Gaining Muscle Mass After Fat Loss and Learning To Gain Weight The Smart Way

In today’s episode, I share my thoughts on gaining weight intentionally and building muscle mass to drive athletic performance. I admit, weight gain is a scary topic especially for those that have struggled with weight loss. However, the best way to attack fear is to attack it head on. Of course, if you’re afraid of a raccoon, I would highly suggest not putting yourself in a position where a raccoon can attack you. But. I. Digress. The point is that learning how to lean bulk properly to gain muscle is a good skill to have. With that being said, I’m making changes to my Q3 training protocol to focus more on lean bulking, building strength, and getting HYPED on hypertrophy. As always, I’ll keep y’all updated on my progress. So, stay focused on your goals and keep pushing. Be the tortoise that beats the hare. And always remember, the good thing about hitting rock bottom is that there's only one way left to go and that's up!

Love Notes for Life Lifestyle Collection:
https://www.lovenotesforlife.com/

Love Notes for Life is now available:
Hardcover: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=9798987095805
Softcover: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=9798987095812

Connect & Follow:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikecabuco
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikecabuco/
Site: https://michaelcabuco.com/

Transcript

How’s it everyone, my name is Mike Cabuco, and welcome to another episode of the Love Notes for Life podcast, your creative space for amplifying greatness through gratitude.

--

July 12, 2021. Commute times were low. Traffic was great and for some of us, we were logging into work from the comforts of our home. We were still in the height of the pandemic while the world was attempting to get back to a “new normal.” Slowly, my office was making the transition to get back to work, in-person, and the work from home amenities were starting to fade away. No more chance at saving gas. No more chance at working in your comfy fits. And no more chance in getting some extra sleep. However, getting back into the office was like coming back from a long summer break from school. And for better or for worse, people notice changes. And where I worked at. Everyone spoke their mind, HR was never present, and you get the truth told straight to you.

It was evident, that I became a big boy. I was lugging around 240 pounds, my waist size was like a 36, and XL shirts were a staple in my closet. I was probably around 44% body fat, and it wasn’t my best look and mentally and physically, I wasn’t at optimal performance. But things happen. People change. People inspire you and when I finally dropped the ego and stopped feeling sorry for myself, I decided to make a permanent change. I had a goal, and nothing was going to get in my way of achieving it.

As of May 26, 2023, I dropped to 150 pounds. After close to two years, I finally dropped 90 pounds. You know what 90 pounds feel like? Imagine carrying two 45 plates every single day and trying to live. That’s a workout and it was my life 2 years ago. This was the best gift that I could give myself and cutting weight really came with the benefits. I could breathe better, I was agile, and I could finally move like my body was meant to move. In addition, I felt more confident in my own skin, and I loved the feeling of getting stronger, hitting PRs, and having the freedom to design my physique. Also, it was super rewarding to get lean and see all that hard work I put in. I was around 12% body fat and the last time that I was this lean was probably in my mother’s womb.

And the plan was to cut weight for another month to see if I could shave off a few more percentages, but then I got to a point where my goals started to shift. Sure, it was great to be lean. It was cool to see all that hard work hidden under all that subcutaneous fat. However, the leaner I got, the more I started to see how much I lacked. I still had a long way to go in terms of building mass, gaining strength, and designing my physique. And, if you've been following the podcast, I've shared with y'all my original master nutrition plan. A highly structure, detailed game plan, inspired by Dr. Andy Galpin's seasonal training protocol. Quarter 1 - Bulk/Mass Building. Quarter 2 - Cut and Maintain Strength. Quarter 3 - Maintain weight and gain strength or Gain-tain like Jeff Nippard would call it. And lastly, Quarter 4 - Flex Maintain, a catch-all period.

It's fun to be lean, but fitness and growth shouldn’t stop there. It was time to hit the next phase of performance. I’m finally ready to head back up the scale, dismantle my fear of regression, and learn the skill of lean bulking.

I can't speak for everyone, but if you ever dealt with obesity for more than 20 years and suddenly you discovered the secret sauce to keep the weight off, weight gain becomes naturally taboo. I mean, it's like that singular fear, that “what if”, what if I gained the weight again and then I couldn't take it off and then I'm back to square one. I know it sounds crazy, but it's a psychological fear, no doubt. However, to really make progress, you really need a leap of faith and deal with the chance that something can go wrong.

It's kind of like addictions and relapsing. Now, I never had a super hard life, and I never did any of those intense things that are usually associated with addictions. But my addiction was binge eating. In the past, whenever I fell off the nutritional bandwagon and blew my diet, I would basically just throw in the towel and say, well I screwed up, there's no remedying this so let's just turn this cheat meal into a cheat day. Then, I would do another cheat meal and say, well, since we're here, we might as well make it a cheat week. Next thing you know, I would be happily convincing myself, "well Mike, we're two weeks into your cheat week, care to make a cheat month?" Sure, not a problem. I could use the extra few pounds. Then, fast forward to 4 years later and I look like I never even made any progress.

So, yes, that fear is indeed real. It exists and I’ve been through it. And after every fall, I got so sick and tired of it. So, after two years of figuring things out, I’m finally at a place where I know what I’m doing. Now I may not know everything, and I’m willing to admit that, but what I do know is how to adapt to the changing variables in life. So here are a few things that gives me the confidence that I will not backtrack on my progress.

First, I've replaced my bad eating habits with a better addiction which are hitting the weights, hitting PRs, and building a life around staying active, a few things that makes me feel alive. Every day, I look forward to training and maybe it’s because I’m stuck at a desk for 9 hours, but you can’t deny the fact that it feels so rewarding to get in the gym and crush your goals. I look forward to that first push or pull, or hitting the squat, and I love gearing up for my deadlifts. I can’t imagine my life without training and living a performance driven lifestyle. It’s a huge part of my identity and I look forward to doing this for the rest of my life.

Another thing that’s helped me is that I enjoy the rewards of weightlifting. What you put in is what you get out and it's clearly a rewarding experience. I think I drew this connection from my background in design and creating art. The first sketch of any art project is not supposed to be great. In fact, it should be rough and allow you to explore a multitude of ideas. However, as you go through the art process and massage the idea, eventually it starts to take form. Then, the design and composition start to take shape and it becomes presentable. And as you approach the finish line, the last 10% takes the longest to develop. However, eventually, you just need to release it for the world to see. That’s the thing with art. That’s the thing with fitness. And that’s the thing with success. You will never be satisfied and that’s actually a good thing. Because it inspires you to keep growing for the rest of your life. It’s good to be proud of your achievements, but never let complacency replace personal growth and the drive for your version of success.

And the last thing that gives me confidence is that I've successfully maintained a cut for an extended period of time. Now, I've done this thing for 2 years, and I'm not trying to be egotistical or anything, but really, cutting weight isn't impossible. Sure, the discipline required can be challenging, but it isn't impossible to do. Intentional practice drives intentional outcome and once you get into that rhythm, there’s really nothing that can stop you from keeping the music going.

So here we are, 4 weeks shy of quarter 3 which I'm relabeling as my mini bear bulk phase. Since, I'll be starting 4 weeks earlier, my intention is to pack on muscle mass over the course of 16 weeks. The plan is to gain about .5 to 1 pound of weight and hopefully shoot for a 50/50 split of fat versus muscle. Once again, I don't have the most accurate tools to measure my body composition, so I'll be relying more on visuals, a generic body fat calculator based on the Hodgdon-Beckett formula and tracking my average scale weight week-to-week. Now, I’m not trying to get lost in the details, but rather focus more on identifying trends versus accuracy. In other words, if I’m gaining .5 to 1 pound per week then I'm tracking correctly towards my goals. However, if I start gaining weight way too fast and enter full bear mode, then I'll slowly let off the gas and slightly reduce my calories. As mentioned in an earlier podcast episode, I’ve found really great success by using the Built With Science nutrition calculator for helping me adjust my calories based on my weight differential.

Now for starting metrics I'm working with some decent numbers. My waist circumference is at 29", bodyweight is around 152 pounds and I stand at a towering 5' 8". Yea, got to rep the short crew. But anyways, my average TDEE is around 2360, so I'll be bumping up my calories by 8-10% which results in 2580 calories. As far as my macro distribution, I'll be sticking with 160 grams of protein, carbs at 340 grams, and fat at 65 grams. Now, the only thing I’m really going to be strict with is my protein and my fat and carb distro can shift based on how I’m feeling that day. If one day, my fat intake is much higher than necessary, as long as my calories and protein limits are satisfied, then that’s a win in my book. So I’ll be giving myself some structured flexibility and as long as I stick with my plan 80% of the time, I anticipate seeing some rock solid results at the end of quarter 3.

For a more comprehensive guide on setting up your numbers for bulking, I highly suggest heading over to strongerbyscience.com/diet for the details. The guys and gals that run that platform are really top notch and their diet article is a must read. It balances the science with the practical approach of things and it's a good starting point for understanding the role of nutrition, how it complements our fitness goals, and how to set up your cutting, maintenance, or bulk nutrition plan.

Now, full disclaimer. I enjoy making life difficult. I hear it from everybody, and I gladly accept the critique. I mean, get this. I’m not a professional athlete. I don’t get paid to lift weights. I don’t get paid for showing up at the gym. And, if I stopped today, doing what I do, I’d still be able to make an income from engineering. However, despite all that. I still choose to model my life after a professional athlete. And when I tell people, that I’m going to eat more to build muscle, most folks assume I’ll just get fat. But this is where intention strikes again.

When you intentionally go up in weight, through a lean bulk, you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. It’s like going to the grocery store. You get in, you get what you need, and you get out. Well, at least you try 90% of the time. Because, temptation is everywhere and the same goes for your intentional goals. You know what you want, you get after it, but through progression, there will be roadblocks. However, if you’ve dodged enough bullets in your life, you know when it’s smart to pack the bulletproof vest. Know the obstacle course, play the game, and get after it.

And really, it starts with redefining our perspective towards eating more to gain more means. And to help clarify my point, I’d like to reference an article written by Dr. Eric Helms called “When Gaining Muscle, the Tortoise Beats the Hare” from Volume 3, Issue 6 of MASS. The article reviewed the following 2019 study titled Effects of Different Dietary Energy Intake Following Resistance Training on Muscle Mass and Body Fat in Bodybuilders: A Pilot Study by Ribeiro and company. It was a pretty fascinating study in which it took two groups of competitive bodybuilders and gave them two different diet protocols. One group was issued a moderate caloric surplus whereas the other group was directed to eat at a higher caloric intake. At the end of the study, both groups gained muscle mass, however, the higher caloric surplus group gained substantially more body fat than the moderate caloric individuals. Now, it’s important to note that the higher surplus group did indeed gain more muscle mass compared to the moderate caloric surplus group. However, it was at the expense of higher body fat. So, a better way to look at the study was from the perspective of body composition which is described as the ratio of lean mass versus body fat gained. After running the calcs for body composition, the study still favored the lean bulkers in which the ratio between fat free mass versus fat mass was much more stable.

Now, that leaves us with two options. Option A: Eat at a moderate caloric surplus to gain muscle and a reasonable amount of fat or Option B: eat at a higher caloric surplus, gain more muscle mass, but at the expense of even more body fat. Well, I vote for Option A.

So, here’s my take on it. I’ll start with the obvious. Cutting weight for a prolonged period of time sucks. It’s hard and if you go with Option B over Option A, then you’re setting yourself up for a longer cut. Don’t get me wrong. Cutting body fat from a dream bulk is possible, but it’s just gruesome. It takes forever. It’s long and I’ve done it, but to be honest, I really don’t want to do it ever again. And when we look at option A, even over a 3-month period, I could probably pack on maybe let’s say 6 pounds? And hypothetically, let’s say it’s a 50/50 split? I mean, I could get rid of those 3 pounds of fat mass easily over 3 weeks, and if I’m sticking with the 12-week quarter system, then I can continue to shift downward and reestablish my baseline weight ergo body fat reduction.

Now, I’ve got the deal of a lifetime for you. What if I told you that if you gained muscle, you’d be able to eat more? Would you believe me? Because that’s the truth folks. One of the greatest privileges of gaining muscle mass, getting more fit, and getting stronger is the superpower of eating more without the guilt of packing on too much bodyfat. It’s fundamental knowledge that if you build a body that has higher nutritional requirements, then you’re fundamentally creating the adaptive response to survive the standard American diet. Of course, moderation is still a factor and macros are important, but it’s still possible to one day be at a point where your maintenance calories are much higher than it is now. And that is a great source of motivation to know that one day, you can beat your environment.

So, I’m excited to start this lean bulking phase and I know that building muscle is going to take time. And I accept that I can’t rush the tempo of deadlines. But rather, I’m focusing on enjoying the process, celebrating the checkpoints, and finding ways to keep the game fun. Our toughest goals will take time, but that’s okay, because when you hit your goals, that life defining moment can make you feel invincible and leave you speechless. Keep inching towards your goals, one step at a time, and remember that saying from a well-suited koala bear named Buster Moon:

"You know the good thing about hitting rock bottom, there's only one way left to go and that's up!"

--

Thanks, y’all for tuning in to another episode of the Love Notes for Life podcast. I look forward to continuing this conversation of awareness and amplifying greatness through gratitude. If you’re enjoying the Love Notes for Life podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, and other major podcast platforms. The Love Notes for Life apparel and book is now available at lovenotesforlife.com. For the latest updates be sure to track the mindset by following me @mikecabuco on Instagram or Twitter.

Thanks, y’all for the support and always remember, “There is beauty in knowing that there is only one of you.” Take care.