i burst 2 discs in 2010 and one of them severed my right tricep's nerves.
in 6 weeks of absolute agony, my right arm went from a cold 20.1", to a 17.5".
went from 60+lb tricep extensions to 5 lb.
anywhoo, at 6'1", my right was as big as 20.25", and left 19.75".
not pressed up against my side. cold, flexed, with tape exactly perpendicular around the widest point.
i logged my bodyfat and total weight over a period of 2 years after a 10 year layoff.
i ballooned to 165kg at over 43% bfat.
in the frist 12 months, bodyfat dropped to 15%, bodyweight 122kg.
back in the day, before the layoff i struggled to put on weight and ate anything that moved, or looked edible, and was stuck at between 104-106 kg at between 11-13% bfat. that was about 4 years after starting.. i was into track and weighed 70kg soaking wet at about said bfat. trained for 2 years totally drug free..got stuck at 84kg and trained like a madman.
my metabolism changed when i was about 25 and i went from 106kg to about 120kg in about 3 months, but bodyfat also went up. (cant remember what it was, but i was on sauce (miniscule amounts compared to what the american hobbyists do. as i recall, as much as 400mg of test per week (2cc), and 50mg stanazol twice per week (1cc x 2.))
At $100+ per bottle, my student income couldnt afford the regime many suggest here. I never, and still have neevr, used test re-establishment products, and whenever the gear ran out, i immediately lost strength and some size (and was devastated), but within 3 months it was pretty much back.
i never took many pics of myself as i was never happy with how i looked. i had some atrophy in my right trap and pec (likely caused by a virus or something as a kid), and so eveyrthing was asymmetric. it was much more obvious to me, than to others. check out mike mentzer's trap and pecs..similar but i had it worse.
i recall gaining 1lb or muscle a week using 1 mg of sus 250 every fortnight. mind you, i was 19. still, comparing doses to what is commonly written here blows my mind.
i just realised this is a bit ranty..so will stop writing. anyways, i dont recall any of it coming easy. what i see now though is that it still comes back fast...im just turned 44...train more for excercise nowadays- so i dont get fat.