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Water retention, fat gain, or what

mcc23

Active member
I'm having trouble figuring out why my level of vascularity has been diminished as of late..I'm currently on a bulk and have gained 12-15 lbs. My guess is that 30% of it's water weight but only way to know for sure is to cut carbs for a few days and see how much weight I drop...Anyways, I've been monitoring sodium and have tried my best to keep itas normal as possible (2000-2500mg/day). I'm not eliminating it b/c that'll just release aldosterone and make me retain water, yet not too much sodium either to where I'd again hold it..I can see the blood vessels but they just seem to not be as prominent and just look to be less superficial than in times past..I don't believe it's any sort of carb bloat because I haven't really been binging on them. Off days are BW g/lb and lifitng days I'll up it to ~250g..I understand that some fat gain on a bulk is inevitable so I will partially contribute it to that, but I think it's hormones causing it. I know I've been overtrained for a while now and have been doing my best to slowly recover. So i think cortisol may be a contributing factor here. Been supplementing Vit C, B complex, trying dhea, and dandelion for the water..I'm beginning to think that the dandelion is just causing my body to "rebound" and hold more water than before b/c the D-root is acting as a diuretic. Not 100% sure, though.
My supps are just the basics: Protein, creatine, multi, fish oil. I'd really like to get this figured out. I understand it's a process of elimination pretty much so I will start with taking out the dhea, even though it and cortisol are negatively correlated. Any CONSTRUCTIVE advice, opinions, etc are all welcome..
 
mcc23 said:
I'm having trouble figuring out why my level of vascularity has been diminished as of late..I'm currently on a bulk and have gained 12-15 lbs. My guess is that 30% of it's water weight but only way to know for sure is to cut carbs for a few days and see how much weight I drop...Anyways, I've been monitoring sodium and have tried my best to keep itas normal as possible (2000-2500mg/day). I'm not eliminating it b/c that'll just release aldosterone and make me retain water, yet not too much sodium either to where I'd again hold it..I can see the blood vessels but they just seem to not be as prominent and just look to be less superficial than in times past..I don't believe it's any sort of carb bloat because I haven't really been binging on them. Off days are BW g/lb and lifitng days I'll up it to ~250g..I understand that some fat gain on a bulk is inevitable so I will partially contribute it to that, but I think it's hormones causing it. I know I've been overtrained for a while now and have been doing my best to slowly recover. So i think cortisol may be a contributing factor here. Been supplementing Vit C, B complex, trying dhea, and dandelion for the water..I'm beginning to think that the dandelion is just causing my body to "rebound" and hold more water than before b/c the D-root is acting as a diuretic. Not 100% sure, though.
My supps are just the basics: Protein, creatine, multi, fish oil. I'd really like to get this figured out. I understand it's a process of elimination pretty much so I will start with taking out the dhea, even though it and cortisol are negatively correlated. Any CONSTRUCTIVE advice, opinions, etc are all welcome..
Click to expand...

How do you know you're over training? I'll come back to this in the morning but are you sure you're not just adding more body fat?
 
Jiigzz said:
How do you know you're over training? I'll come back to this in the morning but are you sure you're not just adding more body fat?
Click to expand...

Well, I feel like im half drunk most of the time. Suppressed libido, all-around fatigue, etc..Tried takin a week off but it didnt seem to help much..Ive since lowered the volume of my workouts, hoping that it will help...
 
What does your training split look like?

So many people use the word over training so loosely when in reality they arent even close.
 
3clipseGT said:
What does your training split look like?

So many people use the word over training so loosely when in reality they arent even close.
Click to expand...

Well during June/July I was doing Advanced GVT, and since august I've been doing 5/3/1. I think the issue was that my carbs may have been on the lower end..I'm not 100% sure of this but they were around 200 on lifting days (actually increased to above 300 when I first started noticing symptoms) and tried to keep em below 100 on my rest days.. It was a form of carb/calorie cycling... I think my assistance work was too high intensity for the given volume. I did the prescribed 5 sets, but in the 6-8 rep range, and frequently to failure..
 
mcc23 said:
Well during June/July I was doing Advanced GVT, and since august I've been doing 5/3/1. I think the issue was that my carbs may have been on the lower end..I'm not 100% sure of this but they were around 200 on lifting days (actually increased to above 300 when I first started noticing symptoms) and tried to keep em below 100 on my rest days.. It was a form of carb/calorie cycling... I think my assistance work was too high intensity for the given volume. I did the prescribed 5 sets, but in the 6-8 rep range, and frequently to failure..
Click to expand...

You shouldn't be overtraining on 5/3/1 if you are following the program correctly.

Anywho, you said you gained 12+lbs and maybe your lost vascualrity is because youv gained more fat than you intended? If it is water, then as you said, you'll notice in time
 
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