I'm not suggesting you eat garbage food. I am suggesting that you're not eating enough of the right food. 2500 calories may not even meet your daily needs depending on your activity level, and it sounds like you are quite active. This could be leaving you in a caloric deficit, which may COST you lean muscle. I also agree that you take too many shakes/protein bars, although if you have trouble getting your calories up a quality weight gainer might be a good idea. Read this thread http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...nd-sample-diet... It will show you haw to calculate your daily macros for a bulk, and recommend some basic does and donts. I myself had a harder time gaining quality mass, but it turns out that it stemmed from a lack of knowledge, not from being a hardgainer. Try waking up in the middle of the night to slam a protein shake too, it really makes the difference to me, although my wife hates it!!! Just remember. Steroids don't make you big, they just make it happen faster. Everything else has to be in place for them to do their job. Imagine you want to build a house. You could do it yourself very slowly, but to speed things up you get a carpenter (your steroids). But you don't give him any lumber. What will he build the house from? Get the lumber first, then build yourself into a god damn house!!!!!!!