Fat-why?

5'11, 147 pounds, 20 years old.

After loosing 45 pounds, I had been eating on my calorie-maintenence level for several months (1800-2000 per day). I was not weight-training during this period.

Now that I have decided to hit the gym hard to add muscle, I have upped my calories to about 2600-2800 per day. I lift weights 4 days/week. Weird thing is, in only two weeks, I already see myself packing on some body fat (and some muscle as well). I can tell just by looking in the mirror. But I want to add muscle, not fat! To be perfectly honest, I'm going to freak out if this continues. I worked my tail off for a full year to lose all that fat. I don't want it to come back!

Is the reason I'm putting on some body fat because I'm not doing any cardio? If that may be the case, how much cardio do you think I should be doing?

Thanks y'all.
 
Sorry man, its called bulking for a reason.

Loosing weight is not somthing you can just do once and forget about.

Maybe you should look into the foods you are eatting, times your eatting them.
Maybe try seperating fats and carbs. worked for me.
 
its probobly easy to be paranoid about it when you have been fat. So when you start to bulk you think its all fat thats comming on.

Anyways, how much over you're maintence are you eating? Im guessing you have the routine down? Squats and deadlifts?

If you are afraid of gaining back the fat you should consider bulking slowly, which means only eat a bit over maintence, since you have been big before, chanses are you have genes for it and if you bulk like a naturally skinny person would, you are going to gain alot of fat.
 
Anyways, how much over you're maintence are you eating? Im guessing you have the routine down? Squats and deadlifts?
After factoring in my daily activity, I would figure my BMR to be about 2100-2300 calories. So I'm eating about 500-600 calories over maintenence.

My current workout is a two-day split, so I hit every muscle group two days/week. Squats, deadlifts, leg press, rows, bench, incline/decline, are just some of the lifts in my routine.

If you are afraid of gaining back the fat you should consider bulking slowly, which means only eat a bit over maintence, since you have been big before, chanses are you have genes for it and if you bulk like a naturally skinny person would, you are going to gain alot of fat.
You know, that makes a lot of sense. I certainly am not a "naturally skinny person." Perhaps I'll decrease my calorie intake to 2400-2500, and go for a slower bulk. That should minimize my fat gain.

What about cardio? I know that when you need to put on 20 pounds of muscle, you should minimize your cardio, but what would be a reasonable amount?
 
hmm.. as for cardio, id say you can do as much as you want without overtraining aslong as you manage to eat enough to still stay over the maintence limit. Limiting cardio when bulking is something most skinny people have to do, like myself, if i do cardio 3 times a week, its very hard to eat over maintence. But im no cardio expert, maybe someone else has a better answer?
 
If you have insurance go to the doctor and tell him what you told us.

Do you normally feel tired?
 
I don't do Cardio while Bulking, I try to get keep all the calories I get.

If I were you I would get your Body Fat % checked, bulk 10 pounds, then check it again.
 
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