Mid Novice -- Nuanced Weight Direction

[FredM]

Hi Jordan,

First off, thanks for everything you do in this community. I listen to all your podcasts and generally try to follow your nutrition advice -- especially that found in To Be A Beast.

I started my novice LP at 194 lb bw, 5' 11" and just around 20% bf according to my scale (19.9-20.4, depending on the day) and a 38" waist. I started out at 2800 calories based of "recomp" and the fact that I was pretty borderline on the 20% bf recommendation. My lift starts were approximately on Oct. 1st 2017:

Squat: 115 lb
Bench: 160 lb
Press: 90 lb
Pull: 215 lb

The weight started to feel pretty heavy and I was missing reps pretty early so I upped the calories a few times and now I'm at 3400 (fluctuate between 3400 and 3600, with 200+g protein, 400g+ carbs, rest fat). I started taking creatine a few weeks ago, and the scale now says 204 lb and over 22% bf. My waist is just under 40". My chest is just over 42" (I have serious man boobs). I wear 32" pants still. It's hard for me to tell how much weight I actually gained because of the extra food and creatine -- as an example the first time I upped the calories and ate too much fat for a couple of days the scale moved to 200, I panicked, went back down to 2800, and within a day the scale said 194 again. Today my lifts are:

Squat: 250 lb
Bench: 180 lb
Press: 120 lb
Pull: 310 lb

I was feeling pretty decent about my progress and fairly minimal weight gain (I'd guess 3-6 lb actual mass) until I measured my waist today and saw it was the dreaded 40". I did some searching on these forums and found this from you:

https://startingstrength.com/resourc...p/t-36771.html

This has me thinking I shouldn't have gained weight at all and stuck with recomp or weight loss. Even though I was under 200 lb and therefore "not a man" according to Rip, I was probably too fat to gain muscle optimally.

So basically:

What now?

I'm worried if I start eating less my body won't be able to handle continued LP. And I'm worried if I try to gain weight very slowly it will be mostly fat because something something hormones something. I'm not looking for abs nor am I scared to gain weight -- I just don't want to gain weight if it's not helping me optimally with getting stronger.

I just ordered calipers to get a more accurate reading of BF %, but I'm pretty confident based off pictures online and my own body type I'm easily over 20% bf, and maybe as high as 25% thanks to my chest.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I wouldn't gain anymore weight right now. Keep it about the same as you run out LP and see how you do.

[FredM]

I wouldn't gain anymore weight right now. Keep it about the same as you run out LP and see how you do.

Thanks very much. I'll do that for the next few weeks before I sign up for BBM consulting (had a few exchanges with Leah) - just waiting until after getting my lifts evaluated in person by a couple SS coaches over the next couple of weeks.

Out of curiosity and because it might help others reading this -- since we know the classic definition of recomp is borderline impossible, is the general recommendation here to push as far as our current level of muscle mass can reasonably go, then cut? Or is it easier to cut as soon as we've exhausted LP on the major lifts until we're at a more reasonable 15% bf, then re-bulk with another short run at SS LP?

And by us I mean slightly overweight novices. I understand more muscle helps burns fat, but does more strength at the same muscle mass?

Thanks!

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Out of curiosity and because it might help others reading this -- since we know the classic definition of recomp is borderline impossible, is the general recommendation here to push as far as our current level of muscle mass can reasonably go, then cut? Or is it easier to cut as soon as we've exhausted LP on the major lifts until we're at a more reasonable 15% bf, then re-bulk with another short run at SS LP?

I think novices can, in general, gain some muscle and lose some adipose. So I would just plan on doing that.

And by us I mean slightly overweight novices. I understand more muscle helps burns fat, but does more strength at the same muscle mass?

And by us I mean slightly overweight novices. I understand more muscle helps burns fat, but does more strength at the same muscle mass?

More training certainly does, for sure.