Water Weight

[jaab]

I'm officially a week into PCT after a 12 week cycle (took 2 weeks off between last pin and pct). I gained 50 lbs in those 14 weeks, and I figured I would end up losing a ton of water weight coming off. I only lost around 1.5 lbs in the first week. I ran Adex at .25 mg eod by the way..

Do you think more will start coming off faster in the next couple of weeks, or were the 50 lbs mostly "clean" gains consisting of mostly muscle/fat and hardly any water at all? My face looks worse than it ever has (completely ballooned up), so I was hoping during the PCT it'd trim down and look at least somewhat decent, but maybe I just have a lot more fat than usual.

Would anyone suggest I start using Adex again just for like a week to see if it's just my estrogen that's too high that's maybe keeping me holding onto all this water if that is the case? I've been drinking more than a gallon of water per day as well.

Cliffs
50 lb gain on test e cycle - used .25 mg adex eod throughout
1 week into pct only lost 1.5 lbs - face still looks bloated, maybe just fat?
Should I use Adex to maybe lower estrogen some more or just wait it out?

It's strange how people get depressed when they see their weight drop. I'd love to have 10 lbs come off the scale in the next week since it would be inevitable that my face would look so much better.

[gixxerboy1]

sounds like alot of fat. 50lbs from a cycle is ridiculous and unhealthy.

I would adjust your diet and sodium

[marcus300]

50LBS.......I am taking a wild guess and stating you was very under weight before you started this cycle for your height and you hadn't reached your natural potential. With this in mind I would say your diet isn't the best and thats why you couldn't increase your bodyweight naturally. Remember this is all guess work and I could be way off but I would say you will lose all your gains because your diet isn't good enough to support the new mass and you will slowly lose all your gains over the next weeks/months - Hopefully you will say you was 200lbs at 5ft 9" and you have been training for 5+ yrs and then I will look have to eat my words gulp!!!

If not, you really need to look at your diet and increase the cals to suit your new bodyweight otherwise your going to end up close to what you was pre-cycle.

What is your current PCT?

[jaab]

sounds like alot of fat. 50lbs from a cycle is ridiculous and unhealthy.

I would adjust your diet and sodium

It wasn't intended. Everywhere I read on here and what I was told was to eat like a bull and gain as much weight as I can. Just more misinformation that gets spewed I guess. I was eating in a 1500 cal surplus everyday while on. I feel like my metabolism has caught up since, and I may only be around 750 over right now. I was thinking about dropping the calories down around 400 so I'd only be around 300 over maintenance. I'd just hate to end up losing gains.

[acidking]

What was your diet like? Sodium will make you balloon, try keep salt to the minimum, if you cook at home avoid adding sauces and spices.

[gixxerboy1]

you would hate to loose gains? What if its fat?
What were your stats before and after cycle?

[jaab]

50LBS.......I am taking a wild guess and stating you was very under weight before you started this cycle for your height and you hadn't reached your natural potential. With this in mind I would say your diet isn't the best and thats why you couldn't increase your bodyweight naturally. Remember this is all guess work and I could be way off but I would say you will lose all your gains because your diet isn't good enough to support the new mass and you will slowly lose all your gains over the next weeks/months - Hopefully you will say you was 200lbs at 5ft 9" and you have been training for 5+ yrs and then I will look have to eat my words gulp!!!

If not, you really need to look at your diet and increase the cals to suit your new bodyweight otherwise your going to end up close to what you was pre-cycle.

What is your current PCT?

Diet has actually been very good for the past couple of years, and I've been training for a few years. I just have terrible genetics - not to make excuses. It takes years to build muscle naturally for those with bad genetics (some lift for a decade with a solid diet and still aren't very big). I wasn't a 200 lb monster upon starting, and that would have actually been more detrimental since that would probably put me above my natural limit. I'd say I was around 20-30 lbs below my natural limit, and that was fine with me upon starting it. There's no real need to go beyond that limit if you want to maintain unless you want to continue drug use your whole life - which is fine, but it's not the road I want to go down. Sorry for the pointless "rant."

I think I'll be fine as far as my strength goes. I've still been hitting PR's in the gym.

Why would I increase my calories if my weight has basically been maintained during the PCT? It seems what I've been eating has been enough to support that anyways based on my in gym performance. That's why I've been thinking of lowering them just a tad bit, but it could be a risky move.

My current PCT is 40-40-20-20-10-10 Nolvadex. I know you're probably going to say I need to add Clomid in.

Anyways, the bloat is the main problem here..or I guess so. I have pictures of my face at 20 lbs lighter and it's a good bit leaner. Maybe it is all fat though.

[jaab]

you would hate to loose gains? What if its fat?
What were your stats before and after cycle?

It could be fat, but from what I've read and what makes the most sense is that putting yourself in a deficit during the time that your body is recovering is just asking to lose muscle. I'd rather wait a few months after my PCT has ended and given my body a good amount of time to fully "recover" before doing that. Although it would be nice if I could just cut now! I was 5'9" 160 legit single digit bodyfat and now 210 a good bit fatter but also way bigger than I was on my last natural bulk when I was in the 190s.

[jaab]

Thanks for the help so far you two..very much appreciated! Any insight on whether I should try using a small dose of Adex again to see if that will help shed some of the water, or is that a bad/risky move since it might hurt my testosterone recovery process?

[ucf465]

50 lbs? if your retaining that much water id get my kidneys checked. 50 lbs is ridiculous!!

[jaab]

50 lbs? if your retaining that much water id get my kidneys checked. 50 lbs is ridiculous!!

By the looks of it, I'm either holding onto a ton of it or hardly any of it is water. Could have just gained 25 lbs of fat. If so, lesson learned, and I'll know for the future to tell people to be conservative with the diet and only eat in a ~750-1k cal surplus rather than going much higher.

[ucf465]

your not gonna gain 25 lbs of fat in 12 weeks on top of 25 lbs of muscle. 50 lbs of tissue is a ton of calories assuming that your body put every calorie to adding tissue and not metabolizing it (burning it up)

[songdog]

No dont use the Adex.

[gixxerboy1]

No dont use the Adex.

i agree.

[jaab]

No dont use the Adex.

Any reason why I shouldn't, assuming that my estrogen levels still may be slightly elevated despite using .25 mg EOD throughout the cycle? Is it because my test levels may not recover as fast or as well? I'm not questioning you, but it would be nice to hear the scientific reasoning behind not using it.

your not gonna gain 25 lbs of fat in 12 weeks on top of 25 lbs of muscle. 50 lbs of tissue is a ton of calories assuming that your body put every calorie to adding tissue and not metabolizing it (burning it up)

That's what I thought and was hoping. I just was expecting the scale to drop a lot more this week and was surprised that I only lost 1.5 lbs. Maybe I ended up gaining more weight on top of that from being in too big of a surplus. I think I'm going to drop the calories down 400 (all from carbs) and further adjust from there if needed.

i agree.

Thanks!