Trying to bulk up! Not going so well...

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Joshua_danford
Joshua_danford Posts: 3 Member
edited January 2016 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
So I have started working out routinely for the past few months. Initially, I started to work out to get the love handles and flub off (It's worked), however now I'm trying to bulk.

I'm 6'4 175 and have been taking in about 3400 calories, eating clean and taking very light supplements (Syntha 6 & Caseine) My metabolism is through the roof, I've started taking weight gaining pills and up'ed my protein to 40% of my daily caloric intake.

I'm getting cut, but not seeing any major gains and have infact loss weight. Any tips or advice will help!

Thanks!

Replies

  • darkchocthunda
    darkchocthunda Posts: 20 Member
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    Two things:

    1. What's the composition of your workout? If you're doing any cardio then that can take away from the surplus needed for growth. Cut down on the cardio.

    2. Up your daily intake another 250 calories in carbs and protein and see what happens after 2-3 weeks. Continue increasing until you see results.
  • darkchocthunda
    darkchocthunda Posts: 20 Member
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    One more thing: If you have an active lifestyle, that is you're on your feet walking or hauling stuff around every day. That's another 300-500 calories being burned.
  • pbryd
    pbryd Posts: 364 Member
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    Here are what your macros should look like at a bodyweight of 175lb and 3500 calories

    protein 175g
    fat 70g
    carbs 518g

    That's a lot of carb, if you can manage to eat the volume of carbs, i upping fat.

  • Joshua_danford
    Joshua_danford Posts: 3 Member
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    d2bxxsak96hy.png

    Appreciate the advice, I am in the military and usually compensate the calories burned and I haven't done cardio in a couple weeks besides playing basketball. It's all strength training when I go to the gym... I've up'ed my protein and carbs, we'll see how it goes... Thanks!
  • Hobartlemagne
    Hobartlemagne Posts: 118 Member
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    Check out the book 'Evolution' by Joe Mangianello. It has a really good multi week program that is very challenging.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    Do you know what your current body fat % is? It is really not recommended to bulk until you get to at least sub 15% body fat…

    are you following a structured lifting program?

    clean eating really has nothing to do with a successful bulk or cut…just make sure that you hit macros and are getting adequate nutrition...
  • codsterlaing95
    codsterlaing95 Posts: 221 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Dietary fat at 54g is far too low. You need at a minimum 0.4g per lb of bw.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    Joshua_danford wrote: »
    d2bxxsak96hy.png

    Appreciate the advice, I am in the military and usually compensate the calories burned and I haven't done cardio in a couple weeks besides playing basketball. It's all strength training when I go to the gym... I've up'ed my protein and carbs, we'll see how it goes... Thanks!

    First that is some ridiculous amount of protein. Add in more fat. Second, playing basketball counts as cardio. So if you are playing a few times a week, you need to compensate for the additional calories burned.

    How many days do you play basketball, how many days do you lift and what is your routine.
  • benjam2421
    benjam2421 Posts: 24 Member
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    man im 5'9 at 177 if i didnt eat 5k+ a day my little *kitten* *kitten* lost weight with nothing but low reps
  • b7fig
    b7fig Posts: 1 Member
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    I followed Jim Stoppani's 12-week shortcut to size in the past and worked great. For you current size, he recommends 276g of protein. 276 carbs and 105g of fat. A little more on work out days. Google it.
  • Joshua_danford
    Joshua_danford Posts: 3 Member
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    Basketball is the extent of my cardio and its maybe twice a week Inwhich I do compensate for the calories burnt. I weighed in this morning at 175 up 3lbs from 5 days ago so hopefully the trend keeps going up... Thanks for all the help! I'll look into Jim Stoppani's 12 week shortcut preciate it...
  • RedWolf09
    RedWolf09 Posts: 90 Member
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    Imo you need to eat more man. You're 6'4. I'm about 5'10 and 3500 cals would be below maintenance for me. Go for at least 5000 and up your carbs.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,575 Member
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    holy protein batman
  • 3AAnn3
    3AAnn3 Posts: 3,055 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Dang man, why couldn't I be 6'4?
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,389 Member
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    Being you're local, here's my best advice.

    Go to the Little Creek gym. Go to the free weight room. If you don't lift heavy, you'll get shamed out of there by all the lift monsters that frequent that gym. Listen to them, don't piss them off, and try to hang with them. And don't piss them off... half of them work with military groups that are fairly tight lipped, and they might mess you up for fun.

    Seriously, if you aren't gaining, bump the calories and keep lifting hard. It takes time.

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