How do you stay lean while building muscle

Since September I've been in a calories surplus of around 200-300 kcal to gain some muscle. I've gained some but I've also gained a little fat during the process, more than I would have liked. How do you guys go about staying lean year round but still (slowly) gain some muscle mass? Should I just eat at mantainence?

From my previous understanding of nutrition, you should be in a surplus to gain muscle but after reading some nutrition topics here I'm starting to think that might not be always the case..

FYI I eat mostly whole foods, lots of veggies and fruit. I based my diet on calories counting and a balanced macronutrients split (around 25% protein, 20% fats and 55% carbs).

Any input for discussion is more than welcome! Thanks

you might also consider the fact about your training, are you really stimulating enough to get growth? 

I'm following Foundation and H1. Some areas get plenty of volume ( the core, shoulders, back) while others not so much. I guess it's not a case that those are the areas where I've experienced more growth

That being said, my training is pretty much set in stone by Coach's courses so there not a whole lot to modify there.

A thing you can do is eat a little more in the days you train and less in the days u rest. This a good thing, while on cutting, because the body takes a longer time to notice that you are in deficit than if you were eating the same calories all day, it 'confuses' the body, but after some time you get in a plateau also, but it takes longer, trust me i've tried and eat like this.

I know you are talking about maintence, 

For example if u eat 3k cal every day it gives 7*3k =  21k cals / week

If you train 4 times per you week u can do: eat 10% more in the days you train and 10% less the day u rest.

4*3000*1,1+3*3000*0,9 =21,3k cals / week which is close to the first, then you make a new try until u find the 21k cals/ week

Thats my suggestion
Play with the numbers and % and in the end of a week u must get the amount of calories that you need to stay in maintence.

another thing, the days you train eat more carbs and less fat, the days you don't train eat less carbs.

I learnt this in some nutrition website which i don't remember now
 

1) try cutting calories a bit

2) eat most of your carbs post workout

Everything above seems valid. 

If you don't want to cut calories you can add a few recovery runs (or equiv) into your plan - around 20 minutes at an easy pace.  That would burn a few hundred calories and not cut into your training.

Also think long term over a few years and measure progress in terms of abilities and strength primarily and body composition secondarily - not saying you don't do this now but just saying in general.

Thanks for all your valuable ideas guys!

I'm probably gonna do a 12 weeks slow cut to shed the excess fat that I'm carrying (although I don't have a lot to lose). After that I'm gonna experiment with some of the thing you pointed out as see how it goes.

As a point of reference, in the OP I was referring to guys like Orench, Daniel from BodyTree, Zach, Adriano which all are very very lean but also seem to sloowly gaining some muscle here and there! But I guess that focusing on my Foundation work will be the most important factor in achieving those kinds of physique

Hi Edoardo,

I highly recommend getting body composition tests before and after trying any nutritional intervention. Also, depending on how lean you are, eating a diet that is 55% carbohydrate is perhaps one reason why your body is storing excess fat during your muscle-building stage. Keep us updated as to what you try and what works!

Best,

Chris

55% carbs also seems a bit high to me. I think a dedicated cutting phase and then a maintenance at TDEE that is based around 45% carbs / 20% fat / 35% protein should work well. But I'd also be very interested in hearing how a guy like Orench is dieting.

For the record: I've just went down from 13% bodyfat to 10% (DEXA scanned) in 6 weeks. My diet was carb cycling, with two high carb days per week. The whole intake was calculated to result in a caloric deficit of about 3500 kcal per week. I've lost 2.5kg of fat and 0.5kg of lean mass. Training was F1/H1/SS plus some LISS cardio in the mornings and a little barbell work from time to time. It feels great to be a bit lighter, especially when on the rings and on the pullup bar

Thanks for your reply Chris!

My carbs are indeed pretty high. I calculate my protein intake based on my bodyweight (around 1.6-1.8 g/kg) and I eat around 1g/kg of fats. What remains it's just carbs, which is around 400g now that I'm maintaining.

Are you suggesting a different approach? It would be interesting to try something different after 2 years eating like that! Maybe you're thinking something more suitable for GST (my approach is more of bodybuilding style diet).

Luzian said:

55% carbs also seems a bit high to me. I think a dedicated cutting phase and then a maintenance at TDEE that is based around 45% carbs / 20% fat / 35% protein should work well.

I maintain at 3100 kcal now that I weight 85 kg (14-15% estimated bf), which means that 35% is ~270g of protein. Now, I'm not an expert but that's a lot! Also consider that all the excess protein will become carbs through gluconeogenesis.

For the record: I've just went down from 13% bodyfat to 10% (DEXA scanned) in 6 weeks. My diet was carb cycling, with two high carb days per week. The whole intake was calculated to result in a caloric deficit of about 3500 kcal per week. I've lost 2.5kg of fat and 0.5kg of lean mass. Training was F1/H1/SS plus some LISS cardio in the mornings and a little barbell work from time to time. It feels great to be a bit lighter, especially when on the rings and on the pullup bar

Congrats! I can't wait to cut a little too, but I have to wait till September, when I'll be back from holidays..