How to eat when re-starting SS after a lay off (and getting a bit fat)

Hi all, so, I started SS a while back (less than a year, definitely more than a few months) and then completely fell off the wagon and stopped training. Now I'm just starting up again and I have a bit of a concern with how much I should be eating.

When I started, I decided to go ham with the 4K calories a day and I gained about 8-9KG in a month and started to get out of breath bending down to do my shoes up. I know I didn't get that fat, I assume it was just the speed of the weight gain that knocked my body for six. But now, I have maintained all that fat and am around 21-22% BF (according to one of those electrical impedance scales) but have lost most of my strength and probably need to start the weights not far from where I started. I tried to jump back in with what my next workout should have been and could barely move the weight.

So, my concern is that if I eat 4K calories again I'm just going to get really, really fat, but I am also worried I won't be able to gain any strength if I don't eat so much.

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm 30 years old, 5,7 and 61KGs.

I'm still really small and weak but my belly is growing more than my legs, arms or chest haha.

Any thoughts, suggestions etc much appreciated.

How strong are you and how strong were you when you started eating 4K?

61Kg 134lbs -how on earth can you be fat ?? Subtracting 8Kg means you were 117lbs or less starting out ! At 5'8" and 147lbs I looked terrible. Your going to have to get over your aversion to belly fat if you want to get strong, it will eventually even itself out as weight on the bar goes up, but you are going to look completely different to the way you look now. Expect to have to buy new clothes and to look bulkier- which you will inevitably see as getting fatter.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nockian

61Kg 134lbs -how on earth can you be fat ?? Subtracting 8Kg means you were 117lbs or less starting out ! At 5'8" and 147lbs I looked terrible. Your going to have to get over your aversion to belly fat if you want to get strong, it will eventually even itself out as weight on the bar goes up, but you are going to look completely different to the way you look now. Expect to have to buy new clothes and to look bulkier- which you will inevitably see as getting fatter.

---

Agreed. Let's see how much he is lifting. I like to have all of the data before making my point.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Robert Santana

Agreed. Let's see how much he is lifting. I like to have all of the data before making my point.

---

I am going to make my assessment: As his name implies, he is asthmatic and that is contributing to a general feeling of fatigue or occasional breathlessness from overtraining as he pushes past the novice lifting phase and can no longer sufficiently recover.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yngvi

I am going to make my assessment: As his name implies, he is asthmatic and that is contributing to a general feeling of fatigue or occasional breathlessness from overtraining as he pushes past the novice lifting phase and can no longer sufficiently recover.

---

The fact that we are still waiting for an answer to a basic question is telling.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yngvi

I am going to make my assessment: As his name implies, he is asthmatic and that is contributing to a general feeling of fatigue or occasional breathlessness from overtraining as he pushes past the novice lifting phase and can no longer sufficiently recover.

---

Im also asthmatic, mostly well controlled. It's never hampered my lifting in over two years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nockian

Im also asthmatic, mostly well controlled. It's never hampered my lifting in over two years.

---

But, do you feel like it can it fuck with your recovery if you start pushing too hard?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yngvi

But, do you feel like it can it fuck with your recovery if you start pushing too hard?

---

Not at all. As long as it's well controlled it's completely irrelevant. I never give it a second thought, just take the preventer and, in the hay fever season, I make sure I take anti-histamine and have an occasional blast on the recovery inhaler if I get an attack.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nockian

Not at all. As long as it's well controlled it's completely irrelevant. I never give it a second thought, just take the preventer and, in the hay fever season, I make sure I take anti-histamine and have an occasional blast on the recovery inhaler if I get an attack.

---

Good to know. Looks like I may have been making some incorrect assumptions about asthma, overtraining and the effectiveness of control medications.