Former Fat Boy Bulk

Diet and Nutrition
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Hi guys,

I am a FFB or a former fat boy.

More specifically, this time last year I weighed in at 200 pounds with a 29% bodyfat. After a year of long hard dieting and a fuck load of cardio I managed to get down to a lean 149 with a decent row of 4 pack abs(I was so happy).

After becoming so lean though I came to realize I didn’t enjoy being so skinny and the rapid fat loss had left me with almost no muscle mass to sport.

Now I did enjoy my summer with abs but when winter rolled around I decided I would face my fears and try a bulk diet.

I started the bulk 5 weeks ago and in these 5 weeks my weight jumped from 149 to 168 but im positive that almost all of it is lard.

Totally dis hearted Ive decided to cut down until im leanish again and try for a slower more controlled bulking diet.

By this I mean that my previous bulk was indeed clean, as a FFB i realize I can never again sample pizza or soda so my diet consists mainly of canned tune, canned salmon, oatmeal, whey and lean red meat.

After my failed bulk attempt I now know a few things about my body

  1. I an a endo morph, pure and simple. My metabolism is utter shite and carbs and me don’t get on well together.

  2. While my body fat tests have stayed at 12% I realize after reading Chris Shugarts articles that my fat has mainly accumulated under my abdominals i.e. a hard pregnant belly.

So my T-Nation brothers, as a FFB and a newbie to serious lifting I was wondering if there is any adbice you could offfer to someone like me wanting to atain the body we all want?

Perhaps youve been in the same situation as me and have found some good things that I could try?

Im speaking in terms of diet and workout.

As for my workouts, I was originally doing a 6 days split, one muscle group a day but after reevaluating my body type I have switched to a 4 day split in which I focus much more on core compound lifts i.e. squats, dead lifts, pull ups, dips and benching.

My diet is now going to be a controlled carb cycle with 3 moderate(150 grams-200) carb days and one highish(270 grams) carb day.

Thank you in advance for any advice for this former fatty guys and if you need to know anything more specific just ask:)

Ill include a picture of me at 5 weeks bulking, but I warn you its not pretty.

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Looks fine. What are the total calories of the diet and protein amount?

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Bulking as a former fat boy is a tough one. There are going to be some psychological hurdles for you to overcome, the most obvious being that bulking almost always involves some fat gain. If you are gaining weight but not muscle, you need to look at the composition of your diet and your effort in the gym. If your weight on the scale is going up and the weight on your lifts are as well then you are likely on the right track.

When you say you and carbs dont get along, what do you mean exactly? Which carbs?

Do you have any specific questions, or are you just looking for generalized feedback?

what does your bulking diet look like?

Also, you might benefit appearance wise from going through an extended maintenance phase and focusing on strength. I suspect that the stronger you are going into your bulk the better your results will be.

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[quote]atg410 wrote:
If you are gaining weight but not muscle, you need to look at the composition of your diet and your effort in the gym. If your weight on the scale is going up and the weight on your lifts are as well then you are likely on the right track.

[/quote]

Everyone should focus on this.

Also as someone with a slower metabolism you need to make sure you expend plenty of cals and then replace them (ala G-flux or whatever the hell you want to call it). As someone who used to be pretty fat I had to learn the hard way that sitting on my ass but for an hour at the gym 4 days a week was not enough activity for me.

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Congrats on your progress so far

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[quote]Oregand wrote:

Perhaps youve been in the same situation as me and have found some good things that I could try?

[/quote]

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_bodybuilding_supplements/mag10_pulse_fast
MAG-10 Pulse Fast once a week. It’s pretty good!

LR

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How’s it coming buddy? I’m a FBB as well, working on my first bulk and seem to be piling on the lard too. Progress report?

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^^ if you’re “piling on the lard” then you’re doing it wrong. Either you’re diet sucks or you’re effort in the gym sucks balls (probably both)

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[quote]gregron wrote:
^^ if you’re “piling on the lard” then you’re doing it wrong. Either you’re diet sucks or you’re effort in the gym sucks balls (probably both) [/quote]

Not necessarily true.

When you use to be seriously overweight and then start on a bulking diet, some of the weight you lost comes back quick.

When I dropped from 250 to 200 and started on a bulk diet the first 20lbs came back quick before my metabolism started catching up. My caloric intake was around 3000 cals.

And my strength level was increasing each workout during that period

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^^ if you’re piling on fat then you’re eating too many calories. If 3,000 cals a day lead to a quick 20lbs of fat then 3,000 was too much at that time.

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[quote]gregron wrote:
^^ if you’re piling on fat then you’re eating too many calories. If 3,000 cals a day lead to a quick 20lbs of fat then 3,000 was too much at that time.[/quote]

I didn’t mean to say the first 20lbs was all fat, just initially a good amount of fat comes back once you start on a bulking diet even with a moderate caloric surplus.

Have you ever been significantly overweight?

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Getting the calories right after dieting can be tough. What you’d think would be “maintenance” can still result in weight and fat gain.

This is until your metabolism catches up, of course. If it doesn’t ever catch up, then you just have a slower metabolism (I’m thinking of FattyFat’s thread in the T-Cell… and maybe myself lol)

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How long have you been working out? Focus on improving you numbers on a few marker lifts.

At my heaviest I was 250, upwards of 25%+ bodyfat. At my leanest I was 187 with a full six pack. I hoover around 200 give or take 5lbs and. I’d recommend a G flux methodology as well. I was able to maintain a six pack at 198 doing this method.

Overall, I’d focus on protein intake and moderate carbs (I prefer pre workout) around your workout. I generally ate 150g of fat at that point. This is just what I found to work for me. But I’d say, again, focus on protein and increasing strength.

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it’s possible gregron could be right.

But assuming OP is not eating a HUGE caloric surplus and training like a little girl (strength consistently increasing), he should bulk for at least a few months and see how his body reacts. He has only bulked for 5 weeks and is 19 years old.

Fact is building muscle is HARD and losing fat is much easier. Worse case scenario OP gains some strength and has a high % of the weight he gained be fat. If that happens he can spend the next couple months dieting it off. But you’ll never know how your body reacts until you give it a go.

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^^ nah I was never significantly overweight. I was always playing sports so I never got fat or anything.

But yeah I don’t think we’re gonna get any more info out of the OP since I’m pretty sure he isn’t posting anymore. I would almost guarantee that his diet and training sucked. Based on his post he was only training for 5 weeks so I bet it sucked

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Metabolism seems to have adjusted after 4th week on a bulk. Initiallly I noticed alot of fat gain, ‘piling on the lard’, but it seems to have subsided. I am now thinking alot of it was due to the increase in carbs (water weight) and that has now self-regulated after my body got used to the new macro levels. Eating a decent amount of food is definitely a nice, welcome change. Let the gains continue. PS. I do not train like a little girl and I do not have a shit diet!