Little Changes/Gain On Cycle & Plateau - What Is Wrong?

[hopesanddreams]

I have been training with a PT (he competed in bodybuilding) 3x a week, on cycle, with a clean diet for the past 10 weeks.

Cycle: 500mg/test per 5 days, tren 100mg for the first 5 weeks but stopped because I wasn't feeling too good on it, 30mg dianabol per day for the first 5 weeks, stopped as I ran out and PT said I don't need more. 1/2 taxmoifen tablet per day.

Diet: 4 whole eggs + 200ml egg white + 1 scoop beef protein, 1 tbsp peanut butter + 50g oat; 2 0% greek yogurt (170gx2); 1 packet rice with quinoa + 100g mixed lentils; 2 burger quorn + 2 low fat cheese slices + 200g mixed vegetables + 1 white potato mashed; 330g cottage cheese + 20g mixed nuts + 1 scoop whey. I take 3 fish oil capsules in the morning and evening, a multivitmain in the morning, ZMA in the evening before sleep. I have a scoop of whey after workouts. **I am unable to digest meat/chicken/fish but powder and all other foods are fine**

Training: Chest/Shoulders/Triceps; Back/Rear Delts/Biceps; Legs. Abs done on the session we have time left over.

Sleep: min 9 hours a day without disturbances.

I have seen the before/after pics, and I've got a tad leaner, but was expecting much more to be honest. I am not sure what is wrong, as I am genuinly giving it all in the training, across most exercises I lift 3/4 of the machine weights, my bench is not the heaviest but is the heaviest I have ever lifted, I pump up nicely in the gym and then its all just gone.

I am unsure what else I can improve here. The only thing I can think of is the training is not effective, the gear is fake (but I had blood work and my test was elevated), or my diet just don't help me grow (but I honestly don't know how to get it even cleaner).

Thoughts welcome. Happy to PM pics also.

 

[Presser]

For the amount of gear your on, you need to eat more! The old adage Muscle Burns Fat comes to mind, and I would guess your before and after pictures dont look so hot, or where you thought they should be is due to the gear smoothing over your muscles. And you said you pump up in gym nicely then its all gone, which tells me the difference is so night and day that your flat outside the gym and depleted of glycogen.

Bottom line from my point of view is, your not eating enough

Plus i dont understanding your training schedule or im not sure what you mean by how u wrote it, but if your training Chest, shoulders and triceps in one session, theres your number one problem

 

[hopesanddreams]

For the amount of gear your on, you need to eat more! The old adage Muscle Burns Fat comes to mind, and I would guess your before and after pictures dont look so hot, or where you thought they should be is due to the gear smoothing over your muscles. And you said you pump up in gym nicely then its all gone, which tells me the difference is so night and day that your flat outside the gym and depleted of glycogen.

Bottom line from my point of view is, your not eating enough

Plus i dont understanding your training schedule or im not sure what you mean by how u wrote it, but if your training Chest, shoulders and triceps in one session, theres your number one problem

Shoulders is more split - rear delts in the back session and then the front part of the shoulders in the chest session.
You say I am not eating enough, but what should I be aiming for? The main problem is it if I up the calories too much, my waist goes out of control (and tbh I'm trying to tidy it up as it is making me look crappy).
I agree with your glycogen comment. I have no issues upping the calories / eating more. But how? What am I missing from my diet? Or I just should add in a mass shake or something?
I really want to improve. Agreed on your pictures comment. You are 100% spot on. But in both pics I look soft and crappy tbh.
I don't want to waste these PT sessions or gear, its all costly, so if its just a diet issue I can fix this but please can you help me how?

 

[Presser]

Adding in a lot more Complex carbohydrates wont hurt you at all especially if your training regularly and on the cycle you laid out above. Your body will show improvements quickly to, keeping your muscles fed , which tightens your skin, and you'll be where you need to be in no time at all! Your basically taking 750mg of testosterone a week, thats a lot in all honesty. Not to mention the tren you were on for 5 weeks and dianabol, so once the gear is lowered or its time to come off, you will tighten up and stay fuller with the added carbs.

In truth, its really hard to determine exact causes without the whole picture, as when it comes to bodybuilding, trainng, diet, and steroids, EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE , as i like to say. I will say this though, if your paying a Personal Trainer, and been with them 10 weeks and not seeing noticable changes with the gear schedule and dosage, as well as the training, then maybe he isnt taking you as serious as your taking him. Just a thought.

 

[drtbear1967]

On average take your weight and x by at least 13 to 15 and you will get a close amount of calories to take in to gain weight.

 

[hopesanddreams]

Adding in a lot more Complex carbohydrates wont hurt you at all especially if your training regularly and on the cycle you laid out above. Your body will show improvements quickly to, keeping your muscles fed , which tightens your skin, and you'll be where you need to be in no time at all! Your basically taking 750mg of testosterone a week, thats a lot in all honesty. Not to mention the tren you were on for 5 weeks and dianabol, so once the gear is lowered or its time to come off, you will tighten up and stay fuller with the added carbs.

In truth, its really hard to determine exact causes without the whole picture, as when it comes to bodybuilding, trainng, diet, and steroids, EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE , as i like to say. I will say this though, if your paying a Personal Trainer, and been with them 10 weeks and not seeing noticable changes with the gear schedule and dosage, as well as the training, then maybe he isnt taking you as serious as your taking him. Just a thought.

The problem is my stomach holds a lot of weight hence I was trying to cut out the complex carbs. Would an added mass shake help? USN muscle fuel anabolic or something? I used to have that (and n-large) and grew like a weed. But then it was recommended to drop the mass shakes and replace with real food.
My goal isn't really a 6 pack anyway, bulky look but muscles tight and 4 pack / tight enough core is what I am after.
On the PT - we did measurements also - I have not grown, I asked why, he claims I need to add another meal in and we try for 3-4 more weeks then evaluate. I mean, I enjoy the training, I feel like I'm worked out after each session, which is why I thought it was something else.

- - - Updated - - -

On average take your weight and x by at least 13 to 15 and you will get a close amount of calories to take in to gain weight.

88kg in lbs = 194 lbs * 14 = 2716 which is slightly under the calories my current diet gives.

 

[hopesanddreams]

Anymore thoughts on this? "Eat more" is rather generic, if you can give me some more detail that would be good.

 

[drtbear1967]

Crank your calories up to about 3500 a day and get in at least 300 grams of protein, then add in the carbs and fats. You have to feed the machine and that means a lot of food. 300 g of protein is 1200 cal.500 g of carbs is 2000 cal 33 g of fats is 297 cal.At least this give you a starting point.

 

[hopesanddreams]

Crank your calories up to about 3500 a day and get in at least 300 grams of protein, then add in the carbs and fats. You have to feed the machine and that means a lot of food. 300 g of protein is 1200 cal.500 g of carbs is 2000 cal 33 g of fats is 297 cal.At least this give you a starting point.

Is a mass shake okay, or better to add food?
How do I ensure my stomach doesn't blow up again?

 

[drtbear1967]

real food is always better. Take probiotics

 

[hopesanddreams]

The problem is that if I add more food, the carbs go up much more than the protein, because of the limited food I can eat.
Therefore I have relied on shakes. Not sure how else to make up the macros. I can increase the quantity of food but it means more carbs basically.
I have tried pro biotics. I still look rather fat in the stomach vs flat and toned.

 

[drtbear1967]

It all comes down to deciding if you want to get big or to cut up. Trying to do both at the same time is damn near impossible. The guys you see walking around ripped all the time are gifted. That is genetics and no amount of food will change that. So you have to make up your mind. If you start seeing your waist get thicker, cut back on some of that carbs, but make sure the carbs you are getting are good ones and not junk.

 

[hopesanddreams]

It all comes down to deciding if you want to get big or to cut up. Trying to do both at the same time is damn near impossible. The guys you see walking around ripped all the time are gifted. That is genetics and no amount of food will change that. So you have to make up your mind. If you start seeing your waist get thicker, cut back on some of that carbs, but make sure the carbs you are getting are good ones and not junk.

My goal isn't to walk around ripped all the time though. I don't even care for a 6 pack.
I have no problem adding fat. The trouble is, it is *always* around my waist, making all the effort on my upper body / legs a waste because I just look out of shape and soft. There is a muscled bulky look and then there is just fat and I look skinny fat pretty quickly if I just eat like you are describing.
If I cut then I will just look tiny, and still probably not get rid of all the stomach fat.
Hence I am trying to bulk but not get mega fat in the process and keep my stomach under control. It is less the stomach really, more the sides.
You saw my diet above... what is bad carbs? lol

 

[drtbear1967]

Simple carbs like bread, candy, stuff like that. Everyone's body responds differently, my stomach is the last place that I drop fat. You may be the same way. Send me your photos and let me see what your working with.

 

[hopesanddreams]

Simple carbs like bread, candy, stuff like that. Everyone's body responds differently, my stomach is the last place that I drop fat. You may be the same way. Send me your photos and let me see what your working with.

Makes sense. I don't mind having fat, so long as I still look muscled overall. Problem is I look crap because of the shape of my body.
PM'd you pics so you can see what I mean.

 

[Dean Destructo]

If you are not getting over 200g of protein a day then hang it up.

 

[drtbear1967]

Sent you a pm. Got to gain mass!

 

[hopesanddreams]

If you are not getting over 200g of protein a day then hang it up.

The diet above comes to about 230g protein.

 

[hopesanddreams]

Sent you a pm. Got to gain mass!

Thanks for the advice on PM also. Here is what I plan on doing now.

Training - continue as planned, as this seems ok.
Cycle - continue with the test 500mg per 5 days. Should I add anything else?
Diet - change to the following diet:
Morning: 50g oat, 200ml egg white, 2 whole eggs, 1 scoop beef protein (I add this for taste)
Snack: 2x 170g 0% fat greek yogurt, multivitamin, 3 fish oil capsules
[While at work] sip 4 scoop allmax quickmass through the day
Lunch: 2 quorn burder, 1 bun, 200g mixed veg, 2 reduced fat cheese slice, 1 large white potato masted
Post training or at work if not training before coming home: 2 scoop dymatize 100% whey, 300ml semi skimmed milk
Before sleep: 330g cottage cheese, ZMA
Comes to 3.2k calories, 375g carb, 57g fat, 290g protein. Hope it is ok?

 

[hopesanddreams]

Can someone confirm its okay please?