Are love handles mandatory if bulking/building strength?

[liminalspace]

I'm fairly new to fitness, worked out for a few months, eventually stopped because of stuff, now I'm kind of chubbed up (M17, 5'11.65, 78kg/171.9lbs) cause I stayed at the same ~300 caloric surplus give or take, hence gained some fat, especially on my lower back and hips. I got back onto working out a few days ago. My goal has always been that to build strength rather than being too aesthetic, sure being aesthetic isn't bad by any means but I don't want that to take away my strength.

So, if I keep working out and keep staying at the same caloric surplus (maint is ~2600, I eat ~2850) will I still have the same exact fat distribution that I have right now or is the lower back/hip fat gonna shed to some extent/get overshadowed by the surrounding musculature? Or do I necessarily need to go into a deficit, hence lose strength and mass?

[SuffolkPunch]

No you don't have to gain fat. Or at least you may gain some just due to day to day tracking errors. But you could aim for a whisker over maintenance and still build muscle just as fast.

One issue is that people expect to see regular increases in arm / chest circumfrence - and that happens when you gain fat as well as muscle. The muscle gain part is slow. I think this is why people think you "have to" bulk up even if you aren't underweight to begin with.

[Tommy W.]

I'm fairly new to fitness, worked out for a few months, eventually stopped because of stuff, now I'm kind of chubbed up (M17, 5'11.65, 78kg/171.9lbs) cause I stayed at the same ~300 caloric surplus give or take, hence gained some fat, especially on my lower back and hips. I got back onto working out a few days ago. My goal has always been that to build strength rather than being too aesthetic, sure being aesthetic isn't bad by any means but I don't want that to take away my strength.

So, if I keep working out and keep staying at the same caloric surplus (maint is ~2600, I eat ~2850) will I still have the same exact fat distribution that I have right now or is the lower back/hip fat gonna shed to some extent/get overshadowed by the surrounding musculature? Or do I necessarily need to go into a deficit, hence lose strength and mass?

You need a deficit to lose fat. Adding more than a little fat means your weekly calories are too high. You may need to stop adding mass and go into a deficit to strip it back off then continue with lower calories. As mentioned. you need a very small surplus to gain muscle and if you carry enough fat, no surplus at all. More food does not equal more muscle, it just means fat gain that will need to be dieted off and dieting time is not muscle building time.