Newbie bulking questions

Panda_brat

I am finally ready to start bulking. Please forgive my ignorance in the subject, but that is why i am here and asking, to learn. I know I need to eat at a surplus, but how much? Is it like with weight loss and does not matter what i eat, or when as long as i eat at a surplus? If i have a rest day, on that day do i eat at maintenance, or can i average things out on a weekly basis? all I have done so far is weight training to prevent muscle loss during weight loss, and before then i was just a lazy slob and barley exercised.

tillerstouch

It depends on your goals but a good starting point would be around a 200 calorie surplus. I know some people will only eat maintenence on non lift days some stick to the surplus.

You'll hear people say dirty bulk and clean bulk. Typically what they mean is a dirty bulk is eat what ever you want just making sure to get the calories, i.e. for lunch have a big mac, soda, and fries. A clean bulk people typically mean they are watching what they eat and specifically watching their macros (how much protien, fat, carbs they take in). The idea is a clean bulk will come with less fat gain, at least is the hope.

I would recommend start with a moderate calorie surplus and see how you respond and go from there. I would also watch your macros. There are plenty of calculators and things you can find to calculate exactly what your macros should be at but if you want to keep it simple I'd just do 50% carbs 25% protien 25% fat.

Some foods I live off of: steel cut oats (carbs) protien shakes and chicken breast (protien) and nuts (fat).

Also make sure you have a good lifting program working your whole body and that you're lifting hard.

Hopefully this helps a bit.

galgenstrick

Eat in a surplus to gain weight. It doesn't matter what you eat to gain weight, but it does matter if you want to gain an ideal muscle to fat ratio (1:1 is a pretty good goal).

To do this you need to do the following:

1. Eat enough calories to gain 0.5-1lb of weight per week, try not to go any more than that.
2. Eat protein, 1g per pound of body weight is a good rule, but somewhere between 0.6-1.2g/pound will work
3. Resistance train. Pick a proven program that focuses on compound lifting and progressive overload.
4. Eat enough fat for your health. I've seen 0.3-0.4g per pound of weight or a more general rule of >20% of your calories. Most people training to build muscle do best by eating just enough fat for their health and not any more.
5. Eat the rest of your calories in carbs. You want a lot of carbs to fill your glycogen stores which helps you lift more weight, hence why you want to limit your fat.
6. Cardio is optional for extra health benefits, but you want to keep it pretty low while bulking to allow your body to recover from your lifting.