Offseason Bulking Diet - Good or Bad?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hey guys just about 12 days out from my first show (NPC) and was writing my off season diet. I currently weigh 198 at around 6% BF. Anywho, I found my TDEE to be at about 3,600 calories a day. This plan is about 4,100 total. I am looking to gain lean muscle mass this year around since I’ve forever dirty bulked. Will be doing cardio 3 times per week LISS or HIIT. Lemme know any input, thanks!

Carbs: 400g
Protein: 300g
Fat: 135g
Fiber: 40-50g

Meal 1: (1.5 hours before workout)
1 cup oatmeal: Calories 450 Fat 9g Carbs 81g Fiber 12g Protein 15g
13oz liq. egg whites: Calories 200 Fat 0g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 40g
1 cup spinach(free calories)

Total: Calories 650 Fat 9g Carbs 81g Fiber 12g Protein 55g

Meal 2: (Post workout)
1/3 cup oatmeal: Calories 150 Fat 3g Carbs 27g Fiber 4g Protein 5g
8oz banana: Calories 200 Fat 0g Carbs 51g Fiber 7g Protein 2g
1 cup blueberries: Calories 80 Fat .5g Carbs 21g Fiber 3.5g Protein 1g
4oz strawberries: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 8g Fiber 1.5g Protein 0g
GNC wheybolic 2scoop: Calories 185 Fat .5g Carbs 4.5g Fiber .5g Protein 40g

Total: Calories 645 Fat 4g Carbs 111.5g Fiber 20.5g Protein 48g

Meal 3:
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g

Meal 4:
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Meal 5:
Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g

Meal 6:
6oz top sirloin: Calories 315 Fat 10.5g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 52g
1 medium red potato: Calories 155 Fat .5g Carbs 34g Fiber 3g Protein 4g
11 oz mushrooms: Calories 90 Fat 1g Carbs 16g Fiber 7g Protein 6g
2tbsp butter: Calories 200 Fat 22g Carbs 0g Protein 0g
2tbsp sour cream: Calories 60 Fat 5g Carbs 1g Fiber 0g Protein 1g

Total: Calories 820 Fat 37g Carbs 51g Fiber 10g Protein 63g

Complete Total: Calories 4,155 Fat 135.5g Carbs 396.5g Protein 314.5g

2

This would be a good place to end your offseason at, not to begin at unless you are the most metabolically gifted bodybuilder in the world. You’ll want to slowly increase your macros from where you finished your contest prep at. Jumping right to 4100 calories per day will not be pretty

3

The term “Reverse dieting” has come into fashion lately. It basically refers to a series of smaller steps after a contest whereby you let your body re-acclimate itself with higher levels of calories, and carbohydrates.

As your required cals each day have successively dropped over the course of a prep, quickly resuming your pre-contest prep levels of macros and cals would result in a ridiculous ration of fat to muscle gain (not the “post contest rebound” of muscle gain we all used to imagine happened -lol)

I agree with keeping some cardio work in, especially as your ‘bulk’ will be right on the heels of a contest cut. Suddenly going cold turkey on cardio isn’t usually a good idea.

If indeed you are so gung ho to quickly jump your daily #s, perhaps do so only a few days each week instead of adopting them as the daily norm.

Best of luck at your show!

S

4

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
This would be a good place to end your offseason at, not to begin at unless you are the most metabolically gifted bodybuilder in the world. You’ll want to slowly increase your macros from where you finished your contest prep at. Jumping right to 4100 calories per day will not be pretty[/quote]

I’d say that Compton even factoring in PEDs 600g of carb into contest conditon as the lowest his carbs go is asinine

5

Would you guys have any suggestions on how fast/slow I should bring my calories up? For instance, something like 250-500 calories a week depending on how I’m looking after adding more in?

6

I think a lot of how fast you jump the #s up will depend on:

-How low they were during your cut
-How quickly you’re looking “not ripped” and just how comfortable you are with that
-How much you scale back your cardio volume

In my opinion, it’s always preferable to make smaller jumps than larger ones. I always suggest that especially if you’ve had to drop carbs a bit during the latter stages of a prep, something as small as an additional ~25g carbs (ie. bowl of oatmeal, poptart, 2 slices ezekial bread…) each day for a week can actually work wonders in terms of getting the #s back up while also retaining a serious amount of leanness in the process.

S

7

I’ll more than likely keep cardio at a minimum of 30 minutes a day 5 days a week for awhile. Thank you for your help, I definitely don’t want a 20lb rebound in fat haha.

8

[quote]D-White wrote:
Hey guys just about 12 days out from my first show (NPC) and was writing my off season diet. I currently weigh 198 at around 6% BF. Anywho, I found my TDEE to be at about 3,600 calories a day. This plan is about 4,100 total. I am looking to gain lean muscle mass this year around since I’ve forever dirty bulked. Will be doing cardio 3 times per week LISS or HIIT. Lemme know any input, thanks!

Carbs: 400g
Protein: 300g
Fat: 135g
Fiber: 40-50g

Meal 1: (1.5 hours before workout)
1 cup oatmeal: Calories 450 Fat 9g Carbs 81g Fiber 12g Protein 15g
13oz liq. egg whites: Calories 200 Fat 0g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 40g
1 cup spinach(free calories)

Total: Calories 650 Fat 9g Carbs 81g Fiber 12g Protein 55g

Meal 2: (Post workout)
1/3 cup oatmeal: Calories 150 Fat 3g Carbs 27g Fiber 4g Protein 5g
8oz banana: Calories 200 Fat 0g Carbs 51g Fiber 7g Protein 2g
1 cup blueberries: Calories 80 Fat .5g Carbs 21g Fiber 3.5g Protein 1g
4oz strawberries: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 8g Fiber 1.5g Protein 0g
GNC wheybolic 2scoop: Calories 185 Fat .5g Carbs 4.5g Fiber .5g Protein 40g

Total: Calories 645 Fat 4g Carbs 111.5g Fiber 20.5g Protein 48g

Meal 3:
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g

Meal 4:
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Meal 5:
Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g

Meal 6:
6oz top sirloin: Calories 315 Fat 10.5g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 52g
1 medium red potato: Calories 155 Fat .5g Carbs 34g Fiber 3g Protein 4g
11 oz mushrooms: Calories 90 Fat 1g Carbs 16g Fiber 7g Protein 6g
2tbsp butter: Calories 200 Fat 22g Carbs 0g Protein 0g
2tbsp sour cream: Calories 60 Fat 5g Carbs 1g Fiber 0g Protein 1g

Total: Calories 820 Fat 37g Carbs 51g Fiber 10g Protein 63g

Complete Total: Calories 4,155 Fat 135.5g Carbs 396.5g Protein 314.5g [/quote]

I’m not a big fan of off-season bulking anymore. I did it for years. I’ve been backloading my carbs and have had great results. Your numbers look good. I would push all the carbs to the evening, eat most of your fat and around half your protein throughout the first 2/3 of the day and keep things low-fat when you eat all your carbs and the rest of your protein in the evening. You’ll keep your leanness and grow like crazy.

9

[quote]telesis37 wrote:

[quote]D-White wrote:
Hey guys just about 12 days out from my first show (NPC) and was writing my off season diet. I currently weigh 198 at around 6% BF. Anywho, I found my TDEE to be at about 3,600 calories a day. This plan is about 4,100 total. I am looking to gain lean muscle mass this year around since I’ve forever dirty bulked. Will be doing cardio 3 times per week LISS or HIIT. Lemme know any input, thanks!

Carbs: 400g
Protein: 300g
Fat: 135g
Fiber: 40-50g

Meal 1: (1.5 hours before workout)
1 cup oatmeal: Calories 450 Fat 9g Carbs 81g Fiber 12g Protein 15g
13oz liq. egg whites: Calories 200 Fat 0g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 40g
1 cup spinach(free calories)

Total: Calories 650 Fat 9g Carbs 81g Fiber 12g Protein 55g

Meal 2: (Post workout)
1/3 cup oatmeal: Calories 150 Fat 3g Carbs 27g Fiber 4g Protein 5g
8oz banana: Calories 200 Fat 0g Carbs 51g Fiber 7g Protein 2g
1 cup blueberries: Calories 80 Fat .5g Carbs 21g Fiber 3.5g Protein 1g
4oz strawberries: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 8g Fiber 1.5g Protein 0g
GNC wheybolic 2scoop: Calories 185 Fat .5g Carbs 4.5g Fiber .5g Protein 40g

Total: Calories 645 Fat 4g Carbs 111.5g Fiber 20.5g Protein 48g

Meal 3:
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g

Meal 4:
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Meal 5:
Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g
6oz lean beef: Calories 255 Fat 12g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 35g
8oz sweetpotato: Calories 205 Fat .5g Carbs 47g Fiber 7.5g Protein 4.5g
2tbsp PB: Calories 190 Fat 16g Carbs 8g Fiber 2g Protein 7g
3oz broccoli: Calories 30 Fat 0g Carbs 6g Fiber 3g Protein 2g

Total: Calories 680 Fat 28.5g Carbs 51g Fiber 12.5g Protein 49.5g

Meal 6:
6oz top sirloin: Calories 315 Fat 10.5g Carbs 0g Fiber 0g Protein 52g
1 medium red potato: Calories 155 Fat .5g Carbs 34g Fiber 3g Protein 4g
11 oz mushrooms: Calories 90 Fat 1g Carbs 16g Fiber 7g Protein 6g
2tbsp butter: Calories 200 Fat 22g Carbs 0g Protein 0g
2tbsp sour cream: Calories 60 Fat 5g Carbs 1g Fiber 0g Protein 1g

Total: Calories 820 Fat 37g Carbs 51g Fiber 10g Protein 63g

Complete Total: Calories 4,155 Fat 135.5g Carbs 396.5g Protein 314.5g [/quote]

I’m not a big fan of off-season bulking anymore. I did it for years. I’ve been backloading my carbs and have had great results. Your numbers look good. I would push all the carbs to the evening, eat most of your fat and around half your protein throughout the first 2/3 of the day and keep things low-fat when you eat all your carbs and the rest of your protein in the evening. You’ll keep your leanness and grow like crazy.
[/quote]
The importance of carb timing is vastly overblown in my opinion. Just moving all his carbs to night won’t magically keep him from gaining fat, it’s going to come down to his overall macros for the day. If he’s in too large of an initial surplus, he’ll gain fat regardless of when the carbs are consumed

10

It’s not magic, it’s science.

11

OP, you should absolutely take the advice of these guys who are clearly avid competitors. Your post-cut metabolism will be wrecked, more so than you would probably expect even if you feel pretty good. Bring your calories up slowly, those from carbs especially, and pay very close attention to the mirror. Shifting your carbs to the evening is simply a technique I’ve found that works really well for those I train. Bulking and cutting is rough on the body. If you train in the afternoon and eat all your carbs from post-workout until bed, glucose will preferentially be pulled into your muscle cells through GLUT 4 and 12 translocation. Your fat cells will be insulin resistant in the evening. You can maintain nearly your current level of leanness while achieving hypertrophy. And you can maintain this almost all the way to your next contest without the necessity of a long cut cycle.

12

[quote]telesis37 wrote:

It’s not magic, it’s science. [/quote]

Exactly, scientifically it’s gonna boil down to his intake for the day

13

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

Exactly, scientifically it’s gonna boil down to his intake for the day [/quote]

Not necessarily. The traditional method of spreading out carbs over the course of the day, typically low-glycemic carbs, creates lower insulin spikes that last much, much longer. Insulin causes muscle and fat cells to grow and by eating carbs all day, muscle tissue gets no preferential treatment. Thus, cardio is necessary. By shifting carbs to the evening, post-workout timeframe, muscle tissue gets preferential glucose absorption while fat cell GLUT are insulin resistant.

14

[quote]telesis37 wrote:

[quote]pwolves17 wrote:

Exactly, scientifically it’s gonna boil down to his intake for the day [/quote]

Not necessarily. The traditional method of spreading out carbs over the course of the day, typically low-glycemic carbs, creates lower insulin spikes that last much, much longer. Insulin causes muscle and fat cells to grow and by eating carbs all day, muscle tissue gets no preferential treatment. Thus, cardio is necessary. By shifting carbs to the evening, post-workout timeframe, muscle tissue gets preferential glucose absorption while fat cell GLUT are insulin resistant. [/quote]

I’m totally with you, CBL’ing has worked great for me for a few years now. I’ve gotten my best results with it. HOWEVER…

It doesn’t work for everyone. I think one of the best things about CBL is it manages insulin spikes, which personally I feel is more important in a surplus than a deficit, calorically. But people have gotten big, strong, and lean frontloading carbs as well (BushidoBad Boy from years back recommended that I believe).

So while I agree with you in a certain respect, understand there isn’t ONE diet that’s right for everyone.

15

I totally agree. Everyone is different and context is extremely important. I front loaded carbs for over 10 years, tapering them off toward the end of the day. One can get huge and shredded a thousand different ways. CBL’ing takes a lot of tweaking. I believe it can work for anyone but each individual must tailor it to work with a number of factors; goals, age, metabolic rate, body type, gender, workout volume, etc. I, personally, can’t get away with backloading every night. I’m 34, sit on my ass most of my work day, and my testosterone levels are lower since losing a testicle to cancer.

For me to advise a 23 year old ectomorph who works construction 6 days a week to CBL like I do would be silly. But the OP is already super lean from contest prep and wants to “bulk” which really means he wants to increase muscle size and density. He’s a young guy with a good amount of lean mass. In this instance, CBL’ing is absolutely his best option to stay lean while inducing hypertrophy. Maybe backloading 3 nights per week like I do is best for him, maybe he can get away with 5. No matter how he tweaks it, in 20 years of being obsessed with this stuff, I’ve never seen anything work better for anyone. Period.

16

[quote]telesis37 wrote:
If you train in the afternoon and eat all your carbs from post-workout until bed, glucose will preferentially be pulled into your muscle cells through GLUT 4 and 12 translocation. Your fat cells will be insulin resistant in the evening.[/quote]

Last time I checked, the evidence suggests that de novo lipogenesis is not really happening in humans barring non-sensible scenarios. Ergo, the typical reasoning you have given for carb backloading doesn’t apply.

17

DNL is absolutely happening in humans.

18

And a bodybuilding diet would never be considered a sensible scenario in the context of any clinical setting.

19

IMO There aren’t really any magical times of the day in terms of actual by the clock moments as far as when carbs are more important. You’ve got Keifer saying one thing, and plenty of other top coaches and PHDs saying something else. (I have heard the theories on hormonal rhythms etc, just not buying into it being so important)

What I personally will definitely push though, is thst at the end of the day, total #s of carbs are more important than when you eat them if you’re discussing basic body composition. After that, for a competitor, or more advanced trainer, I honestly hold that some form of nutrient timing will have an effect on your performance, and thereby your results. This realization is why you can see the dramatic shift in the last several years to pre-workout nutrition focus instead of the “post-workout window” that everyone in the 80’s always talked about.

Now that doesn’t mean you have to eliminate all carbs the entire day apart from your periworkout window. Sure, concentrating the majority of them pre (or even post) is a common apporach quite simply because it works, but having carbs at other meals doesn’t mean your body will automatically put on fat. That’s just silly. Any food you eat causes an insulin release. Additionally, when you’re combining foods (fats, carbs, proteins), the whole concept of glycemic index and fast vs slow spikes goes right out the window anyway. Heck, you’ve got Shelby Starnes, a pretty respected and successful coach who is well known for spreading all his carbs (for him and his top level, even pro clients) equally throughout the day. Meadows is more a proponent of the pre-training carb load, as are many of the Pros and coaches I interact with.

Don’t sweat the tiny details, but set your approach, follow it, and pay attention to how things are progressing. This game is a constant cycle of guess, assess, and reassess.

S

20

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
IMO There aren’t really any magical times of the day in terms of actual by the clock moments as far as when carbs are more important. You’ve got Keifer saying one thing, and plenty of other top coaches and PHDs saying something else. (I have heard the theories on hormonal rhythms etc, just not buying into it being so important)

What I personally will definitely push though, is thst at the end of the day, total #s of carbs are more important than when you eat them if you’re discussing basic body composition. After that, for a competitor, or more advanced trainer, I honestly hold that some form of nutrient timing will have an effect on your performance, and thereby your results. This realization is why you can see the dramatic shift in the last several years to pre-workout nutrition focus instead of the “post-workout window” that everyone in the 80’s always talked about.

Now that doesn’t mean you have to eliminate all carbs the entire day apart from your periworkout window. Sure, concentrating the majority of them pre (or even post) is a common apporach quite simply because it works, but having carbs at other meals doesn’t mean your body will automatically put on fat. That’s just silly. Any food you eat causes an insulin release. Additionally, when you’re combining foods (fats, carbs, proteins), the whole concept of glycemic index and fast vs slow spikes goes right out the window anyway. Heck, you’ve got Shelby Starnes, a pretty respected and successful coach who is well known for spreading all his carbs (for him and his top level, even pro clients) equally throughout the day. Meadows is more a proponent of the pre-training carb load, as are many of the Pros and coaches I interact with.

Don’t sweat the tiny details, but set your approach, follow it, and pay attention to how things are progressing. This game is a constant cycle of guess, assess, and reassess.

S[/quote]

No one is disputing that total caloric load is of paramount importance, particularly those from carbs. And I’m not advocating that CBL’ing is some magic technique. I see you’ve been training about as long as I have. Most “top coaches” have been teaching pretty much the same thing with minor variations, all of which anyone who has been training 20+ years has tried. No matter how you spread your macros out, within reason, you’re going to get results if your calories are high enough and you train your ass off. Most guys are comfortable with being 25 pounds heavier in the off-season. All I’m saying is that unless you’ve tried CBL’ing for an extended period of time, six months or more, your opinion on its effectiveness makes no difference. I know a handful of long-term athletes who have adopted this approach and all of us say the exact same thing. It’s not “more effective” per say, but it sure makes things much much easier and helps keep the fat off. I push it because I wish someone had been in the position to tell me about it when I was in my 20’s. Its a small tweak that makes a substantial impact.