Hmm I didn’t track my weight at all during the last bulk. I should’ve written it down…
I’m going to do that during the next bulk.
But I think that I went from 80-90kg rather quickly.
I will go for your recommended macros during the next bulk. What do you think about wheat flour products on a bulk? Should be no problem right?
What carb sources do you recommend? To not feel too bloated and full. And to have some variety.
Do you recommend 2.2g/kg of protein for cutting too?
I will definitely keep you updated on my progress.
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Personally i do some rice and some pastas, but whichever source of carbs (not sugar) that sits best with your gut and digests well. You may find that you need to pay attention to fiber for digestion at this time. I haven’t needed to, but just pay attention to your digestion and adjust accordingly.
At least. If you find yourself hungry at 2.2g/kg following the rest of the macros (by “hungry”, i mean “too hungry”), then bump protein higher and add veggies.
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Two things came to my mind today.
How do I dial in my TDEE as accurately as possible during my next bulk? How to track my gains? I really don’t want to become as chubby again. I know it won’t be possible to gain no fat at all on a bulk. But this lean look is really starting to grow on me.
How important is it to eat carbs post workout? How important are insulin spikes post workout? Should I still do the home made bulk shakes, but without the sugar? Let’s say 100g oat flour and 40-50g whey for example? What do you think?
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I’d start with the TDEE Calculator and track your weight every morning right after you piss. Average that throughout the week - if you weight seems to be steady (more or less), consider this your maintenance calories.
IF you are trending up/down in weight, keep in mind that every pound of bodyweight you gain/lose equates to about 3500 calories. So if you gained 1lb from last week to this week, you are 3500cals/wk surplus (3500/7days = 500cals/day). Likewise, if you lost 0.5lb from last week to this week, you are about 250cals deficit daily.
Ehh, the answer here depends on your stage of muscular development. If you are on heavy AAS use and toying with insulin, HGH, and the likes - it can be pretty important; where you’re at, I would not worry about it.
Personally? No. IF you were to attempt messing with Blood Glucose, you would want to use fast-acting carbs like Rice or Potatoes - not oats. Also, MyFitnessPal gave me a handful of results for Oat Flour and 100g = 400cals in many cases… That is most of your caloric surplus allotment. Sfter dealing with the shitty experience of cutting - I would rather enjoy my food to be totally honest.
Protein shake is fine - not a hard requirement. The whole “anabolic window” everyone talks about isn’t 30 minutes either, it’s 30-120mins post workout, and it isn’t as important as folks think it is. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to leverage a mild increase in protein uptake.
I would target 1lb weight gain per week (500cals surplus daily) for 12 weeks, then go 12 weeks cut at 500cals deficit. Rinse and repeat.
^Ideally, this would be bouncing you between 10-15% BF (some recommend lower BF%, but I tend to think this only applies to those who are enhanced - and heavily enhanced at that).
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Very informative, thanks. I really appreciate your detailed answers. This will help me out a lot during my next bulk.
Regarding…
“keep in mind that every pound of bodyweight you gain/lose equates to about 3500 calories. So if you gained 1lb from last week to this week, you are 3500cals/wk surplus (3500/7days = 500cals/day). Likewise, if you lost 0.5lb from last week to this week, you are about 250cals deficit daily”
1lb of fat equates to ~3,500 calories, however 1lb muscle only nets you ~700 calories. Then for bodyweight you have to throw in hydration levels / bowel movement frequency / carb cycling effects yadda yadda yadda.
I’d be loath to be doing anything based on 1lb movements of bodyweight.
Interesting theory. I’ve got 7 different bodybuilding nutrition books (most are written by someone whose name is followed with “PhD”) that would disagree with you. But interesting theory.
And how well is that working out for you?
Not sure what these books are disagreeing with about my post?
That a pound of muscle equates to 700 calories.
Your books state that 1lb of muscle has 3,500 calories? What is the precise definition of muscle that they use?
Considering the makeup of the two, how could they have the same amount of energy release needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 °C? They must be talking about a beef jerky kind of human muscle…not the kind of human muscle that exists in you.
— Muscle is made up of water (75%), protein (20%) with the remaining 5% being (fat, glycogen, inorganic salts, and minerals).
— Adipose tissue consists of fat (86%), water & lean tissue (14%). (1lb of adipose tissue is 4,077 calories…for some reason they remove the 14% to get the 3,500 calories).
How many excess calories do you think one needs to consume to gain 1lb of muscle?
Ok…I guess we’ve parked the first discussion.
This question is imprecise…and really un-answerable. I would re-phrase your question to be: “How much excess protein do you need to build 1lb of muscle”. Technically, all that is needed for muscle creation is that muscle protein synthesis > muscle protein breakdown. So accepting that…the answer is not alot. You can take your 1lb of muscle; turn it into 454g and then get the protein portion of 20% which is 91g and there’s your answer.
The problem with the question is that muscle creation is not constrained by time…i.e. you don’t know when you will add that 1lb of muscle, so the excess has to be there daily. Therefore, answering how much excess you need to gain 1lb is impossible.
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Will be away for a bit - never ending work meeting has ended.
Right, which is where the anecdotal experience of every single bodybuilder and nutritional resource come into play.
Sure, a pound of muscle probably does not need 3500cals surplus to create. BUT since we do not know how much is actually needed, because of variables in training experience, training modality, nutrient uptake, hormones, etc… the industry standard advice for a bulk is 500cals surplus daily, knowing that half of it (or more) is likely to become fat.
Which brings me back to my original point where…
The additional caloric surplus (mostly from carbs) creates an anabolic response that aids in putting additional muscle on through various pathways.
So I don’t understand what the purpose of you posting this is…