Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had any helpful suggestions for me, my situation is I'm male, 20yrs old, currently about 155lbs, 5ft9in. I used to weigh around 180lbs (being an extreme endo my weight is very erratic! also I had/have rounded features - wide hips, rounded stomach, large thighs). Being unhappy with my bodyweight and more specifically, bodyshape, I underwent a 2/3month cutting phase during which I lost around 20-25lbs through strict dieting (11-1500cals) and occasional cardio.

My weight then settled around 150-154, and I was pleased with this, however, I felt that I was becoming a little TOO lightweight. And although I lost a lot of weight, I'm not too sure how much of it was actually fat, and how much was muscle. Post-cut I was definitely slightly leaner and tighter in all the right places, but I now have a lack of muscle size/definition.

Now I want to re-gain some of the lost mass, through exercise and dieting, and I want it to be muscle rather than fat. However, my diet is posing a huge problem for me as I can put on weight by just looking at food!.. My metabolism is THAT slow. I'm not a compulsive junk-food eater, I lost all those compulsions a long time ago. I recently started a bulking diet, it was very clean, contained a lot of protein and very little fat, yet the simple number of calories (around 2k) was enough to bring back a hint of a pouchy stomach. I stopped the bulking diet about a week in as I was apprehensive of how far the stomach fat would progress.

If I can tweak my routine somehow to allow for a bulking phase, I'd like to continue weights for a year or so, primarily as an experimental exercise - I enjoy exploring what happens to my body when I try new things!!

I have a fairly well-rounded weights program set-up and I am confident on that front, however I have a few, mainly diet-related questions I hope someone can answer for me!!..

1) What (approximately) would be an ideal weight for me to stop at, once I've bulked - I'm 5.9, small frame, currently 155ish lb. I don't want to be popping out of my shirt or anything - just want to have a medium-sized upper body and a trim mid-section.

2) How on earth do I tweak my diet to stop the fat piling on?!, esp to my midsection (I am aware of the dangers of complex carbs n certain sugars late in the evening and I try to only have them post workout - I think the problem is just that my body metabolises food so slowly??)

3) What foods would be best during my bulking phase, considering I have a requirement of the absolute minimum amount of fat with high protein. I have down chicken breast, nuts, protein shakes (2 a day),peanut butter - but I feel I need more to chose from.. I have a very basic pallette so I won't be eating anything fancy, I just would like more basic meal-options!.. And again, fats, at least, saturated fats are an absolute no-no for me!..

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/hints/criticisms!..

Kal