nutrition strategy for skinny-fat individual post novice phase

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi,

I started lifting 5 months ago with the bbm free beginner template @ 184 lbs.
I did not pay much attention to my calorie intake since I measured my daily protein intake at 220 gm , and I steadily gained weight and made weekly progress on all lifts, implying that I was eating at a sufficient calorie excess.

Currently I weigh 200 lbs at 6’4" @ 25 yrs old (male). Although I see weekly progress on 2/3 lifts I believe I am coming to the end of my linear progression.

To maximize strength for my levers I believe I need to be a lot heavier (possibly 220 lb). My current strategy is to have 3 high calorie(4000) and 4 low calorie(2500) days a week putting me at a daily avg of ~3100. However my concern is that my body fat % has crept up to 21% and my waistline has reached 35 inches ( both measurements averaged over a month)

Would this be a suitable calorie intake over my intermediate training phase or should I slow down on the weight gain since my body fat % has gone up into the 20s ? If it helps I have been very skinny my whole life, with a large part of my adulthood at 176 lbs.

Thanks for your time !

2

BN,

Thanks for the post. A few thoughts here:

Making week-to-week strength progress is more indicative that your training program is working well to produce strength improvements rather than suggesting anything about your energy balance. I would try to divorce these two.

The Beginner Prescription isn’t really a LP, though when things are rolling, progress can appear linear. It is unrealistic to assume that you’ll be able to add weight to the bar linearly in a sustainable fashion. Again, I would recommend thinking about this differently.

Probably, but this is likely to occur in 5-10+ years from now and thus, I wouldn’t try to rush this as a short-term strategy.

I would not continue gaining weight at this point. Maintenance with waist reduction would be ideal.

3

Thanks for the quick response and insight Jordan.