked my macros. Just for you guys!

Here's just regular diet macros, NO POST WORKOUT MEAL, Minus my most recent addition as well just to give you an idea of where I was.

Carbs - 390
Fats - 208
Protein - 399
4900 Calories

PWO MEAL

Carbs - 86
Fats - 12
Protein - 62
700 Calories

That's 5600 on workout days, 4900 on non workout days.

Now here's the kicker, my most recent addition was rather vast. 8 servings at 140 calories per serving, PER DAY.

That substantially increases my numbers... to 6700 on workout days, and 6000 even on non workout days. I lost 2lbs the first week of the new additions. Even if I didn't work out, and get a pwo meal in.. 6000 is way over what I should require to move up!

I didn't even mention the 3 shakes I'm supposed to have on top of this a week. I did not add them to the calculations here, and it would essentially add around 2400-3000 calories to the weekly total. I don't always get those in, but they aren't in the numbers above so they would only make my case look even more grim!

 

[Hypnotix]

This is just above my head. I still don't get it. You want to loose weight, you
Don't, now
Just maintain.

Hmmm...Gluck bro. It's
Simple science. Find your baseline and increase
Or decrease macros.

If you had read my posts you would have seen me say, "I shouldn't have used the word gain".. like in my thread title. Maintaining 201 at this point would require me to gain 4lbs though. So in a way I do need to gain kind of... Whatever though.

I understand the whole gaining and losing processes, what it takes to make what happen. You have an amazing physique, I've seen your pics... and I respect your opinion, but I'm not bullshitting when I say I'm eating what I say I am. And I can tell you that at LEAST I'm 98% consistent every week. As in I don't mess up but a single meal.. out of 50+ meals a week (7-8/day). And not every week I do.. most of the time I'm good, and like I said as well in the post above.. even if I miss an entire meal on the weekend.. I'm still over 6000 calories well above surplus.

I'm really trying to find reasoning here.

I appreciate your time, Thanks.

 

[Mrrippedzilla]

You need bloodwork.
All the usual stuff you normally get post cycle plus a full thyroid panel so we can see if there is anything funny going on. Until you get these results, we're simply speculating.

Also - your training is fine.
The idea that your training is somehow so bad that it wipes out a 2,000 calorie surplus is so retarded I cant even begin to explain.

For prince and 49er:
There is a difference between keeping AAS induced gains off cycle, and simply making gains off cycle - something to remember.

 

[oldmusclemike]

At that BF% You should lose weight. Give us some pics. Are we talking Lean Muscle Mass or bullshit water n fat. I don't understand this at all what your are looking for.

I make sure I gain weight that looks good and adds to my muscularity...LMM. Why are we discussing holding onto 20-25% BF. WTF is that all about. How about loosing some weight to show what muscle you have. At this stage if you maintain you are just holing the water etc... if you gain you are gaining the water n bullshit. How can you even tell what LMM you are gaining at that BF%.

IMOP someone is confused at what they understand and what they are doing. LMM weight is where it's at.

PS: to put on LMM it is slow and hard and takes a long time. Hence a man can only gain approx. 15 lbs of LMM a year. So take your short term weight gain and now think about in what tie frame and how much muscle can that equate to.

 

[49ER]

Dont know why nobody just says..... The little bit of muscle you gained on cycle is gonna go away after and during pct..... your gonna stay or get fatter during this faze with your hormones all fucked tryinv to get back where they were.

I started same bf as you if not more after 7 years lifting natty. Pct i always lost gains and got fatter dont listen to guys that have been athletes all there lives or dont know what its like to be fat.I have never ever counted calories measured shit im not super lean but im smart enough to know aas fucken works and is not to be downplayed in its roll it plays.

You know what pct means to me? Perfect Compound Tren.... There is no science here your not gaining your not maintaining because you came off hormones period.... the best thing and really only thing your diet can be good for at this point is losing fat. dont expect food to over power everything and your gonna gain muscle and lose fat not gonna happen.

Barry Sanders id listen too cuz his body speaks for it self but remember he is on hormones. He may even have looked better than both of us natty but some people are just genetically better high natural igf growing up, athletes many reasons they look better. I just dont like seeing people throw out reasons when not ever being in the shoes of a overweight person.

 

[Hypnotix]

You need bloodwork.
All the usual stuff you normally get post cycle plus a full thyroid panel so we can see if there is anything funny going on. Until you get these results, we're simply speculating.

Also - your training is fine.
The idea that your training is somehow so bad that it wipes out a 2,000 calorie surplus is so retarded I cant even begin to explain.

For prince and 49er:
There is a difference between keeping AAS induced gains off cycle, and simply making gains off cycle - something to remember.

Well, I'm only 2 weeks off PCT.. checked my calendar. A little earlier than previously thought actually. Regardless, I'm willing to get bloods to rule out anything but I was going to wait the usually recommended 6-8 weeks after PCT. Thoughts on that? As in, should I get one done sooner and later?

I got the Post cycle bloods covered as far as what panel. But, as far as the thyroid panel goes.. What should absolutely be checked, AND I'm going to imagine that I should continue taking my medication as normal correct?

Thank you

 

[Hypnotix]

At that BF% You should lose weight. Give us some pics. Are we talking Lean Muscle Mass or bullshit water n fat. I don't understand this at all what your are looking for.

I make sure I gain weight that looks good and adds to my muscularity...LMM. Why are we discussing holding onto 20-25% BF. WTF is that all about. How about loosing some weight to show what muscle you have. At this stage if you maintain you are just holing the water etc... if you gain you are gaining the water n bullshit. How can you even tell what LMM you are gaining at that BF%.

IMOP someone is confused at what they understand and what they are doing. LMM weight is where it's at.

PS: to put on LMM it is slow and hard and takes a long time. Hence a man can only gain approx. 15 lbs of LMM a year. So take your short term weight gain and now think about in what tie frame and how much muscle can that equate to.

That's a 1/4lb a week if you gain your supposed limit of LMM yearly.

If I only cycled for 14 weeks, 3.5lbs based on your information.

Hard to grasp if it's the truth. But, I don't honestly believe 3.5lbs in a 14 week period is all the dry muscle weight you can possibly gained while "enhanced".

Not saying you're wrong, and I know you're a vet (you have wisdom, and been doing this much longer).. but it's incredibly hard for me to believe that.

 

[Hypnotix]

Dont know why nobody just says..... The little bit of muscle you gained on cycle is gonna go away after and during pct..... your gonna stay or get fatter during this faze with your hormones all fucked tryinv to get back where they were.

I started same bf as you if not more after 7 years lifting natty. Pct i always lost gains and got fatter dont listen to guys that have been athletes all there lives or dont know what its like to be fat.I have never ever counted calories measured shit im not super lean but im smart enough to know aas fucken works and is not to be downplayed in its roll it plays.

You know what pct means to me? Perfect Compound Tren.... There is no science here your not gaining your not maintaining because you came off hormones period.... the best thing and really only thing your diet can be good for at this point is losing fat. dont expect food to over power everything and your gonna gain muscle and lose fat not gonna happen.

Barry Sanders id listen too cuz his body speaks for it self but remember he is on hormones. He may even have looked better than both of us natty but some people are just genetically better high natural igf growing up, athletes many reasons they look better. I just dont like seeing people throw out reasons when not ever being in the shoes of a overweight person.

This is the most sincere post I've seen from you. Literally.

I appreciate your advice. Thanks man.

 

[Hypnotix]

Hmm, I'll post some pics up. Why not. I'm fat though be warned. I'll show a before, during, and after cycle. You want flexed or no?