When to start eating for a bulk?

D

dohste

New Member
Hey,

Hopefully this will be my last total noob post here. Think I've everything else together and ready to go for Monday! Just one thing I'm half debating with myself.

I know that to bulk I'll have to accept gaining a small bit of fat aswell, but in an attempt to keep that to a minimum what do people think about not starting a bulk diet till you actually start getting close to your first RM?

I mean the weights in the first session or two are so low that I really can't see my muscles being challenged by them and so I'm thinking all those bulking calories on those initial days would just go straight to fat?? (When I decrease the weight in 5% of 1RM decrements, for some exercises it's coming out that I'd just start with little more than the bar on it's own... ...)

I reckon it will be a nice way to ease into it and also could help preparing my body for the heavier weights to come, as I've read here. So I've no problem doing those light weight sessions, but I'm just wondering about when it's beneficial to start a bulking diet???
 
I know that to bulk I'll have to accept gaining a small bit of fat aswell, but in an attempt to keep that to a minimum what do people think about not starting a bulk diet till you actually start getting close to your first RM?
Click to expand...

Unless you have a lot of excess fat for your body to burn for energy (body recomposition) you will not gain much if any muscle unless you are eating calories over what you need for maintenance.



Take my experience for example. 15 years ago I started power lifting but was paranoid about getting fat. After about 3 years I plateaued, got bored and quit, taking up running again. 7 months ago I started HST and committed to eating 500 calories a day over maintenance. In 7 months (6 months bulking 3 weeks cutting) I gained as much muscle, have better 1RMs and better lean body mass to fat ratio than 3 years of “lean bulking” got me. 3 years or half a year, I guess it all depends on how long you want to take to gain muscle and strength. There is a reason people bulk and cut. IMO the only real issue is how long to bulk and how often and how to cut. If you are worried about looking fat then cut more often, however, IMO your muscle and strength gains will be slower than if you bulk longer, gain and then cut the fat.



As for easing into it by eating maintenance for the first two weeks, the 15s you’re not really preventing that much fat gain. A 500 calories over maintenance that’s 1 lb./ week you will gain, some will be muscle even if you don’t work out at all. Working out just pushes a little more of the gains towards muscle rather than fat. If you are really hyper paranoid and just can force yourself to eat that much more in the first 2 weeks then try to eat at least 200-300 calories over maintenance. So you will at least get some gains. I go for 500 because it’s hard enough to be sure I’m getting enough calories each day since my activity level can vary quite a bit and I would rather gain fat than not gain muscle.


To put it simply, unless you are genetically very gifted you are not going to gain significant muscle unless you are also willing to gain fat, which you will then shed later.
 
Hey thanks for that very detailed answer!!

Actually you're experience of plateaus after your first few years is something I can very well relate to - I've had the same experience up to now and I'm hoping to bust through it now with HST and a proper diet. You're right though, I should just forget about trying to keep a tap on fat gains and just focus on a calorie surplus for muscle gains.

I'm going to aim for 3,000 cals for bulking - all the different BMR calculations I do come out at about the 2,000 mark or a bit under, but it's hard to know exactly what factor to multiply it by for daily activity etc... Reckon 3,000 should be enough though.

Was reassuring to hear of your experiences!!!

Thanks
Stephen
 
As you bulk, keep track of your weight. I usually weigh myself in the morning right when I get up and keep track of my weekly averages since daily weight can vary a lot. If you find you are gaining more than 1 lb./week cut back on the calories. If you find you are not gaining any weight add some calories. It may take a few weeks to dial it in but it’s worth the effort. Also, remember that as you gain weight you will need more calories.
 
Thanks a mil! That's a great idea with the weekly weight measurements as a way to track whether my diets right.

I've been looking into different diet programs like FitDay and the such, to try and get it right. But there's so many variables with them and sure you never know exactly how many cals you burn or exactly how many grams of something are in your meals etc. Anyway weekly measurements should at least keep me from getting it completely wrong.

If anyone knows of another program for tracking macros and calories etc let me know!!

Thanks
 
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