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Waist Increased After Bulk. Advice?

Beginners
#1

I am looking for a bit of advice if anyone can help me.
I started training seriously last September after a few years of just training sporadically to 4-5 times per week. With this I also changed my diet and began to eat a lot of the recommended foods for gaining mass. Since September 2012 I have gone from 156lbs to 185lbs with the gains most noticeable on my shoulders and quads.

My shirt sizes have all increased which has led me to having to restock half my wardrobe for both work and social clothes. This was expected and I have no problem with. The problem I do have is the WAIST.

My waist has gone from 32inch to 36inch and I do not have enough experience to know whether this is normal and to be expected or I am going about this wrong.

It is not so much the weight gain that I have a problem with its that my stomach now sticks out sort from behind the abs making it look swollen. My abs are getting bigger but just seem to be coming forward in front of my stomach.

Is there anything I should be doing different to continue adding muscle but keep a smallish waist? Isolation exercises for my waist, Cardio, diet?

Or do I just suck it up and get on with it as it is an expected side effect of bulking?

#2

How does your waist look early in the morning before your first meal? If there is no noticeable fat around your mid section it’s most likely bloating.

#3

[quote]domsib wrote:
I am looking for a bit of advice if anyone can help me.
I started training seriously last September after a few years of just training sporadically to 4-5 times per week. With this I also changed my diet and began to eat a lot of the recommended foods for gaining mass. Since September 2012 I have gone from 156lbs to 185lbs with the gains most noticeable on my shoulders and quads.[/quote]
Some questions to clarify where you are and where you came from:
How tall are you?

Were you lean (with ab definition, close to a 4 or 6 pack) before bulking?

Do you currently have shoulder definition (where it ties into the upper arms), any quad definition, or any ab definition (relaxed, flexed, empty stomach, anything)?

Since September, how has your strength increased in the basic lifts? (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, row, pulldown/pull-up, etc.)

How have your other measurements changed?

30 pounds is a pretty big gain over five months, depending on your frame, so yeah you’ll have gotten bigger head to toe. But if you were taking in too many calories, too little quality protein, or if your training routine was poorly designed, you may have either put on too little muscle and/or too much fat.

What does your current training and diet look like? If we don’t know exactly what you’re doing now, we don’t know what needs changing.

#4

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

Do you currently have shoulder definition (where it ties into the upper arms), any quad definition, or any ab definition (relaxed, flexed, empty stomach, anything)?
[/quote]

Chris, I noticed you ask this almost as often as the usual questions. I’m wondering, what does it matter? Obviously, it matters if someone is hugely fat vs. very lean, but you’re asking for for a pretty defined answer here (pun intended). I’m just wondering how it affects your advice towards achieving a goal.

#5

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:

Do you currently have shoulder definition (where it ties into the upper arms), any quad definition, or any ab definition (relaxed, flexed, empty stomach, anything)?
[/quote]

Chris, I noticed you ask this almost as often as the usual questions. I’m wondering, what does it matter? Obviously, it matters if someone is hugely fat vs. very lean, but you’re asking for for a pretty defined answer here (pun intended). I’m just wondering how it affects your advice towards achieving a goal.[/quote]

Not Chris but those are all aimed at figuring out his level of leanness and I assume he’s trying to figure out if op is just a little bloated from the food intake versus gaining too much fat which may have caused an increase in waist size.

For op, if you can, post pics. If you’re shy about it just post waist to shoulders.

#6

[quote]Mdgray82 wrote:

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Do you currently have shoulder definition (where it ties into the upper arms), any quad definition, or any ab definition (relaxed, flexed, empty stomach, anything)?[/quote]
Chris, I noticed you ask this almost as often as the usual questions. I’m wondering, what does it matter? Obviously, it matters if someone is hugely fat vs. very lean, but you’re asking for for a pretty defined answer here (pun intended). I’m just wondering how it affects your advice towards achieving a goal.[/quote]
Not Chris but those are all aimed at figuring out his level of leanness and I assume he’s trying to figure out if op is just a little bloated from the food intake versus gaining too much fat which may have caused an increase in waist size.[/quote]
Yep, pretty much this.

I generally like to get a “big picture” view of the person as best I can - height, weight, bodyfat, etc. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ask about fat levels in a way that doesn’t involve bodyfat percentages because they’re so inaccurate. I’ll ask people “how fat are you, not a percentage, but are you pudgy, average looking, ripped, or what?” And then they’ll say “I’m about 12%.” ::F’n facepalm::

In this particular case, the guy specifically mentioned that he saw “the gains most noticeable on my shoulders and quads”, so I’m wondering what that means.

#7

I’m curious to know how many calories your eating daily and how much cardio your doing. As well as what your doing on leg days.

#8

I feel like just from reading his post most of his gains were fat, because of the fact that he mentions he was training “Sporadically”.

#9

[quote]optheta wrote:
I feel like just from reading his post most of his gains were fat, because of the fact that he mentions he was training “Sporadically”.[/quote]

Learn to read? He said he USED to train sporadically and then switched to working out 4-5/week consistently, which was when he started to gain mass.

#10

Sorry about the delay in a response. I was expecting an email when someone replied to my forum post and never received one. Maybe I need to change my profile settings.

How does your waist look early in the morning before your first meal? If there is no noticeable fat around your mid section it’s most likely bloating

There is no noticeable fat around my mid section, and I’d say my stomach looks bloated a lot of the time.

Some questions to clarify where you are and where you came from:
How tall are you?

I’m 5ft 7In

Were you lean (with ab definition, close to a 4 or 6 pack) before bulking?

Before I started bulking I had fairly visible abs (4 pack). I played a lot of football (soccer) so I was had the fairly athletic looking physique without any weight training.

Since September, how has your strength increased in the basic lifts? (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, row, pulldown/pull-up, etc.)

My strength has increased a fair bit since September. Bench, Squat, Row all up by around 35kg average.
My waist has gone from 32inch to 36inch and I do not have enough experience to know whether this is normal and to be expected or I am going about this wrong.

How have your other measurements changed?

I haven’t measured but I mentioned around my quads or hamstrings because all of my work trousers are tight around this area so there is a noticeable increase here.

What does your current training and diet look like? If we don’t know exactly what you’re doing now, we don’t know what needs changing.

I typically keep my diet the same most days to fit into my routine for work.
Something along these lines:
7am - Oats & Blueberries
10am - 3 egg whites 1 Yellow Brown Bread.
1pm - Chicken & Rice 1/2 cup cottage cheese
3pm - Protein Bar
5pm - Workout
7pm - Evening meal - Meat (Chicken/ Pork/ Beef) with sweet potatoes/broccoli/ rice
10pm - 2 tspns Peanut Butter on crackers

I don’t know a whole deal about the nutritional side to bodybuilding, high carb, low carb days, carb cycling, micronutrients, macro nutrients etc. First thing I done was to find a bodybuilding website and see what food was recommended then made it fit into my schedule.

My workout routine is typically 4 days per week. I like the push/pull split so I do
Workout 1 - Back & Biceps inc Traps
Workout 2 - Chest & Shoulders inc Abs
Workout 3 -Legs
Workout 4 - Isolation for Arms, Traps, Abs & calves
I don’t do any Cardio but on my rest days I’ve started throwing a few ab routines in for 20 minutes after work.

I was at Bodypower Expo the weekend and sat in on a talk by Jim Stoppani on his program Shortcut to Size which he says has had great results so I’m going to start this program from today for 12 weeks.
I hope this answers everything for you guys.

#11

[quote]domsib wrote:
There is no noticeable fat around my mid section, and I’d say my stomach looks bloated a lot of the time.[/quote]
If you can still see abs (which I’m taking “no noticeable fat” to mean), then that’s most likely it - bloating and being full of “stuff” that you weren’t used to a few months ago.

I will say, though, that 5’7" and a lean 185 is kinda diesel. Any chance of tossing up a pic?

[quote]Since September, how has your strength increased in the basic lifts? (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, row, pulldown/pull-up, etc.)

My strength has increased a fair bit since September. Bench, Squat, Row all up by around 35kg average.[/quote]
Cool beans, just checking. Strength gains that coincide with bodyweight gains are a good sign.

[quote]I typically keep my diet the same most days to fit into my routine for work.
Something along these lines:
7am - Oats & Blueberries
10am - 3 egg whites 1 Yellow Brown Bread.
1pm - Chicken & Rice 1/2 cup cottage cheese
3pm - Protein Bar
5pm - Workout
7pm - Evening meal - Meat (Chicken/ Pork/ Beef) with sweet potatoes/broccoli/ rice
10pm - 2 tspns Peanut Butter on crackers[/quote]
I didn’t run the numbers, but if that’s even 120 grams of protein, I’d be surprised. Protein should be your numero uno priority at every meal. You don’t really have any significant protein intake other than your lunch and dinner. 3 egg whites ain’t jack squat.

Check the Article Archives here. Dr. Clay Hyght, Dr. Lonnie Lowery, Mike Roussell, John Meadows, and Shelby Starnes (among others) have had a ton of great nutrition articles.
http://www.T-Nation.com/ALSAuthorsCat.do

#12

Yeah, nowhere near enough protein in that diet. You should be getting 30+ grams 6 times a day.

#13

Egg whites are a good source of protein in that essentially all the calories in an egg white are protein. However, an egg white has only 3-4 grams of protein. If you want a good amount of protein from egg whites, you need a dozen or so of them.

#14

OK I’m going to restructure my diet. I’m now looking at high protein low fat foods to keep my waist from ballooning.

Is there a certain figure of protein I should be consuming each day?

I see someone says I should have 30g of protein per meal is this essential or as example would consuming 20g 1 meal

#15

[quote]domsib wrote:
I’m now looking at high protein low fat foods to keep my waist from ballooning.[/quote]
Low fat isn’t always the best idea for lifters. Healthy fats are essential for hormone production, anti-inflammatory benefits, and a bunch of other good stuff. If anything, consider going lower carb with moderate to higher fat intake.

[quote]Is there a certain figure of protein I should be consuming each day?

I see someone says I should have 30g of protein per meal is this essential or as example would consuming 20g 1 meal[/quote]
The basic rule of thumb is to shoot for one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, everyday.

Also… … … check the Article Archives here. Dr. Clay Hyght, Dr. Lonnie Lowery, Mike Roussell, John Meadows, and Shelby Starnes (among others) have had a ton of great nutrition articles.
http://www.T-Nation.com/ALSAuthorsCat.do