Bulking Or Fat Gain?

[kenpoengineer]

I'm 53 and for the last year I've been "bulking". Adding about 500 cals surplus a day based on Tdee and lifting heavy.

I noticed I add the weight on the stomach area. Don't like this so I back off the calories to lose the stomach fat.

Lifting every day and staying active drops the stomach fat but the net result is low net weight gain. By this I mean something on the order of 5 to 10 lbs per year.

Everyone gives advice to eat, eat and eat more. This results in many lbs of fat in my midsection.

So what's the correct advice?

 

[dazzvxr]

I'm 53 and for the last year I've been "bulking". Adding about 500 cals surplus a day based on Tdee and lifting heavy.

I noticed I add the weight on the stomach area. Don't like this so I back off the calories to lose the stomach fat.

Lifting every day and staying active drops the stomach fat but the net result is low net weight gain. By this I mean something on the order of 5 to 10 lbs per year.

Everyone gives advice to eat, eat and eat more. This results in many lbs of fat in my midsection.

So what's the correct advice?

If your gaining 5 to 10lbs of lean body mass a year naturally (not fat) your doing pretty well at 53 years old try a 300kcal surplus and see how that treats you, unfortunately we do gain a bit of fat when trying to bulk, its more about keeping fat gain to a minimum than not gaining fat at all, post your diet in the diet section they will help tweak this for you

 

[Oscar]

considering the fact that you're 53 it sounds like you're doing alright a little fat gain is normal while bulking, another thing to note is you're 53, so you can more than likely get on TRT and see even better gains.

 

[PuZo]

Due to your age and possibly genetics your stomach is probably one of the first places fat will get put on. You just have to push through it really.

 

[cumminslifter]

if you want to gain muscle you need to be in a caloric surplus

 

[AdonisBelt]

First things first: your body isn't that efficient with partitioning nutrients to the point where in a caloric surplus you will never gain SOME fat.

Here is your problem: most likely you tdee is miscalculated. Those calculators and formulas are never exact, and everyone has different past lifestyles with various points of metabolic damage or lack thereof. That being the case, if you are gaining fat more than muscle, I would just cut back and review your gains weekly. My guess is you are over estimating your calorie expenditure.

Or, you could add cardio, but I wouldn't really recommend that.

Additionally, due to your age you are most likely going to want to have a lower than typical surplus due to your bodies mitochondrial energy burning efficiency (meaning you don't need to eat as much food as some may to get as much energy out of it- i know, counter intuitive) along with likely sub-optimal hormone profiles rendering a less than favorable form of nutrient partitioning.


Cheers