I’ve been trying to bulk cleanly over the last 2 months but stopped gaining. First month I gained 4 lbs. Since then nada. I’ve been stuck at 195. I track every meal and my breakdown over the last month is: 3550 calories 234g protein, 120g fat, and 270g carbs and the other 12% of the calories come from alcohol (partying on saturdays).
I’m getting over a 1g/lb bodyweight protein so I think thats OK. And its alot easier to get calories from carbs or fat than protein. So should I be adding carbs or fat to get up to 4000 cal?
An average day is as follows:
7am: whey shake with skim and peanut butter (40g protein)
10am: 2 fried eggs with ham, cheese and 8oz skim milk (35g protein)
noon: turkey sandwich with cheese and mayo (40g protein)
3pm: Myoplex ready to drink shake (42g protein)
5pm: 4-8 oz of roast beef cold cut (30g protein)
8pm: 6-8 oz pan fried chicken breast with bbq sauce (50g protein)
10pm: 6-8 oz 1% cottage cheese mixed with a cup of yogurt. (30g protein)
Try increasing the intensity/volume of your workouts
You can increase fat intake
You may choose to increase carb intake if you feel that it will provide you with the necessary energy required for your improved workout.
Try increasing the intensity/volume of your workouts
You can increase fat intake
You may choose to increase carb intake if you feel that it will provide you with the necessary energy required for your improved workout.
Good luck[/quote]
I nominate this for redundant post of the year.
To the OP, I’d increase all macronutrients, including protein, except for alcohol.
Getting that much of your caloric intake from alcohol may be part of your problem.
10 am needs more protein. pimp your breakfast, too! It’s the most important meal of the day: if it was me, I’d relocate all the less-healthy stuff, like cheese and mayo, to breakfast.
That’s what I’d start with. Then, I’d probably throw some fats on meals 4 and 6.
[quote]HK24719 wrote:
FaPsTER wrote:
Perhaps you have plateaued.
Try increasing the intensity/volume of your workouts
You can increase fat intake
You may choose to increase carb intake if you feel that it will provide you with the necessary energy required for your improved workout.
Good luck
I nominate this for redundant post of the year.
To the OP, I’d increase all macronutrients, including protein, except for alcohol.
Getting that much of your caloric intake from alcohol may be part of your problem.[/quote]
x2
Just eat more of something. Preferably protein or fat. Carbs would be good pre or post workout. If you’re not gaining, it is because your back at your maintenance level. Bump the total calories up to 3800 or even 4000. Just make your 5:00 cold cut roast beef meal into a sammich with some mayo and cheese. Maybe a scoop of whey with your cottage cheese or switch to 2% instead of skim. Problem solved.
I almost want to say that, if you have been fat for a long period of time and/or not lean for very long, it would be best to get your excess calories from fat rather than carbs.
If you have been skinny for a long time then it might be better the other way around, from carbs as opposed to fats.
This is for bulking and this is purely my theory which I am basing on duration of potential insulin resistance.
I was thin my whole life until about 3 years ago. I ate like shit and got up to 215lbs, 23%bf at 6 feet tall. I can easily get back up to 215 by eating crappy again so I’m not a “hard gainer”. I’m just shocked how hard it is to gain weight when you’re eating clean food.
So I’m gonna take the suggestions and bump up the fat a bit. Eat bigger portions and replace skim with 2% or whole and turn my cold cut meal into a sandwich. Tastes better that way anyhow and I can probably eat the whole 8oz of meat like that. Some days I can only stomach 4oz if its just pure meat.
Whether it’s better to increase carbs or fats for better acquisition of muscle mass depends is relative compared to what diet is being compared to, as well as depending on the individual.
If you were comparing to a diet deriving under 30% of calories from fat, then adding fat to get it to there or a little more will be more productive (generally) than adding carbs while failing to increase the fat. The reason perhaps is because T levels will generally improve with the fat increase in this situation.
But if you were comparing to a diet already providing 40% or more of calories from fat, then this effect wouldn’t apply at all and the reverse would be the case.
Except perhaps if you deal badly with carbs.
As it is, you’re comparing to about 30% of calories being from fat. From this perspective more carbs will probably be of more benefit than would more fat but you could just as well increase all three macronutrients fairly equally.
However, with 12% of your calories being from alcohol I can’t even begin to understand why you are concerning yourself with fine points such as your above question. It’s like worrying about the mote in one’s own eye when there is also a beam in it.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
As it is, you’re comparing to about 30% of calories being from fat. From this perspective more carbs will probably be of more benefit than would more fat but you could just as well increase all three macronutrients fairly equally.
However, with 12% of your calories being from alcohol I can’t even begin to understand why you are concerning yourself with fine points such as your above question. It’s like worrying about the mote in one’s own eye when there is also a beam in it.[/quote]
Right now I’m at 30% fat, 31% carbs, 27% protein, 12% alcohol. I’ve been partying more than usual this month. Typically my alcohol is at about 8% (12 beers a week). The reason why I wasn’t concerned is because I figured alcohol wouldn’t deter me from gaining weight. I thought it would contribute to gaining fat instead of muscle but I didn’t really see how it could prevent me from gaining weight overall. It’s extra calories. I know in the past I’ve gotten fatter from drinking so I figured it still applied.
I’m not trying to defend excessive drinking. I really should cut back. It’s tough. I just wanted to lay out the logic behind this.
Your logic omitted that for same tendency to gain fat – the limiting factor in how much nutrition you can supply towards muscle gain – you could have had 12% more calories that were protein and/or carbs and therefore beneficial to muscle gain, instead of not being beneficial.
[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Your logic omitted that for same tendency to gain fat – the limiting factor in how much nutrition you can supply towards muscle gain – you could have had 12% more calories that were protein and/or carbs and therefore beneficial to muscle gain, instead of not being beneficial.[/quote]
On seeing this again, actually I didn’t write that correctly.
Actually the aritmetic was bad (or rather, not performed): omitting the alcohol and adding those calories back in as protein and/or carbs would have yielded a 13.6% increase in P/C/F consumption for same, or quite possibly less, fat gain.
(On account of what the same number of calories is relative to: the total, or just to the previous P/C/F content.)
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
Pour out the beer from the bottles and replace it with whole milk. No one will notice. A chugging contest may not end well though…
(Don’t throw away the beer obviously, that would reek of retardity)[/quote]
[quote]CutestPuppy wrote:
hahaha 12% alcohol. Nice.
Obviously drinking heavily precludes serious (muscle) gains, though it is great way to put fat around your organs.
more calories. less carbs.
Do the anabolic diet.
BTW 195 at what comp?[/quote]
According both to omron and accu-measure caliper I’m at 15%. I’d like to get up to 205 with no higher than 16% by March 1. Then I’m cutting back to 185-190lbs to look good for the beach by June 1.
