I'm a 40 y/o guy in the frozen north part of the midwest. Starting in college, my weight crept up slowly, to a high of about 215 a few years ago.

Without knowing any better, I dieted too aggressively and ended up smaller, but "skinnyfat." Since getting down to a low of around 146 pounds, I have begun weightlifting and bulking back up, in an attempt to replace some of the muscle that I lost while crash dieting.

From here on out, I will probably be going through bulking and cutting cycles, where I put on weight (slowly, in theory) and then diet off some of the extra inevitable body fat that goes along with the new muscle.

As of fall 2011, I am bulking. I will probably get my weight up to around 180 before dieting off whatever body fat is added along with the muscle.

I'm a firm believer in an "If It Fits Your Macros" approach to nutrition. Stay within your daily calorie limit, get sufficient protein and fats, and generally favor whole foods over processed - but beyond that, there are no "good" or "bad" foods (trans fats excepted).