Continue With 5 x 5?

**kyoun1e** · 03-18-2009, 07:44 PM

About 3 weeks ago, I re-jiggered my diet and program in a way I thought best to give my body it's first real chance...at the age of 40...to gain strength and size.

I say that because I think my workouts have been inefficient for years and my diet was a wreck. For that reason, I decided to make the following changes:

1. Diet

- Started eating breakfast; about 800 calories before 8:30 AM; Never ate breakfast.
- Introduced more carbs.
- Increased calories to 2,900 from what I would estimate as 2,600.
- Macros for 6-2, 208 lber: Protien 225g, Carbs 214g, Fat 137g

This I thought would fuel the new program.

2. Routine -- 5 x 5

- From a "pyramid" type routine...where I never increased my wieght
- From more isolation vs compound
- To 5 x 5 that included more compounds with a little isolation
- Started doing LEGS for the first time

I'm both encouraged and frustrated at the same time for the followign reasons:

1. Good: My bench, pullups, dips...hit historical highs
2. Good: Size seems to be increasing; Shirts seem tighter...getting comments on arms.
3. Bad: My weight is unchanged from 208...
4. Bad: ...but my waiste seems to be increasing!

Doesn't make sense...stronger...a little more size...but no wieght gain...and my waiste is bigger?

My profile pic shows where I am to date.

I want to increase my stength and size, but I don't want to get bulky in the middle. I feel like this may be hapenning.

Questions:

* Am I jumping the gun here? Should I just let this program roll through 6-8 weeks?
* Or should I make any adjustments to routine and diet?

Signed Mr Impatient.

KY

**Gazhole** · 03-19-2009, 01:05 AM

If you're gaining size it doesn't necessarily mean you're getting any heavier. Weight is depending on many factors such as water retention, the amount of food you ate that day, body composition etc.

Guage progress by how much you're lifting, and how you look.

If you have been gaining some size, your waist might increase a little but so long as it's not too much i wouldnt worry about it.

If your diet is geared towards mass gain, you might put on a little fat - which will more than likely be stored around your waist.

You're making gains, don't waste that.

**kyoun1e** · 03-19-2009, 05:55 AM

Gaz,

Thanks.

I'm trying to fuel my body for growth, but I want to give it the minimum amount of calories to do so. So, no overboard on caloric surplus. Especially at the start.

Also, I'm trying to get my body "online" to this new diet so at some point, it starts demanding more from me. I think this is slowly taking place. My body is used to a lower amount of calories and never anything in the morning. It seems like it's slowly coming around now to as much as 3100 calories without muich of a problem. I want to feed it what it needs, but not choke it because I don't think it's used to this.

Maybe it just takes a while to get the body grooving to a given routine and also responding to your diet.

March is really acting as my "transition" month and I'm hoping April is the "get rolling" month.

KY

**Gazhole** · 03-19-2009, 06:08 AM

If you've been undereating for a while it is possible that your body is going mad with storage because it doesnt know when itll get this much food again. Keep eating and keep training hard and it should be fine.

Either way you can cut down later and you'll be bigger for your efforts!

**kyoun1e** · 03-19-2009, 06:49 AM

I wouldn't necessarily say undereating. More like crappy eating.

For example, my typical day previous to 2009 would look like this:

* 8 AM - 1 PM -- NO FOOD AT ALL except coffee and a protien shake.
* 1 PM -- Chicken salad (probably 5 oz of chicken) with veggies, etc.
* 6 PM -- Protien Shake; Hungry...grab some chips or something.
* 8:30 PM -- Dinner...and A LOT OF IT.
* 9:39 PM -- Some ice cream maybe...chips...some kind of unhealthy snack.

I can't imagine what my body has been thinking...for years...during 8 am - 1 pm. I've got to think that this has led to starvation mode and the storage of fat in my midsection.

Now during this time, I was working my ass off in the gym. Maybe not correctly, but I was probably doing enough lifting and cardio to keep the fat situation under control. It's a miracle I had any muscle at all during this time.

So, I'm hoping the stars start aligning. Better routine meets better diet, the body clicks, and starts responding.

KY

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