I started a bulk about 1 month ago and to be frank i am very small with a very small frame so it is hard to put on muscle without putting alot of it on my stomach. I mostly trained for strength during that time so that could explain lack of gains in the limbs but could someoen explain if my calorie surplus if 500-600 a week is to much to gain muscke instead of mostly fat in the belly. My macros are about 51% carbs 27% protein 23% fats. I know i should have more carbs but i simply domt have enough stomach space
No way to know.
Stick to it for a few weeks and monitor your rate of gain.
1 Like
Anything over Maintinance is enough to gain muscle. What does your training plan look like. What are your goals.
Start at a 200cal surplus for a few weeks and let you body adapt.
1 Like
X2
Most people shouldn’t expect to add significant amounts of muscle in 1 month.
1 Like
They prob should not be putting on fat that early on though either. Something is amiss here
How tall are you?
What do you weigh?
How many years have you been lifting weights?
The most important macro for adding muscle is protein.
IMO, the first thing you need to do is eat a lot of protein. Make sure you are eating 1.5 grams of protein for every pound of your body weight in pounds. And spread it over 5 to 6 meals per day.
I would wait to see what additional protein does, before adding fat that you will then be worrying about removing with a cut.
How strong did you get? Give us some examples.
I think we’re about to again run into the theoretical surplus fallacy again.
OP, what tends to happen is folks will calculate a BMR based on a formula, determine what their surplus/ deficit must be based on that calculation, not get the results they’re after, and then diagnose themselves as outliers. I’m not saying you’re doing that, just saying let’s not fall into the trap.
If you’re tracking everything you’re eating (or eating the same thing every day), then you have your data already together.
As mentioned above, we now have to determine your real goal. If it’s to gain weight at all costs, you’ll be more tolerant of fat gain than if it’s to gain mostly muscle without setting up a brutal cut later (I’d vote the latter). So I’ll give you what I would do based on we want to gain mostly muscle.
I’d be tolerant of .25 - .5 lbs a week with three caveats. You must:
- Be getting stronger on your “indicator” lifts - pick something for each major body part to progress. Let’s say it’s incline bench, squats and pull-ups (this last one helps us also not get too fat).
- Still get “pumps” in the gym. This is subjective, but you know
- Not be bloated/ stuffed/ lethargic all the time. You may not be really hungry, since you’re gaining, but shouldn’t feel like crap.
Now I would set up my diet so that:
- You’re eating 1g/ lbs of body weight per day. Nothing wrong with more, but it’s pretty satiating. If you have trouble eating enough , keep it closer to this minimum.
- Get enough fats. I think of this as .3g/ lbs of body weight or at least 55-60g as an absolute number. You can move this up based on preference and satiety, but not down.
- Fill in the rest with carbs as your calorie allotment allows. Carbs tend to be the easiest to eat and impact gym performance/ recovery, so this has some preference dependence - basically is it easy for you to overeat or hard for you to eat enough? This is where we come to your rate of gain, as well. Your total calories need to allow for that optimal rate of gain. So let’s do an example below:
Let’s say I’m 180, want to gain about a quarter lbs a week to minimize any fat gain, and want to lean toward carbs since I tend to get stuffed quickly. I find that about 16 calories per lbs allows this rate of gain for me: ~2800 calories (estimated low, because I hate cutting later).
I’ll set my protein target at 200. Easy math, safe target, and definitely ensures I’m hitting my 1g/lbs.
I’ll set my fat at 60g a day. That’s pretty close to the minimum to take care of my hormonal profile and joints, and I have trouble eating so this won’t fill me up.
The rest is going to be carbs. I have 2800 - (4 x 200) protein - (9 x 60) fat = 1460 calories left. We divide those by 4 and get 365g carbs we get to eat daily. I’d probably put 50g pre workout, 35g intra, and 75g post. That leaves you 200g to spread over your other meals, which is very easily doable.
I do want to emphasize, that’s a hypothetical situation. Please don’t take that caloric number and run with it; I was trying to illustrate a point. The way to do this is to assess yourself. How many calories is driving weight gain for you?
2 Likes
Yes so this is what i was wondering. If i go say 250 over instead of 500 i will still gain right? Just over a longer period of time so i have time for more muscle to grow? Say 1lb every few weeks instead of 1lb a week
Goals are to gain 15lbs of muscle i am extremely small about 135. 5’9 My workouts are about 1hr 15 of upperbody every other day and same for legs and i do forearms durimg on leg day as well since i have extra time. Most of the time it has been for strength and i just recently started hypertrophy
3300-3400 calories n that seems to be gaining fat to quickly in the belly. My protein intake is about 26-28%. Which is like 230grams if protein and for someone a little over 130lbs that seems to be alot no?
Also i workout first thing in the morning before work and i cannot eat much. Usually just toast. Is this one of my problems?
This would be a problem for me. That is one meal with practically zero protein.
1 Like
I feel like I answered all of these questions in my post, no?
2 Likes
Yest but i eat a big meal after the workout, juice, whole grain cereal or cream of wheat juice, ham or turkey and 2 eggs, should i start drinkimg cyclic dextrin again to get more calories before the wirkout? Eating the minute i wake up is extremely difficult
That was alot to read i tried to get it all i have autism and adhd so hard to concentrate but i remeber you saying 1.5 grams of protein and i am well above that so your saying that is not the problem then is my presumption
Is this really the hobby you want to pursue?
Why must you workout first thing upon waking?
I assume you have a day job. Can you train after work?
If you have the funds, I would suggest using Surge Fuel.
How many meals do you eat each day? I might not be correct, but I always assumed that I could only digest 50 grams of protein per meal. If that is true, eating three times a day is just not going to be sufficient.
1 Like
No i have a life and other goals i have to pursue this is just part of building a better lifestyle for myself and gaining some weight. Being big honestly is not something i care that much about i just want to be healthier and gain in a healthy way so i am not underweight
1 Like
At 5’ 9" when you are 135lbs your BMI is 20.5. Normal weight is between 18.5 and 24.9. Medically, you are not underweight.
2 Likes
If this is the extent of your goals, i would say all you need to do is some form of full body resistance training several times a week, and to eat slightly more real food than you currently are doing. I don’t think you need to over complicate either the training or eating part of this.
If i can make another suggestion as well: if you have the time and bandwidth to engage in some kind of sport or hobby, that’s great for motivation. Its really difficult to stay disciplined training for vague health reasons, much easier to train for something with a quick feedback loop.
1 Like