Too much fat on a bulk

[chigz32]

Hi all,

I've been on a bulk for around 3-4 weeks now. However, I'm still eating under my TDEE, but more than I was before, i.e., was eating around 1700, now eating 2300. My TDEE is around 2500.

Problem is I'm seeing some more fat gains than I was expecting. Seeing muscle gains too but I was hoping that this moderate bulk wouldn't see too much fat.

Any advice? None of this makes sense to me!!

 

[kawi]

DId you cut before this? What was your diet and cardio like during the cut?
If you cut with low calories and doing alot of LISS cardio you might have slowed down your metabolic rate. I would suggest slowly adjusting calories up and up from where you started instead of adding 500+ calories at once. I usually add 150 calories every 2 weeks and go from there. Try that and see where it goes. I made the mistake of just adding lots of calories on my first bulk and i too, gained alot of fat. Hope this helps you.

 

[chigz32]

DId you cut before this? What was your diet and cardio like during the cut?
If you cut with low calories and doing alot of LISS cardio you might have slowed down your metabolic rate. I would suggest slowly adjusting calories up and up from where you started instead of adding 500+ calories at once. I usually add 150 calories every 2 weeks and go from there. Try that and see where it goes. I made the mistake of just adding lots of calories on my first bulk and i too, gained alot of fat. Hope this helps you.

Yep-did a huge cut, not with cardio though-just a calorie cut. I'm starting to think that maybe my TDEE is lower than the calculators suggest? I'm 6ft, 71kg, so that's around 2500 but thinking this can't be right? I'll slow down on the calories for two weeks or so and see where that takes me.

 

[MattJS]

Yes slow and steady wins the race, switching straight from a cut to a bulk diet doesn't give your body the proper time to adjust ie your metabolism won't have recovered hence the fat gain... A lesson learned for next time, once you finish your next cut, switch to a recomp diet and ramp up the calories over a few weeks to transition into a bulk phase...