Hey Robert,
First off thanks for all your (and Jordan previously) time and advice on these boards man . In the 10 years I've been lifting the last 2 have been easily the most productive thanks to this forum. (Feels kinda like the first 8 were a waste now!
)
I have a quick question regarding maintaining bodyweight. Over the last 10 years I have gone from being a fat and weak 280lbs at 5'10" to a lean -ish 186lbs (still at 5'10"
) and everywhere in between. Currently I am 216lbs with the following 1RM (tested): Squat 215kg (474lb) Deadlift 240kg (529lb) Bench 135kg (298lb) Press 87.5kg (193lb). It seems whenever I am either cutting or bulking I can do either with gusto (especially bulking
) but now that I want to maintain bodyweight and eat enough to progress it seems like I am constantly walking a tightrope. I track everything I eat and have ranged my calories from calculated maintenance, and added and subtracted as weight fluctuated. I weigh myself first thing in the morning and usually calculate an average over a two week period to determine weight loss or gain.
My question is, is it normal to have such a small window to work with? It seems that I have narrowed the calorie range down to ~2700 daily to maintain but I find if I even go 1-200 calories over I gain slightly and just 1-200 under and I lose (and lifts seem to suffer slightly). Am I being too anal about the small fluctuations? (albeit over a 2 week period). Just reading this to myself I can sort of see that you might say I'm sweating the small stuff too much actually, but coming from being a former obese mess all through my formative years and finally being happy with where I am, I tend to sweat this stuff.
Tl;dr - Fat guy got small. Small guy got strong(er). Strong(er) guy wants to keep getting stronger but not get fat or small.