It could be quite a few factors.
You’re doing heavy squats and not breathing correctly. You should be exhaled during the squat and not holding the breath in.
GH/IGF-1 may have attached to the intestine lining.
Test - holding water
Your getting fat. Some get fat from the inside out.
This makes sense to me, especially the increased circumference stabilization part. I am squatting and dead lifting more now than I ever have. I dont think It's bloat or fat, I can actually see veins running across my upper abbs.
Do you have huge quads and ass well ? Cuz I swear I the biggest quads,ass and stomach I have ever seen on a person. Wondering if you have the same build ?
I did many speed/aerobic sessions with trainers, and it was in our training regimen to get on our hands and knees, and flex our inner abdomen for 4-5 seconds 10-12 times for 3 sets. This was before any aas for me and i was around 12.5 bf.. i saw a definite 1.5-2 inch reduction in waist..the vaccuum does actually work
I know its leaning me out while lifting, and also "taking the water out" do to increase fat translocation , thermogenisis..........and of course added training intensity.
Omega.....I agree with you on the squats increasing waist size big time. I stopped doing squats because my glutes were getting to muscular and i felt my waist was getting bigger. My waist is a 30- 32 right now and I dont want to increase it all....any suggestion on what i can do to put some mass strictly on my quads?..