Hi there! Newbie here, looking for advice.

[G0nz055]

Hello all! My name is Chris, I am a 5'5 142lb 35 year old male, i am a former smoker (quit approx 5 years ago) and i am relatively new to weight lifting. A bit of an odd thing here, although i am technically "skinny" i have a pot belly, i've been working out pretty regularly since March my pecs are starting to develop, i've gotten bigger arms, but i can't seem to get this to budge. What can i do? I'm tracking wht i eat (2600-2700 cals a day, 48% Carbs, 28% Protein, 24% fat) I've started doing Cardio on the days that i don't go to the gym (i literally just started this yesterday), so is my problem not enough cardio? Not a good enough diet? Not enough Protein? Too much carbs? Any ideas? Thanks again to anyone who can help.

[SuffolkPunch]

The reality is that you will not lose any fat unless you are in a caloric deficit (burning more in a day than you consume). This is a poor environment for muscle growth (although some is still possible). So in reality you need choose to focus on one or that other (and number of calories is the thing which changes between the two).

I would suggest that you stick with muscle gain for some time yet before tackling excess fat. Many people on here put too much emphasis on the fat loss part - but the muscle gain part is what takes the longest and without spending enough time on it, they tend to end up looking smaller but without much of an improvement in their shape.

[G0nz055]

So basically i need to stay bulking for now? So should i not worry about the Macros so much as calories? I was just piling food in my face to start but now i'm mainly eating Chicken, Rice, Veggies, Oatmeal, egg whites, fruits etc? Would this suffice? i know ideally you probably shouldn't start shoveling junk in your face but i want to make sure i get my calories if that's what is needed...btw Thank you so much for the quick reply, you've told me more in a few mins than i've been able to find in a few weeks looking around the interwebs...My TDEE (according to the calculator on here) is 2366 if that helps

[SuffolkPunch]

Yes - although bulking doesn't have to mean piling weight on.

If you gain more than about 1-2lbs a month, it will mostly be extra fat.

Ideally, you would eat at maintenance and only increase calories above that if you have to in order to keep gym progress moving.


Macros do matter but don't use percentages of calories. Instead, go to the Nutrition forum and read how to calculate those (in grams) based on your bodyweight

Your TDEE doesn't sound too far off but remember calculators are just educated guesses. You will have to monitor your food intake and your weight changes over time to see if it needs tweaking or not.