If you’re new to lifting weights and eating in a surplus, the initial progress might be very fast. But for most people, building muscle is a long, slow process. On the Avatar system, the muscle gain setting will force you to gain weight. If you’re training hard and you’ve chosen the appropriate setting, much of that weight gain should be muscle. However, a portion of that weight gain will almost always be fat.
If you’re starting to feel uncomfortable with gaining more weight, or if your calories have risen to unsustainable levels (to keep you in a surplus as your metabolism adapts upward), it may be time to consider switching to maintenance or weight loss. This choice depends on your long-term goal, but a weight loss phase could be a solution to both of these problems.
If you’re an advanced lifter who has been resistance training for many years, you might find that the reverse diet settings work as well or better than a slow muscle gain goal for building muscle over long periods of time. This will consistently raise your calories, but without the necessity of gaining meaningful weight from week to week. In the long-term, this might slow the process of building muscle, but will preserve leanness over time.