Been lifting for 2 years, didn't take it all that seriously at first so hear me out. As should be expected, when I bulk I put on fat as well as muscle, but I try and keep it at a minimum by eating clean (no fast food, fizzy drink etc and counting macros). This nearly exclusively goes to my belly, and after a couple of months bulking yes I get bigger muscle-wise but several people remark that I look like I've put on a lot of weight - and not in a positive way! I'm only 5'7, currently weigh 155 after a 3-4 month cut, so over the winter months I'll be eating 2800 or so a day to bulk which is what several sources have told me is required to gain weight safely for an individual of my activity level and height. Now when I cut, I eat under my daily calorific allowance with a large proportion of that from protein (shakes, boiled chicken, eggs etc), yet the belly persists (fat drops from anywhere but there, it seems) and I lose some of the hard earned muscle so it feels like I'm not making any progress and it gets demoralising. Oh and I train 3 times a week back/bis, chest/shoulders/tris, legs/abs. I also seem to have lost a lot of strength recently but that's probably down to the cut. Can't see where I'm going wrong? Maybe its my body type / genetics - I'm was very slim before liftng - or maybe I need to mix things up a bit on the training side of things. Anyone else get this?