expanding waistline on a bulk

[prof]

hiya I have been trying to gain weight for a while and am at 190lbs at 5`11

thing is my legs and upper body are growing quite well, but so is my waistline.

total calories is actually pretty low approx 3500, but i measured a 37" waist the other day, which is pretty scary and is way way below the 25 cals per pound that it recommends on at large nutrition [4700 ish]

i still have fairly visable abs, and don't look "fat" could it be the heavy squats and deads building up my girth? I am 32 now too so would that make any difference

i honestly thought i needed to eat more as my gains have been really slow, but this is putting me off

help peeps

[Cardinal]

What does your waistline normally measure (i.e. be more specific about the changes you have measured/seen. Give a little more exact timeframe here).

To ease your mind a little, some girth could be coming from excess food in the colon, some from excess bloat from carbohydrates, sodium etc. Are you taking creatine? Unfortunately the least likely answer is a large increase in muscle around the waist (we wish this could account for most of it).

Try dropping kcals by 200-300 kcals per day and see if you are still gaining. 3500 sound a pinch high to me for an endomorph(?) of your size if you are looking for lean gains.

What is your diet like otherwise? Are you doing cardio (HIIT?)?

[prof]

started bulking at 160lbs @ 9% and always thought i was a hardgainer, just never ate enough food

so i have been eating BIG

typical day

breakfast, can tuna in oil, can chickpeas can of pineapples, solube fibre and 20g of flax
or cheese omelette and porridge+flax

lunch, roast meat, great big pile of veg and cheese on top

training shake, 50g prot 50g glucose

tea =chicken, rice, broccoli

cottage cheese + flax+ nuts for supper

so really the notional idea of 3500 calories is suspect, i just kept adding food until i seemed to be growing, but it seems i have been growing my wasteline rather than my muscles