When do you stop the weight gain?

[RobCor]

Per the title, after you've done SS for a few months and have added some strength, when do you "call it" so to speak? I went from 180lbs to 210lbs in 2-3 months.

Lifts are below. Squat, clean, and deadlift would be significantly higher if not for an injury I sustained 2-3 weeks ago.

Press: 135 3x5
Bench: 207.5 3x5
Deadlift: 280 1x5
Squat: 245 3x5
PC: 160 5x3

I've had minor training experience before SS with the press and bench, so they are relatively high next to the other three lifts. I'm working on that.

Is this a good time to stop gaining weight? How does one reshuffle their diet to be weight-stable but still supportive of muscle growth? Similar protein intake but fewer overall calories? Fewer carbs?

I eat 6-7 eggs + bacon for breakfast, lots of chicken or beef for lunch, a giant PB&J after work, then more chicken or beef for dinner with some veggies. Generally 1/2 GOMAD with lots of protein as well. I suppose the 1/2 GOMAD should really be the first thing to go, no?

As much as I love the strength, I've had to retire 3 nice suits because they became skin tight. My squat butt is too much for them to handle, as are my thighs. Suits are expensive.

[ColoWayno]

Well... my plan (soon) is to not worry so much about the weight but to just cut out carbs except for right before and right after a workout. I'll see how I feel strength wise and see what the scale and belt tell me, and go from there.
It's a balancing act and not always a fun one.

[Rezart Erindi]

Per the title, after you've done SS for a few months and have added some strength, when do you "call it" so to speak? I went from 180lbs to 210lbs in 2-3 months.

Lifts are below. Squat, clean, and deadlift would be significantly higher if not for an injury I sustained 2-3 weeks ago.

Press: 135 3x5
Bench: 207.5 3x5
Deadlift: 280 1x5
Squat: 245 3x5
PC: 160 5x3

I've had minor training experience before SS with the press and bench, so they are relatively high next to the other three lifts. I'm working on that.

Is this a good time to stop gaining weight? How does one reshuffle their diet to be weight-stable but still supportive of muscle growth? Similar protein intake but fewer overall calories? Fewer carbs?

I eat 6-7 eggs + bacon for breakfast, lots of chicken or beef for lunch, a giant PB&J after work, then more chicken or beef for dinner with some veggies. Generally 1/2 GOMAD with lots of protein as well. I suppose the 1/2 GOMAD should really be the first thing to go, no?

As much as I love the strength, I've had to retire 3 nice suits because they became skin tight. My squat butt is too much for them to handle, as are my thighs. Suits are expensive.

I agree about the suits, I had to throw a couple too, but that's the price I decided I would pay for being stronger and bigger (even though in the beggining I hadn't though of this additional costs). Anyway, I think that it's too soon to stop gaining weight for you, as on average about 50 lbs of BW should be added during novice fase. It's not set to stone though, and will depend from your height too (btw, what's your height?). Your deads and squats have still a lot of LP to go. Still in the end I don't think that anyone but you can decide better. You know your own body, and you'll se when adding weight will add more fat than muscle.

[Tiburon]

Per the title, after you've done SS for a few months and have added some strength, when do you "call it" so to speak? I went from 180lbs to 210lbs in 2-3 months.

Deadlift: 280 1x5

How tall are you? You could probably add 100 pounds to that DL.

[LudwigVan]

Per the title, after you've done SS for a few months and have added some strength, when do you "call it" so to speak? I went from 180lbs to 210lbs in 2-3 months.

If you're getting fat, then you probably need to clean up your diet. If your lifts are stuck, you may not be eating enough. The number on the scale is much less important than the number on the bar. At 210 bodyweight, you've got a whole lot of room to bring your lifts up, particularly your squat and DL. Unless you're significantly taller than 6', I wouldn't make increasing bodyweight a major priority right now if I were you. Just get plenty of protein and keep bringing your lifts up.

[RobCor]

Sorry for missing that critical piece of info. 5'11'' 27 years old. If I had to guesstimate, based on pictures on the internet, I'm somewhere around 15-16% bodyfat. With that in mind, I really find it surprising that my squats and deads are where they are and not higher. I've only been making 5lb jumps, though. Maybe some 10lb jumps would work, but when I last squatted 245, that bar felt really heavy on my back. Seemed make it hard to breath.

I guess that's the price I pay for never having done sufficient posterior chain exercises before SS.

All my lifts are still moving when I can do them and am not injured. If anything, my press and bench are feeling even easier as I add 2.5lb/session. Finished very strong on 207.5lb bench yesterday and 135lb press two days earlier. PRs each session.

Edit - For clarity's sake, the main reason I'd rather not put on more weight is because it will cost me thousands of dollars in clothing, not because I'm worried about getting bigger. My gf does enjoy my progress. I have two pairs of jeans that fit, but I own 8 pairs. The other 6 might as well be spandex. Even loose cut Banana jeans, which I like, are barely comfortable. Are there brands/cuts for strong people?

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

-Leonidas, I agree that I could easily keep piling on the weight and strength, but for the financial reasons I've outlined, I would rather avoid doing that.

-Ludwig, to remain weight stable but still get stronger, do I shoot for something like 400g protein a day but bring the calorie intake down?

[gzt]

I'd say gain a few more pounds. The fast weight gain is probably over and you're probably approaching your final size, but there's no need to slow it down too much. You're still pretty weak. I think you sort of come to a realization when you're big enough. For me, it came around 250 that, yeah, trying to gain weight quickly won't get me anywhere. It took a lot of effort to push to the upper 250s, so I've been yo-yo-ing back and forth pretty much all year to good effect - gain some weight, cut back the fat a little, gain some more, etc, all while getting stronger.

[hotshot617]

To answer your original question, you stop gaining weight when it interferes with your goals. If your goal is to avoid spending "thousands of dollars" on a new wardrobe, stop gaining weight before you don't fit into your clothes. If your goal is to become a powerlifter and make huge gains under the bar, you might have to deal with some body weight gains.

JohnnyPain said in one of the Coaches Roundtable videos (early September, if I remember correctly) that you should aim for 3lbs of bodyweight per inch of height to start being an effective lifter. At 5'11", you're looking at 71x3=213lbs. By my math, you're only 3 pounds shy of that. What difference, really, do you think that 3 lbs gain is going to make? Now, I know I'll catch shit for this, because the mantra 'round these parts is "eat and gain weight". But I think you should be smarter about it than simply "open mouth, insert food, repeat". If you stop making progress, and you want to keep progressing, then absolutely eat more. But if gaining weight at 10 pounds a month is quickly making your clothes tight while only adding weight to the bar slowly, why would you want to keep gaining weight? Why not let the weight on the bar catch up to your newly added weight a bit while you decide if this whole "bulking up" thing is what you really want.

On another note, what has happened that 27-year old men have to ask the permission of people on the interwebz to stop gaining weight, anyway?

[RobCor]

To answer your original question, you stop gaining weight when it interferes with your goals. If your goal is to avoid spending "thousands of dollars" on a new wardrobe, stop gaining weight before you don't fit into your clothes. If your goal is to become a powerlifter and make huge gains under the bar, you might have to deal with some body weight gains.

JohnnyPain said in one of the Coaches Roundtable videos (early September, if I remember correctly) that you should aim for 3lbs of bodyweight per inch of height to start being an effective lifter. At 5'11", you're looking at 71x3=213lbs. By my math, you're only 3 pounds shy of that. What difference, really, do you think that 3 lbs gain is going to make? Now, I know I'll catch shit for this, because the mantra 'round these parts is "eat and gain weight". But I think you should be smarter about it than simply "open mouth, insert food, repeat". If you stop making progress, and you want to keep progressing, then absolutely eat more. But if gaining weight at 10 pounds a month is quickly making your clothes tight while only adding weight to the bar slowly, why would you want to keep gaining weight? Why not let the weight on the bar catch up to your newly added weight a bit while you decide if this whole "bulking up" thing is what you really want.

On another note, what has happened that 27-year old men have to ask the permission of people on the interwebz to stop gaining weight, anyway?

I appreciate your comments. And, yeah, 3lbs per inch to effectively use one's levers. 4lbs to be competitive

FWIW, I was looking for opinions, not asking permission. I think I'll try having my squat, dead and clean catch up, as you put it, before continuing to gain weight. High protein, somewhat fewer calories. Obviously, people my height pull far more weighing as much or less. I'll work on more lifting power per pound of BW for now.

[Raleighwood]

All up to your goals and fat tolerance. It seems your bench and DL are both pretty low given your height and weight. Gaining more weight probably isn't the answer.

I'd focus on maintaining your weight and seeing if you can recomp any of it... This is mainly accomplished simply by maintaining weight and getting stronger.

I like JP's idea of deloading 10-20% and working back up with your top set being a max rep set. You could do that and then include a protocol that I've been using lately which is to do this...

After your max rep top set, take your reps completed and subtract 2. Then multiply that number by 5. This will give you the amount of weight to add to the bar. Perform 2-3 singles that weight. So for example you got 165x5 as your top set with max reps. 5-2=3. 3x5=15. 15+165=180lbs to perform 2-3 singles with after that max rep set.

I've been using that a bit lately and I like it.