Some Diet Questions

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hi,
I was wondering what?s the best way to make a transition from a cutting diet into a bulking diet without having any fat come back. I know I should expect a 2-3 pounds from water and glycogen because of the low carbs on the cutting diet. But besides that I would like to keep the fat off while moving into my bulking cycle. As for details, I have been on the t-dawg 2.0 diet for 2 months, I am planning another 2 weeks and then making a transition to a bulking cycle. I plan on being on maintenance for a week before trying to bulk. What do you guys think? Is that enough time for my metabolism to go back to normal and gain muscles without any problems? I know I should expect some fat with the muscle gain while bulking, but I don?t want something like 5lbs of fat come back on cause I didn?t make the correct transition. Oh yeah, I am 5?7? 153 lbs 11% bf down from 180lbs and 25% bf. I am consuming 1500 calories on the t-dawg diet and my maintenance cals is 2100. On my bulking cycle I will be consuming 3500 cals and using mag-10 as well for a 2-1-3-4 cycle. I am going to use alpha-male on off weeks. My workouts will be the ABBH then I will reverse the sets scheme for an additional 3 weeks. After that I plan to use the ripped and rugged routine for the off weeks.

Lastly, I read ?Post-Workout: Time to Slop the Hawgs!? by Chad and it sounded like a great plan to add on mass quick with mag-10 and ABBH. What do you guys think about it? Anybody tried it before? I plan to give it a try the first 2 weeks of the cycle and if it works out nicely I will continue to use it.

How does my overall plan sound? Any advice is appreciated, as this will be my first clean bulking diet with my diet and workout dialed in. Thanks.

2

nas…,

Hows it going?

Over all your plan sound pretty solid and well thought out. I think it is always good to do such planning in order to get the greatest results. I am interested to see how this turns out for you.

I will give you a couple diet suggestions from my point of veiw/experience.

1= 2100 that was your maint. level befor this cut right. If so remember the fat you shed also did burn k/cals so you will have a new maint. level. Just a little note.

2= I think your jumps from 1500 to 2100 to 3500 in such a short time is going to lead to some unwanted fat gains. It would for me.

Now sure you MUST gain some fat during a bulk, but it sounds as if you want to prevent as much as possible.

What has worked best for me and those I have been around is a slower increase. Now your first increase could be to your 2100 mark. I would then stay there and evaluate that level for ATLEAST 2 weeks. See how much you gain after that. As you stated since you cut using low carb there is going to be some glyc. and water gain.

After this first increase I would suggest upping the cals by 200-300 @ a time. Giving each increase a two week window for evaluation. Then adjust if needed. If you are gaining a solid lb or two a week stay there for another week or two.

Keep this up for several months and you will be in the midst of a good bulking session. I am simply a fan of the longer more moderate bulks, adding SOLID gains over time. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I’ve tried the whole roller coaster of CHOW DOWN, then cut off, Chow down, etc… Just didnt work for me. I would add some size and then lose most of it while cutting all the unwanted excess fat from all the glutony.

I am in month 5 of one of these longer bulking sessions and if everything keeps up as it is, I will continue this till next spring before I go for a pre summer cut. (I threw this summer away in search of some size)

Hope some of this helps, all in all you have to find what works for you. I am simply giving you my take for what it is worth.

Oh and seeing as you will be on Mag 10 you could potentially raise the k/cal intake a bit there also I just wouldnt go overboard, for me that is usually an extra 300to maybe 500k/cals more or so than an unassited bulk, depending on the training I employ. Then PLEASE dont drop your intake down to maint. or start cutting following the cycle. You need to continue to EAT BIG after a Mag 10 cycle if you want to keep those gains, and aid any possible hormone rebound.

Keep us informed,
Phill

3

Congratulations on your weight loss.
What type of physical activity did you do?
How exactly did you lose 27 pounds in 2 months if you only restricted kcals by 600? You said your maint is 2100 and you are eating 1500. I believe your maintenance is much more than that bro.

4

[quote]Phill wrote:
I will give you a couple diet of suggestions from my point of veiw/experience.

2= I think your jumps from 1500 to 2100 to 3500 in such a short time is going to lead to some unwanted fat gains. It would for me.

Now sure you MUST gain some fat during a bulk, but it sounds as if you want to prevent as much as possible.

What has worked best for me and those I have been around is a slower increase. [/quote]

Ditto. Words of Wisdom from Phill. I would definately heed his advice and only add that this is exactly what I’ve encountered transitioning from a cutting to bulking cycle.

5

Yeah listen to Phill on this one. Increase those calories gradually. Taking just one week as a transition from a cut to a bulk is just asking for fat gain.

6

Rollus,
I?m eating 1500 kcals now, but I wasn?t eating at those kcals all the time. I used some Mag-10 to cut so I went down to 1000 kcals for 3 weeks and 850 kcals for 1 week. The other 4 weeks I have been around 1500 kcals. Most of my fat loss came from cutting with mag-10. For workouts I used meltdown training and on the off days I did IBUR. I am using Red Bands too for the past few weeks to help with the fat loss.

Phil,
I was afraid you would say something like that. The more I progress along; I find that the process is that much slower than I thought. I thought Mag-10 would assist me in preventing fat gains from the rapid kcals change. Could I maybe use 1 week each time to increase kcals up a little? For instance, can I be on maintenance for 1 week, then next week increase it by 250, and the following week increase it for another 250, then go into a Mag-10 cycle and increase it by 750 kcals? I?m sure that would gain a bit more fat than waiting 2 weeks each, but I?m itching to put on some size quick. As long as 70% of it is muscle, I can live with that and lose the fat later on. I?m not too scared of gaining fat from bulking, but I am scared of the fat gains from transitioning. Do you think its possible or am I going to run into a situation where I find that 70% of it is fat instead of muscle? I plan on a clean bulking cycle btw, no junk to help increase kcals so I would imagine that would lower the fat gains.

Thanks for the help guys

7

[quote]nascentbeing wrote:
…this will be my first clean bulking diet with my diet and workout dialed in…

…am I going to run into a situation where I find that 70% of it is fat instead of muscle? I plan on a clean bulking cycle btw, no junk to help increase kcals so I would imagine that would lower the fat gains.

Thanks for the help guys
[/quote]
If you manage your diet properly (i.e. eat clean) and your training is in order, I think the probability is near zero that you will run into a situation where you find that 70% of the gain is fat instead of muscle. Having said that, evevyone’s physiology is different and so you may respond slightly different than others.

What is the macronutrient breakdown (P vs. C vs. F) going to be for your bulking phase? For that matter, what is your overall diet going to look like? Fortunately, you can ajust this in real time as you move through the cycle. If you find the number of calories is too high (indicated by more fat than you want), then reduce kcals, re-adjust macronutrient breakdown or some combination of the two.

BTW, if I were you I’d save the Mag-10 exclusively for bulking cycles. That’s what it was synthesized for and it is scarce at this point. I’d use Red-Bands for the cutting cycle and Mag-10 or 4 AD-EC for the bulking cycle.

8

Nas.

My recomendation stands still as I wrote it in the first post. Sorry man. I really dont think that you upping K/cals by a total of 1250 over maint. in a three week period is going to give you the results you want. You will gain some size fast for sure. All that Fat back on.

As far as 70% Lbm to 30% fat. That is good results from any bulk. That would be someone taking their time. Eating clean and not trying aimlessly to get Hyooge in a couple weeks. THAT JUST DONT HAPPEN.

Take this all for what it is worth, which aint much, just one guys opinion. I am simply trying to help using what I know from my and others around me experience. Take it slow, work hard, and progress steady.

hope this helps

Phill

9

T-bone2,
The macronutrient breakdown I was planning on using is 40/40/20, protein/carbs/fat. My overall diet is going to consist of chicken breast, grow, fruits, mixed vegetables, surge, flaxseed oil, nuts, tuna, eggs, oatmeal, fat free cottage cheese, and beef. I was thinking of using some skim milk too, as I saw Nick in project evolutions by chris shugart was pretty successful with that. What do you think about that?

Phil,
First let me say, I respect your opinions a lot. I have read a lot of the replies you made in the past as I was sifting through old threads for nutrition advice. So I will keep in mind about moving into it more slowly as you suggest.

By the way, any opinions on the ?Post-Workout: Time to Slop the Hawgs!? by Chad? I?m still very curious about that.

Thanks for the advice guys, at first I was reluctant about asking, but having other people look at my plan is helping a lot.

10

[quote]nascentbeing wrote:
The macronutrient breakdown I was planning on using is 40/40/20, protein/carbs/fat. My overall diet is going to consist of chicken breast, grow, fruits, mixed vegetables, surge, flaxseed oil, nuts, tuna, eggs, oatmeal, fat free cottage cheese, and beef. I was thinking of using some skim milk, too…[/quote]

Excellent choices! I don’t know what combinations (P&C vs. P&F) you’ll be eating when, but your choices are definately on the right track. Based on your listing I only have a few comments:

  1. When using eggs, I would generally attempt to scramble and lean toward egg whites with perhaps one or two yolks.

  2. Skim milk is probably ok from the calcium perspective, but if you are already getting calcium in a supplement, I’d skip it. Even though it is fat-free, it is primarily sugar. If you do use it and you need to cut back some Kcals, this is the first thing I would look at.

  3. You might want to consider adding some additional grains beyond the oatmeal. Whole-wheat or 7(ish)-grain wheat bread, brown rice and sweet potatos are all good choices.