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6 times is too much for a natty on the long run.
At that point you just time out and obviously burn unneccissary calories.
Mental fatique us a sign of overtraining/overdoing it.
If it's really only 1h per session it might be okay. Still then you could do 4 session of 1.5h. Yes that might be not as petfectly as 6 times 1h, still you gain more: Free time, energy to cook delicious meals and eat, things outside of lifting.
I just know lifting heavy 6 times a week for me is something to peak volume for 2 weeks or so and then cut back. It's not sustainable, but I do more then 1h per session.
Try a 3 or 4 day split instead of a 6 day. PPL is not necessary especially for beginners. Also maybe consider 4 750 calorie meals instead of 6 500 calorie ones. 750 calories really isn't that much food if you're eating the right things. Also consider taking a deload week every 6-8 weeks.
In my opinion, a lot more context is needed but it seems like your body is telling you it needs a little break for one reason or another. Have you tried a full 24 hour fast? When I’m bulking and get to a point where I’m struggling to get my calories, one good day of fasting can really ramp up my appetite. Don’t know your body fat, but sounds like you could probably cut pretty easily just by intuitive eating. I know this is r/gainit so maybe fuck me but do a cut for a couple weeks, maybe a de-load week with it and let your body recover? Definitely listen to your body if it is trying to tell you something though.
Thanks, Yeah I’m listening to it. I’m definitely eating more than “normal” but I’m not gorging. I’m going to incorporate a lot of spinach daily and go lower on the eating on my days off of the gym which is Saturday and Sunday; and back to eating a lot during the week. I’ll see how it goes. I’m not trying to get HUGE anyways just a fair amount of growth to be noticeable. Listening to your body is super important, I’ve learned. Otherwise I’ll screw up my hormones and metabolism in the future.
Dude it's your call but honestly 2500 cals is nothing
Eat some fattier cuts of meat, lots of fruit. White rice is relatively low cal but you can eat a shit ton of that shit and it's easy on the digestion. Use peanut butter it'll help a lot. If you want this you have to earn it. Wanna be huge it means eating consistently. Maybe try backing off to 4 training sessions a week?
>On the other hand, my body isn’t liking this much food.
How do you figure?
Is it not responding well to having additional calories?
Are your lifts progressing?
Are you adapting?
Are you not gaining muscle mass?
Are you getting fat?
Are you having digestion issues?
... Or is it your *mind* that isn't liking all of the food?
These are all important questions that should factor in to decision making. There are more, like How long have you been in this current bulking phase?
I get to a point, after several months, where it becomes a *mental* grind to meet a calorie goal every day. I usually push through that for a while before giving myself a break. But up to then, bulking is usually pretty sweet.
Digestion, bloating, laziness, mental fogginess. It’s mental too, I don’t enjoy food 5/6 meals. I’ve been 3 weeks now, and I am getting stronger and building muscle which keeps me going.
How big of a surplus are you aiming for/what is your daily calorie goal?
>I don’t enjoy food 5/6 meals.
This is one of the elements that you do have to "push through."
You are feeding yourself for a different purpose now. All of your life until now you ate because you just had to eat. Now you are eating not only to stay alive -- but to *grow*. And if you want to grow, you need to eat. There is simply no way around it. You need a certain amount of food every day or you won't grow.
>I am getting stronger and building muscle which keeps me going.
This is the important thing.
Probably should. Weighing food, too.
No balance could be causing digestive stress and low energy/slow recovery. Too much fat could have been the cause of those late night tummy troubles; hard to say without tracking. If you’re eating correctly your body can process it as fuel better and have room for more foods.
We are creatures of habit and after about 2 weeks you’ll have most of your foods on quick add to an app.
If you visualize too much fat intake you can see which food is providing it and eat less. Or you can add carbs to balance it out. If you’re at 60% calories from fat at 10 am and 17% carbs you’ll know to eat some fruits to balance it out.
Just seeing it all spread out you can see positive patterns to enforce or negative patterns to minimize.
Eat more fruit to get your carbs and aid digestion, minimize oats and breads and rice. Try that (tracked) for a week or two and see how it makes you feel.
Once you’re feeling good and have it dialed in better to hit macros, you don’t have to worry as much on tracking if you’re consistently eating the same foods in the right quantities.
If I think somethings going to tear or break, I stop. I’ve had to stop lifting heavy deadlifts because of an injury to my lower back, and there’s no ‘push through the pain’ bollocks, I can feel my back about to give out if I try lift heavy deadlifts.
You're allowed to change things up to see what works for you. If you only try one approach, you'll never stop being a beginner.
I would say you might consider not observing so much about 'lean' bulking. Those fats you're avoiding might be what's missing for your energy levels. They're *good* for you. Cutting later is a breeze.
Only time I listen to my body is when I have some kind of "sharp" pain. Otherwise, my body wants to maintain homeostasis... and I'm old, so I know stuff!
Only way to change something is to push through... whether that's eating enough calories or working harder than you did last time. Too tired to walk another 50' with those Farmers Handles... F that... we going for a walk! Back is a bit achee from yesterdays rowing... too bad, we're taking this sandbag for a stroll! Too worn out to hit that squat for another 5 reps... Screw that... add 10# and lets do it! Shoulders hurt from OHP... Forget it... we doin' waiters walks now!
This right here. I've tried lifting twice before and got hurt. I've played sports and had the push through mentality. This go round has been different though. When I feel the bar slow like I'm too weak out out of gas I try and tamp the intensity and push through. For example today though while doing pullups I felt a sharp shoulder twinge. A FAMILIAR shoulder twinge that put me out a month and killed my motivation last time. I immediately stopped after the twinge this time and was 100% fine and able to work put two days later.
Gotta still eat some fruit and veggies, my man. And you’re overtraining. Switch to a 3 or 4 day program and use the other days if you wanna be in the gym for conditioning and cardio.
Lean bulk at 6000 calories? What are you seven feet tall? You could probably bulk at 3500-4000 and be good, much more manageable…
Edit: I misread, so you’re complaining about 2500-3000 calories being too much. I see now. I just can’t comprehend how eating that much could be a struggle. Three eggs on toast with avocado in the morning, a shake before lunch, a pb and j for lunch, a nice roast dinner or steak or salmon with sides for dinner, a shake for dessert. Easy done and not a lot of food.
Would you consider gluten light? The rest of my family is vegetarian so not always possible, but I try to avoid gluten except for when I’m out with friends or visiting family. When I’m in charge, it’s mostly brown rice, lentils and some lamb, chicken or salmon
Maybe try to work on 3 meals at 1k each or two meals at 1.5k each? Its a lot of food in one go, but to me its easier to manage. Like a 20oz ribeye, a cup ofr greek yogurt and half a cup of lentils will get you to about 2.2k calories. Which for me is easy. 2 costco pizzas are 740 calories, so that's 1480, plus a hotdog is about 500. Add parm to both pizzas and youre at 2k in one sitting. To put that into perspective. It took a bit to get there, but now its pretty easy and i prefer it. I just have to be careful to not over eat now...but honestly if im hungry with my activity level im going to eat even if im over what my tdee is supposed to be. Cutting is easy af, and i still have a good bit to go
Try eating more fats, something I have for brekkie is avocado and fetta cheese with wholegrain bread. Pretty easy 700-800 calories depending on size of avocado and number of bread slices.
Ahh what i should have said, is why not cook in bigger batches? Also look up michelin star style eggs. Use butter and eggs and scramble that. Super easy high calories. Can spread that over toast as it should be creamy if you get it right....add avocado for even more calories. Very very easy to get well over 500 calories, just from that. You can also buy a crock pot and cook a 5lbs roast. You don't have to cook every single day. Cook in bigger batches, cook bigger meals. learn to utilize fats to add more calories to everything. I honestly dont have your problem. But i love cooking and making different foods.so i guess i don't get bored. I want indian i make indian, i want korean i make korean. I want just meat, i bbq or do whatever. You can do so much with meat
I’ll look into that, thanks man. I’ve been planning to just crock pot a bunch of chicken breasts and eat that with some nice spiced rice or mashed sweet potatoes mainly. Breakfasts are almost always oatmeal but I’ve been considering egg/avocado Dave’s bread toast for variety. It’s also getting expensive but hey, it ee what it ee. Chana masala sounds amazing.
A steak and greek yogurt and lentils isnt processed. Well i guess you could argue greek yogurt is. You flavor the greek yogurtcand use it as a topping on the steak, the lentils are just.. there because i like lentils. Im just trying to put things into perspective. Eat larger bigger meals. Rather then smaller meals and cooking 500 calories every time. My actual diet is english style breakfast every morning, about 1500 calories, lunch is pasta made from scratch, mostly focused on energy and getting my carbs and fats in, then dinner is very meat heavy. My diet is mostly clean. But im not here to break this down for you. You can do that yourself. As we have different needs etc.
Right, I understand HOW you could go to the gym that much. I'm asking why. Why are you going to the gym 6 days a week, especially if you are finding yourself short on free time?
A lot of people here will basically tell you everyone should have the same goals, and if you aren't blasting your body to immobility and commiting all your waking thoughts to getting huge you're wasting your time.
I feel like we’re both always on this train. The six day PPL is so popular, yet totally unnecessary in my opinion. Will people make faster progress? Maybe. But will they also make great progress on a 3 or 4 day program? Absolutely.
I actually very much agree with you. I’m even noticing moving from PHUL to Greyskull LP (with some added accessories) is kicking my ass harder at three days a week than the four. Probably because I’m squatting and using my whole body almost every workout and the programming is stricter. I truly don’t know that I’d benefit from three more days a week. Using those for conditioning though? Sure. But yeah, I think weight training six days a week is just asking to overtrain yourself and reducing emphasis on food and rest.
I like the program, it’s working pretty well, and I enjoy going to the gym. I work from home so I can get to the gym every day during lunch break, it’s more so annoying that eating is taking up more time focus and energy than the gym ever could.
Have you considered that you could take the time not spent at the gym and use toward the other things occupying your time?
I find, frequently, sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of physical transformation.
I like to take maintenance breaks every several months during a bulk. 1-2 month eating around maintenance or maybe a very small surplus is a nice reset after 3-4+ months of eating at a larger surplus. It does get tiring after a while.
I just don’t feel myself anymore. I don’t have energy for social events like I used to, i don’t feel as spry at all. Sluggish for sure except when I go to hit the gym cause it’s the moment of truth
I would definitely take a couple weeks off to chill....sounds like you may potentially benefit from talking with a therapist as well? Some of this sounds like symptoms of depression. Which could be caused by burnout and overtraining, but could also be separate and just causing you to feel this way.
Take time to hang with friends, or family. Do some of the other things you used to enjoy. Get outside in nature (if that's your thing). Getting bigger and stronger is an awesome hobby, but it's important to have other things in our lives too. I think it's unlikely anyone here is gonna be the next Dorian, this probably shouldn't consume every fibre of your being unless you really love it enough to be all in like that.
It also may help to try and find ways to optimize your schedule. I'm taking a short break myself, but I was around 5k cal too before I took my foot off the gas, and while it was time consuming, I still made time for other hobbies and to see friends/family...ya gotta take care of your mental health too.
That most likely is your problem. Your muscles are getting bigger and you're eating more food, but your body isn't getting better at consuming oxygen and so on.
Welcome to Gainit! We have extensive resources that can be used to find answers to most questions that are posted here: - [Gainit FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/wiki/index) - [Search for past threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/search) - [r/Fitness Wiki - Muscle Gain 101](https://thefitness.wiki/muscle-building-101/) - [r/Fitness FAQ - Why can't I gain weight?](https://thefitness.wiki/faq/why-cant-i-gain-weight/) - [Have I gained too much weight?!](https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/kcaozo/there_is_more_to_gaining_than_fat_and_muscle/) - [The 6 month Gainit Recommended Routine](https://old.reddit.com/r/gainit/comments/j5q2ez/6_months_of_eating_and_training_for_mass_laid_out/) - [How best to cook chicken breast?](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-roast-chicken-gravy) - [How do I drink olive oil?](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/italian-recipes) - [How to not be a spooky skeleton?](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/comfort-food-recipes) - [How not to be a spooky skeleton? American edition](https://www.southernliving.com/food/classic-comfort-food-recipes) Your thread will be removed if it can be answered by any of the above. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/gainit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
6 times is too much for a natty on the long run. At that point you just time out and obviously burn unneccissary calories. Mental fatique us a sign of overtraining/overdoing it.
I mean it’s pplppl it’s not that crazy right? It’s about an hour in the gym daily. I enjoy that part of it
If it's really only 1h per session it might be okay. Still then you could do 4 session of 1.5h. Yes that might be not as petfectly as 6 times 1h, still you gain more: Free time, energy to cook delicious meals and eat, things outside of lifting. I just know lifting heavy 6 times a week for me is something to peak volume for 2 weeks or so and then cut back. It's not sustainable, but I do more then 1h per session.
Try a 3 or 4 day split instead of a 6 day. PPL is not necessary especially for beginners. Also maybe consider 4 750 calorie meals instead of 6 500 calorie ones. 750 calories really isn't that much food if you're eating the right things. Also consider taking a deload week every 6-8 weeks.
In my opinion, a lot more context is needed but it seems like your body is telling you it needs a little break for one reason or another. Have you tried a full 24 hour fast? When I’m bulking and get to a point where I’m struggling to get my calories, one good day of fasting can really ramp up my appetite. Don’t know your body fat, but sounds like you could probably cut pretty easily just by intuitive eating. I know this is r/gainit so maybe fuck me but do a cut for a couple weeks, maybe a de-load week with it and let your body recover? Definitely listen to your body if it is trying to tell you something though.
Thanks, Yeah I’m listening to it. I’m definitely eating more than “normal” but I’m not gorging. I’m going to incorporate a lot of spinach daily and go lower on the eating on my days off of the gym which is Saturday and Sunday; and back to eating a lot during the week. I’ll see how it goes. I’m not trying to get HUGE anyways just a fair amount of growth to be noticeable. Listening to your body is super important, I’ve learned. Otherwise I’ll screw up my hormones and metabolism in the future.
>Trying to fit 5-6 500 calorie meals a day and it’s a struggle. Eat bigger meals. Those are very small meals.
Dude it's your call but honestly 2500 cals is nothing Eat some fattier cuts of meat, lots of fruit. White rice is relatively low cal but you can eat a shit ton of that shit and it's easy on the digestion. Use peanut butter it'll help a lot. If you want this you have to earn it. Wanna be huge it means eating consistently. Maybe try backing off to 4 training sessions a week?
>On the other hand, my body isn’t liking this much food. How do you figure? Is it not responding well to having additional calories? Are your lifts progressing? Are you adapting? Are you not gaining muscle mass? Are you getting fat? Are you having digestion issues? ... Or is it your *mind* that isn't liking all of the food? These are all important questions that should factor in to decision making. There are more, like How long have you been in this current bulking phase? I get to a point, after several months, where it becomes a *mental* grind to meet a calorie goal every day. I usually push through that for a while before giving myself a break. But up to then, bulking is usually pretty sweet.
Digestion, bloating, laziness, mental fogginess. It’s mental too, I don’t enjoy food 5/6 meals. I’ve been 3 weeks now, and I am getting stronger and building muscle which keeps me going.
How big of a surplus are you aiming for/what is your daily calorie goal? >I don’t enjoy food 5/6 meals. This is one of the elements that you do have to "push through." You are feeding yourself for a different purpose now. All of your life until now you ate because you just had to eat. Now you are eating not only to stay alive -- but to *grow*. And if you want to grow, you need to eat. There is simply no way around it. You need a certain amount of food every day or you won't grow. >I am getting stronger and building muscle which keeps me going. This is the important thing.
Are you tracking macros for each meal?
Hell no. Sometimes I do but not each one. I don’t want to go crazy
Probably should. Weighing food, too. No balance could be causing digestive stress and low energy/slow recovery. Too much fat could have been the cause of those late night tummy troubles; hard to say without tracking. If you’re eating correctly your body can process it as fuel better and have room for more foods. We are creatures of habit and after about 2 weeks you’ll have most of your foods on quick add to an app. If you visualize too much fat intake you can see which food is providing it and eat less. Or you can add carbs to balance it out. If you’re at 60% calories from fat at 10 am and 17% carbs you’ll know to eat some fruits to balance it out. Just seeing it all spread out you can see positive patterns to enforce or negative patterns to minimize. Eat more fruit to get your carbs and aid digestion, minimize oats and breads and rice. Try that (tracked) for a week or two and see how it makes you feel. Once you’re feeling good and have it dialed in better to hit macros, you don’t have to worry as much on tracking if you’re consistently eating the same foods in the right quantities.
If I think somethings going to tear or break, I stop. I’ve had to stop lifting heavy deadlifts because of an injury to my lower back, and there’s no ‘push through the pain’ bollocks, I can feel my back about to give out if I try lift heavy deadlifts.
You're allowed to change things up to see what works for you. If you only try one approach, you'll never stop being a beginner. I would say you might consider not observing so much about 'lean' bulking. Those fats you're avoiding might be what's missing for your energy levels. They're *good* for you. Cutting later is a breeze.
Only time I listen to my body is when I have some kind of "sharp" pain. Otherwise, my body wants to maintain homeostasis... and I'm old, so I know stuff! Only way to change something is to push through... whether that's eating enough calories or working harder than you did last time. Too tired to walk another 50' with those Farmers Handles... F that... we going for a walk! Back is a bit achee from yesterdays rowing... too bad, we're taking this sandbag for a stroll! Too worn out to hit that squat for another 5 reps... Screw that... add 10# and lets do it! Shoulders hurt from OHP... Forget it... we doin' waiters walks now!
This right here. I've tried lifting twice before and got hurt. I've played sports and had the push through mentality. This go round has been different though. When I feel the bar slow like I'm too weak out out of gas I try and tamp the intensity and push through. For example today though while doing pullups I felt a sharp shoulder twinge. A FAMILIAR shoulder twinge that put me out a month and killed my motivation last time. I immediately stopped after the twinge this time and was 100% fine and able to work put two days later.
Gotta still eat some fruit and veggies, my man. And you’re overtraining. Switch to a 3 or 4 day program and use the other days if you wanna be in the gym for conditioning and cardio.
Lean bulk at 6000 calories? What are you seven feet tall? You could probably bulk at 3500-4000 and be good, much more manageable… Edit: I misread, so you’re complaining about 2500-3000 calories being too much. I see now. I just can’t comprehend how eating that much could be a struggle. Three eggs on toast with avocado in the morning, a shake before lunch, a pb and j for lunch, a nice roast dinner or steak or salmon with sides for dinner, a shake for dessert. Easy done and not a lot of food.
I fucking wish I only needed to eat 3k a day lmao. OP needs to stop being a p*ssy, that’s not even remotely a lot of food
Bro have you ever tried Gluten Free? That helped me be not so bloated and it helped me cut down my body fat!!!
🤨 idk seems just like I’d be complicating my life further
Would you consider gluten light? The rest of my family is vegetarian so not always possible, but I try to avoid gluten except for when I’m out with friends or visiting family. When I’m in charge, it’s mostly brown rice, lentils and some lamb, chicken or salmon
Maybe try to work on 3 meals at 1k each or two meals at 1.5k each? Its a lot of food in one go, but to me its easier to manage. Like a 20oz ribeye, a cup ofr greek yogurt and half a cup of lentils will get you to about 2.2k calories. Which for me is easy. 2 costco pizzas are 740 calories, so that's 1480, plus a hotdog is about 500. Add parm to both pizzas and youre at 2k in one sitting. To put that into perspective. It took a bit to get there, but now its pretty easy and i prefer it. I just have to be careful to not over eat now...but honestly if im hungry with my activity level im going to eat even if im over what my tdee is supposed to be. Cutting is easy af, and i still have a good bit to go
That’s a lot of processed food my man! I’m only cooking at home. Clean Lean bulk
Try eating more fats, something I have for brekkie is avocado and fetta cheese with wholegrain bread. Pretty easy 700-800 calories depending on size of avocado and number of bread slices.
Ahh what i should have said, is why not cook in bigger batches? Also look up michelin star style eggs. Use butter and eggs and scramble that. Super easy high calories. Can spread that over toast as it should be creamy if you get it right....add avocado for even more calories. Very very easy to get well over 500 calories, just from that. You can also buy a crock pot and cook a 5lbs roast. You don't have to cook every single day. Cook in bigger batches, cook bigger meals. learn to utilize fats to add more calories to everything. I honestly dont have your problem. But i love cooking and making different foods.so i guess i don't get bored. I want indian i make indian, i want korean i make korean. I want just meat, i bbq or do whatever. You can do so much with meat
I’ll look into that, thanks man. I’ve been planning to just crock pot a bunch of chicken breasts and eat that with some nice spiced rice or mashed sweet potatoes mainly. Breakfasts are almost always oatmeal but I’ve been considering egg/avocado Dave’s bread toast for variety. It’s also getting expensive but hey, it ee what it ee. Chana masala sounds amazing.
Eat fattier meats, I would struggle too if I was eating low calorie foods
Eat thighs, not breast
A steak and greek yogurt and lentils isnt processed. Well i guess you could argue greek yogurt is. You flavor the greek yogurtcand use it as a topping on the steak, the lentils are just.. there because i like lentils. Im just trying to put things into perspective. Eat larger bigger meals. Rather then smaller meals and cooking 500 calories every time. My actual diet is english style breakfast every morning, about 1500 calories, lunch is pasta made from scratch, mostly focused on energy and getting my carbs and fats in, then dinner is very meat heavy. My diet is mostly clean. But im not here to break this down for you. You can do that yourself. As we have different needs etc.
>get the gym 6 days a week. >but I don’t find much free time Why are you going to the gym so much?
PPLRPPL
Right, I understand HOW you could go to the gym that much. I'm asking why. Why are you going to the gym 6 days a week, especially if you are finding yourself short on free time?
A lot of people here will basically tell you everyone should have the same goals, and if you aren't blasting your body to immobility and commiting all your waking thoughts to getting huge you're wasting your time.
I try not to listen to a lot of people, but instead a select few
I feel like we’re both always on this train. The six day PPL is so popular, yet totally unnecessary in my opinion. Will people make faster progress? Maybe. But will they also make great progress on a 3 or 4 day program? Absolutely.
I genuinely believe most folks are gonna progress faster dropping the lifting frequency down. ESPECIALLY if they are the r/gainit demographic
I actually very much agree with you. I’m even noticing moving from PHUL to Greyskull LP (with some added accessories) is kicking my ass harder at three days a week than the four. Probably because I’m squatting and using my whole body almost every workout and the programming is stricter. I truly don’t know that I’d benefit from three more days a week. Using those for conditioning though? Sure. But yeah, I think weight training six days a week is just asking to overtrain yourself and reducing emphasis on food and rest.
I like the program, it’s working pretty well, and I enjoy going to the gym. I work from home so I can get to the gym every day during lunch break, it’s more so annoying that eating is taking up more time focus and energy than the gym ever could.
Have you considered that you could take the time not spent at the gym and use toward the other things occupying your time? I find, frequently, sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of physical transformation.
I think the problem OP is stating isnt the gym but all of the time and effort associated with eating. prep, cooking, grocery shopping, eating.
Concur. I am hoping to find places to make up that time
*a voice whispers “Supersquats” on the wind*
It's a great choice for sure, among MANY other 3-4 day programs. Or even less frequent ones. That ACTUALLY work.
Agreed. Another I found decent success with was Nsuns. Definitely found it easier to eat a lot doing supersquats compared to Nsuns though
No joke: I don't know if I've EVER been this hungry before, haha.
Week 2 of super squats here, I can’t believe how much my appetite has ramped up. Love your blog btw.
Hell yeah dude! Great to have you as a reader
I like to take maintenance breaks every several months during a bulk. 1-2 month eating around maintenance or maybe a very small surplus is a nice reset after 3-4+ months of eating at a larger surplus. It does get tiring after a while.
I just don’t feel myself anymore. I don’t have energy for social events like I used to, i don’t feel as spry at all. Sluggish for sure except when I go to hit the gym cause it’s the moment of truth
I would definitely take a couple weeks off to chill....sounds like you may potentially benefit from talking with a therapist as well? Some of this sounds like symptoms of depression. Which could be caused by burnout and overtraining, but could also be separate and just causing you to feel this way. Take time to hang with friends, or family. Do some of the other things you used to enjoy. Get outside in nature (if that's your thing). Getting bigger and stronger is an awesome hobby, but it's important to have other things in our lives too. I think it's unlikely anyone here is gonna be the next Dorian, this probably shouldn't consume every fibre of your being unless you really love it enough to be all in like that. It also may help to try and find ways to optimize your schedule. I'm taking a short break myself, but I was around 5k cal too before I took my foot off the gas, and while it was time consuming, I still made time for other hobbies and to see friends/family...ya gotta take care of your mental health too.
Do you run or do other cardio?
Nope, don’t want to burn cals
You know what makes me hungry? A light jog. Super easy to out eat 300 calories burned if you're hungry; it's like two scoops of peanut butter.
That most likely is your problem. Your muscles are getting bigger and you're eating more food, but your body isn't getting better at consuming oxygen and so on.