Thinking I need to starting bulking soon????

bren3jet

Hi Everyone!

I have been reading the threads on here about bulking and different things online. Seems pretty basic but also seems a little complicated at the same time....if that makes any sense. I posted before christmas about this but I think I might be ready to try bulking. I was wondering if I could run my stats past and get any opinions from those that have already or are doing it well. The week before Christmas I had my body fat analysed, so here are my stats.

Female, 38 years old, 5'8 and eating about 1900+ calories

18% body fat

134lbs--- 110 muscle and 24lbs fat.

I was eating at about maintenance then. Since then I have really cleaned up my diet and I am eating right on the 1900 calories. Now I'm down to 131lbs. Those 3 lbs that i lost was just in the last couple weeks so I think I need to eat a little more to slow the weight loss if you think I still need to cut before I start to bulk.

So should I still cut or start to bulk?

Thanks,
Brenda

Springfield1970

I wouldn't cut that fast if I were you, you may lose some muscle. I'm sure 18% body fat is fine to start your first bulk. Settle your maintenance figure for a couple of weeks then add 250c per day. Weigh everyday and average every 7. You should gain half a pound a week, hopefully at least half of that is muscle.
first though I'd make sure I was good to go on a proper progressive 3x per week lifting routine.
I wouldn't want to bulk and still be working on form, and then be trying to put weight on the bar without being sure about what I was doing.

By the way, eating clean will have no bearing on whether you gain muscle or not.
The excess calories, the .8g protein and .35g fat per pound of body weight plus fill the rest with carbs will do it. Make sure you add your exercise calories in and eat them. Don't do much cardio, it will screw with your maths, and interfere with the muscle repair.

bren3jet

I didn't mean that I eat clean, I just meant that I was more carefully counting the calories then I was before Christmas. How many pounds should I try to put on in a bulk?

Springfield1970

See as you go along. I started at 15% 123lb I'm 5'7".
The first couple of pounds was water and maintenance weight, after that I kept going for several weeks (I enjoyed every minute of it). I kept waiting to feel gross but I loved the results so much.
I stopped after a holiday when I came back at 132lb. I cut again and settled at 127lb, and was so happy with it, but if I didn't need to be light on my feet for running I would have stayed at 132. My skinny jeans fit. Now they're uncomfortable again at 127! I'm more bottom heavy due to glute work, but my composition is due an overhaul again.

Springfield1970

bren3jet wrote: »

I didn't mean that I eat clean, I just meant that I was more carefully counting the calories then I was before Christmas. How many pounds should I try to put on in a bulk?

Is 1900 your maintenance figure? Does it include exercise calories or do you separate them and eat them back?

If I were you I'd really try and get my maintenance figure correct, along with my calorie burns, it's saves a lot of time faffing around on the bulk.

bren3jet

I'm still losing at 1900, so yes I agree I need to get my maintenance figured out first. Thank you for the help.