I just started week 11 of a 12 week test-e only cycle (500mg a week) and was hoping for better. I started at 169lbs (I'm 5-9) and was completely ripped. This morning I woke up at 186lbs but with a considerable amount of fat/water added. While I did gain a good amount of muscle, I am not ripped anymore and my abs arent as visible as they were then. I gained some strength but thought I could have gained slightly more strength. Right now my strength is the same as it was when I weighed 193lbs about a year ago (albeit with extra fat I had on me. I cut down to 169 after and lost a considerable amount of strength.

My guess is I shouldnt have gone directly from a cut at 2300 calories a day (roughly 220g pro, 200g carb, 80g fat) to what I am doing now, which is 3,500 cals, 215 pro, 430 carb, 93 fat.

My workouts are very intense (medium volume and my last set of each exercise to failure at around 8 reps)

anyone else have any ideas as to what I did wrong or is this basically what I should have expected? I keep reading about people gaining 25lbs and losing fat in the process with this same cycle. My physique was better looking before, which is alarming