Weight gain slowing 8 weeks into novice LP

[Charles Burkhardt]

Hi Coach,
I am in my 8th week of LP. Started out with body weight of 165, 5'10'', 33 years old; am up to 187-188 now. Lifts have progressed nicely; +130lb on squat, +140lb dl, +60lb bench, +50lb press, and +28K on power clean. Missed the and last rep on the first and last set of presses last week at 140lbs but did again next workout and was able to lift it.

I was averaging about 3-3.5 lbs of bodyweight gain for first 6 weeks, then it slowed to approx 1.5 lbs for week 7 and 8.

Is this typical to see the weight gain slow after a certain period of time or is that indicative of me needing to eat more calories? The Navy formula has me about 15-16% BF. I'd guess I was somewhere around the 12-13% mark before starting the program.

I'll admit that I am not really keeping track of my caloric intake, just eating as much as I can handle plus drinking 2-850 cal shakes. If I had to guess, I'd say somewhere between 4000-5000 cal/day depending on the day.

Any thoughts? Keep doing what I have been, add more food, or start watching macros? I'd like to keep the lifts moving up, and don't want to let lack of food hinder progress on that.

Thanks for your time!

[Karl Schudt]

1.5lbs a week is fine. Keep the weight going up on the barbell!

[Charles Burkhardt]

Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time. Is that about the minimum weight gain per week I should be shooting for?

[Karl Schudt]

Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time. Is that about the minimum weight gain per week I should be shooting for?

Yeah, that's a good baseline. 1-1.5lbs.