I got down to 12.4 stone a little while ago and decided to calm it down on the weight loss and try to put a bit of muscle on, nothing drastic, so I've been hammering it most days in the gym on the weights which was hell at first, reduced cardio a bit, changed diet around and just under a week ago I bought some different whey protein powder (was using soy protein), plus some 'muscle mass' stuff- the guy that owns the gym strongly recommended it, not a well known brand, a local supplier & full of 'good stuff' so he said. Bearing in mind my age I thought it would be hard to gain a few pounds of muscle, but its bloody ridiculous- I'm up literally over half a stone in less than a fortnight, and none of it is fat- body fat % currently slightly down to 14.3%, so it must be all lean stuff.
And I
absolutely hate it- I feel sluggish, clammy, slow, heavy, feel less flexible and much more tired- its just horrible. Much stronger alright, and I'm lifting pretty heavy (for me), but I just don't like the whole 'bulk' approach, it ain't for me at all- so back to "skinny" it is
. Also I find the endorphin release after cardio much better than the 'gratifying soreness' you get after a big weights session, everyone is different I guess.
One thing I have learned very clearly- there are some supplements out there that are like fucking rocket fuel, this stuff is mental, you can see yourself gaining size almost overnight.