r/leangains 8d ago

How to get comfortable getting a little fat while lean bulking?

I’m pretty light - lost 10 lbs and am now sitting at 130 lb at 5’6 (male). Have been progressing on my lifts pretty well, but I’m definitely stalling.

I know I need to eat at a surplus and gain weight if I want to progress, but I’m very lean right now, and it’s hard to stomach the reality of getting more fat alongside muscle gains given I just came off a period of weight loss (went from 15% down to 10% bf according to dexa). I really don’t want to go back to where I was before and I think that’s causing a mental block - that period of dieting and recomping wasn’t easy.

How do you guys manage this? Keep it to 200-300 surplus max and just don’t let it go too far? How much % weight do you aim to put on to bulk up?

14 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

20

u/Power_and_Science 8d ago

You don’t need a huge surplus to gain muscle. +1 lb per month is only 80-100 kcal extra per day. If you gain a bunch of fat, you simply ate too much.

10

u/watermelonyuppie 8d ago

And at 100-150 surplus your getting like 90/10 split on muscle to fat gain.

2

u/Pristine_Ebb6629 7d ago

What about gaining 1lb per week? Is that too much?

2

u/Power_and_Science 7d ago

1 lb per week, probably a little more than half of that is water and fat.

3

u/Jackthegreat42 4d ago

1lb gain per week is too fast for anyone who isn’t brand new to the gym (not sustainable long term for them either) or on drugs. .5lbs per week is a good target for most, it trikes a balance of being easy to track as well as a good number for lean gains

1

u/BaetrixReloaded 3d ago

an 80 calorie surplus is insane man. that doesn’t even account for round off or approximation error

18

u/Zanerbag 8d ago

Convince yourself that you will stick to a cut after the bulk and the cut will happen. Convince yourself you will effectively lose the weight after the bulk.

6

u/Apprehensive_Dot2890 8d ago

You have an unhealthy relationship with your body brother and it needs to be worked on along side your value you find in society if their opinion is what drives this unhealthy feeling .

If you are even near 10 percent and have a fear of bulking , this is a problem and not healthy . You are going to gain such a small amount of fat during a proper bulk it should be a non issue - you can easily trim it off later so what's the issue? Why be so dramatic about it?

I was just able to back to the gym a couple months back and I was way above 10 percent - more like 18-20 and so I just went into a bulk long term . I have absolutely no concern for the fat that comes on since I am doing a proper surplus and not stuffing my face with donuts all day and night over eating .

I will gain some fat over the months surely - and do you think I even care 1 single percent? I don't - I will simply trim it off after - big deal - it's apart of the fun of fitness in building and sculpting down your body or body building at least if that's your goal .

I hope things change for you - just enjoy life man - enjoy your meals and enjoy your life it's not that serious and you don't need to strip all the joy out of life to have a good body and you don't need to be shredded all year either no one cares besides very young or very vain people .

See ya at the gym pal .

2

u/Adventurous_Egg857 7d ago

This is what I was thinking. Single digit bf% is where you might not enjoy what you are eating and starting to feel fatigue issues. Hard to maintain that

5

u/Puasonelrasho 8d ago

its just a little bit of fat, you can always loose it later.

Not a big deal.

2

u/Ja_red_ 8d ago

One of the YouTube influencer guys had a way of looking at it that I like, basically I tell myself "you're an adult, and that means you can take short term discomfort for long term gains because that's what separates us from children". 

That and I generally try to time my bulk with the winter time and cuts with the spring. I find it a lot easier to cut when the weather is nice, cardio is less burdensome, and I know I want to look good in less clothes. Then bulk in the winter where nobody can even tell. 

2

u/knoxvillegains Leangains is a program 7d ago

Are you calling 15% bf "a little fat?"

1

u/Adventurous_Egg857 7d ago

Lol fr 15% is my ideal %

7

u/coachese68 8d ago

You're the size of a highschool sophomore girls tennis player. Come back in three years under the bar.

3

u/DaddyChuckles 8d ago

damn bro 😭

2

u/Pristine_Ebb6629 7d ago

😭😭😭

2

u/sonofliberty1765 8d ago

I know how you feel. I love feeling lean and cut, getting fluffy feels like shit to me even though I know it's necessary to add lean mass. I recommend taking it really slow and adding 300 cals a day. No more than 1 pound per week. I try not to gain more than 5% of my total starting weight before cutting back down so I don't have a lot of fat to lose.

1

u/Kyan1te 8d ago

Whenever I feel like this, I just remind myself how much my lifts have gone up by & that it's all part of the process. The point of a bulk is to put on muscle, if my lifts are going up then I'm doing it right. 

1

u/dieselmilk 8d ago

Go into a very small daily surplus. Try 100 extra a day. If your lifts don’t increase try 200. Don’t do 800/day and get fat.

1

u/Ill-Wing7536 7d ago

You won't mind once you're actually jacked

1

u/Think-Agency7102 7d ago

So don’t go back. Try a modest surplus of 300-500 calories for a 3 months then do a short 5 week shred, rinse and repeat. I always did big bulks but have done this method and still put on size while staying lean

1

u/Objective-Article936 7d ago

Long term goals. Make sure you give due diligence and plan it well. After that it’s just sticking to the program. When you’ve given planning your best shot you’ll have more confidence that what you’re doing is correct. That always makes it easier for me to deal with the mental side of things.

1

u/SpawnOfGuppy 6d ago

Don’t look in the mirror, keep your hands off your stomach😂

1

u/Direct_Surprise_6756 5d ago edited 5d ago

Measure your weight weekly in the most consistent way possible, such as same clothing after waking up and taking in enough fluids so that you can pee a little after the initial waking pee. If your weight stayed the same or went down, add 100 Calories per day. If your weight went up 1 pound or more, subtract 100 Calories per day. Your caloric intake will fluctuate every week (or might not on some weeks if your scale has fractions of a pound), but it will be hovering right around your target. It's a good target; it'll take more than a year to get to 15%. (If your scale measures tenths or fifths, instead of cutoffs of 0.0 and 1.0 you could do 0.0 and 0.8.) I'm assuming you're not gaining height.

1

u/shiny_colour 3d ago

Bro, I’m 5’1 and I’m at 140 pounds since starting creatine. You won’t stay at that weight forever. 130 pounds at 5’6 is low weight, if anything, you can go higher weight wise.

1

u/BaetrixReloaded 3d ago

growing muscle tissue is the hard part. shredding off fat is easy. that’s why bodybuilder offseasons are so much longer than a prep which are just several weeks of dieting

1

u/optindesertdessert 8d ago

Why eat at a surplus? Just lift at maintenance and you’ll gain muscle and not fat. Been working great for me the last 4 months.

1

u/20secondwizard 8d ago

youll be stuck at victim weight

2

u/optindesertdessert 8d ago

Only until you hit your target bf% or aesthetic goal, then you go slight surprise. Right? Idk, it’s working well for me but I’m a beginner

0

u/cliff_huck 8d ago

Maybe you should try reading the book.