Moderate bulking??

datsundriver87

ive been spinning wheels for a few months and it's time to get a real explanation. I dropped 85 pounds from January to November last year calorie counting and straight cardio, than decided I lost way to much muscle and became to weak so I decided to switch to weight lifting. Since than I've struggled with calorie intake. I understand I have to be at a surplus to gain muscle and I get my protein macros but is eating barely above maintence worth the small gains I've seen (it's noticeable but not astonishing for working out an hour a day 4-6days a week), or is an extreme bulk and cut the way to go

rybo

There are 2 potential problems keeping u from your goals. 1 not eating enough, 2 the workout plan you are following isn't very good.

jemhh

datsundriver87 wrote: »

ive been spinning wheels for a few months and it's time to get a real explanation. I dropped 85 pounds from January to November last year calorie counting and straight cardio, than decided I lost way to much muscle and became to weak so I decided to switch to weight lifting. Since than I've struggled with calorie intake. I understand I have to be at a surplus to gain muscle and I get my protein macros but is eating barely above maintence worth the small gains I've seen (it's noticeable but not astonishing for working out an hour a day 4-6days a week), or is an extreme bulk and cut the way to go

There is a middle ground between barely eating maintenance and extreme bulk. Aim for 250 above maintenance for awhile. Then once you are consistently doing that, assess your progress and decide whether you want to up it some more.

tillerstouch

I would take a look at your lifting program. I noticed you said you workout between 4-6 times a week. Which makes me think you aren't following a structured program because if you were you'd lift the same amount of days each week. What kind of program are you doing? Also how heavy are lifting/really pushing yourself?

What are small gains and how long have you been lifting, have you given it a long enough chance to see improvements? Building muscle can take awhile.

MommyMeggo

Calorie surplus. Lift heavy. set schedule.

MommyMeggo

Oh and WELL DONE on your weight loss!!!

datsundriver87

Thanks for all the replays everyone. Short back story to help everyone understand my struggle. I have days where I'm extremely active burning tons of calories for work and said where I drive for 14 hours in a day usually it's 50/50 a week. I don't have an actual structured program for that reason because I don't have a definitive "schedule" to work around so sometimes I workout late sometimes early sometimes not at all but I really push for 4-5 days a week. This is another issue with my eating maintence, I know it's a relative average cause there are days I could burn upwards of 5000 calories and days where I'm burning around 2500. I try to eat around 28-3000 a day with one 4500 or so calorie cheat day a week and that has kept me +-2 pounds since November first. I absolutely see gains and I've already gone from a 120 pound deadlift set to a 210 pound deadlift set (8-10 reps 3 sets for all my workouts). I am gaining strength pretty drastically, just don't know if eating barely over my average maintenance is the route to take or if should eat 6000 calories a day than run the fat back off later.

Sam_I_Am77

datsundriver87 wrote: »

ive been spinning wheels for a few months and it's time to get a real explanation. I dropped 85 pounds from January to November last year calorie counting and straight cardio, than decided I lost way to much muscle and became to weak so I decided to switch to weight lifting. Since than I've struggled with calorie intake. I understand I have to be at a surplus to gain muscle and I get my protein macros but is eating barely above maintence worth the small gains I've seen (it's noticeable but not astonishing for working out an hour a day 4-6days a week), or is an extreme bulk and cut the way to go

You can slowly incorporate more calories as improvement plateaus; you don't want to jump into massive caloric intake right away as you'll gain more unwanted weight than desired probably. Also, make sure you're training program is supportive of your goals. Just because you train 4 to 6 days a week for an hour doesn't mean what you're doing is good. It could be that it's not the diet at all.

datsundriver87

Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »

datsundriver87 wrote: »

ive been spinning wheels for a few months and it's time to get a real explanation. I dropped 85 pounds from January to November last year calorie counting and straight cardio, than decided I lost way to much muscle and became to weak so I decided to switch to weight lifting. Since than I've struggled with calorie intake. I understand I have to be at a surplus to gain muscle and I get my protein macros but is eating barely above maintence worth the small gains I've seen (it's noticeable but not astonishing for working out an hour a day 4-6days a week), or is an extreme bulk and cut the way to go

You can slowly incorporate more calories as improvement plateaus; you don't want to jump into massive caloric intake right away as you'll gain more unwanted weight than desired probably. Also, make sure you're training program is supportive of your goals. Just because you train 4 to 6 days a week for an hour doesn't mean what you're doing is good. It could be that it's not the diet at all.

Ok that makes sense thank you. I am doing two muscle groups a day separated into 3 different days and 15 mins or so of abs Every other day. I do about 8-10 exercises all together not including abs. right now I'm doing 3 sets of 8-10 Reps but I'm really considering doing 5*5. Biggest issue is I can't always get to the gym so barbell workouts are not every workout. I do have s pair of adjustable Dumbbells thou

tillerstouch

I would stick to a moderate surplus still. Why put on all that extra fat, don't try to rush things.

Also I think you should create a lifting routine. The time of day you workout doesn't matter but you should make a program so that you can make sure you work all your muscle groups.

Do you currently follow any kind of routine?

I break my lift days into splits like this:
Base it off a 5 day split:
Day 1. Back
Day 2. Chest
Day 3. Legs
Day 4. Arms
Day 5. Shoulders

The nice thing about this is its easy to collapse for weeks you have less days to workout. If you only have 4 days just combine back and chest days. And weeks you only have 3 days you can come combine chest/back and legs/shoulder.

Sam_I_Am77

datsundriver87 wrote: »

Sam_I_Am77 wrote: »

datsundriver87 wrote: »

ive been spinning wheels for a few months and it's time to get a real explanation. I dropped 85 pounds from January to November last year calorie counting and straight cardio, than decided I lost way to much muscle and became to weak so I decided to switch to weight lifting. Since than I've struggled with calorie intake. I understand I have to be at a surplus to gain muscle and I get my protein macros but is eating barely above maintence worth the small gains I've seen (it's noticeable but not astonishing for working out an hour a day 4-6days a week), or is an extreme bulk and cut the way to go

You can slowly incorporate more calories as improvement plateaus; you don't want to jump into massive caloric intake right away as you'll gain more unwanted weight than desired probably. Also, make sure you're training program is supportive of your goals. Just because you train 4 to 6 days a week for an hour doesn't mean what you're doing is good. It could be that it's not the diet at all.

Ok that makes sense thank you. I am doing two muscle groups a day separated into 3 different days and 15 mins or so of abs Every other day. I do about 8-10 exercises all together not including abs. right now I'm doing 3 sets of 8-10 Reps but I'm really considering doing 5*5. Biggest issue is I can't always get to the gym so barbell workouts are not every workout. I do have s pair of adjustable Dumbbells thou

How often are you able to get to the gym in a week, like guaranteed you can go?

datsundriver87

I do have my own made up routine that is simile. Do chest and triceps, back and biceps, and legs and shoulders. I monitor my progress and I have increased my weight usually every other workout. If we're talking strength I have had amazing gains, just haven't physically seen them as much as I would like. It's the mental game. Last year I could see the weight fly off me and that's what motivates me, with strength training in still around the same measurements I was in November biceps slightly bigger and I do feel a little better, but not substantial like we all want to see

datsundriver87

How often are you able to get to the gym in a week, like guaranteed you can go?[/quote]

An actual gym literally no guarantee at all. Last week I went 6 days this week I'm hoping to go twice and use my Dumbbells the other days. With work I travel constantly and when I'm in a big city I can hit a 24 hour fitness, but this week being in west Texas and Louisiana I'll barely get the chance.

tillerstouch

Hm In all honesty I'm not sure what could be preventing you from not seeing physical changes but I wouldn't worry too much about that. Just stick the the gradual process and be happy with the increases in strength. Then once you feel your strong enough do a cut and then you should be able to see them better.

WeaponXI

What are your goals, are you looking to build more muscle, build more strength, or a little of both? Following a program will help you meet your goal. Whether it be a bodybuilding program to give you muscle in an aesthetic way, with some strength, or a strength program to make you a lot stronger, or a strength program with hypertrophy work added. Without an actual program to follow, you will be just spinning your wheels without much benefit. There are programs out there that you workout as little as 2 days a week, all the way up to 4-5 days a week. Find one that works with your schedule, try it out for a year, then reassess.
Also, by the sounds of your original post, it doesn't sound like you've been lifting all that long, as tillerstouch said, building muscle can take time (actually it takes a lot of time) even at a calorie surplus and lots of protein. Strength usually comes faster than aesthetics, but even so, it'll take time. You have to put a lot of effort, to reap the benefits of any program. Another important fact, you need to give your body time to rest, cause that's the time when your body grows from all the hard work you've been putting it through.
Upping your daily calorie intake without an actual program in place, may give results you don't want.
And that's all on top of your diet and nutrition being in check.

Cchioles

Unfortunately Growing Muscle Is A Slow Process And You're Best Bet Is To Stay Consistent And Be Patient . It's Gonna Take Time Whether you Eat Way Over Maintenance Or Just A Bit Above, So Why Not Take The Conservative Approach And Avoid The Body Fat? Good Luck

Sam_I_Am77

datsundriver87 wrote: »

How often are you able to get to the gym in a week, like guaranteed you can go?

An actual gym literally no guarantee at all. Last week I went 6 days this week I'm hoping to go twice and use my Dumbbells the other days. With work I travel constantly and when I'm in a big city I can hit a 24 hour fitness, but this week being in west Texas and Louisiana I'll barely get the chance. [/quote]

That will make progress difficult for sure. Have you tried Googling something like, "Traveling Powerlifter Programs" or "Traveling and Strength Training"? If you happen to know where you're going to be the upcoming week, you can train all-out the current week and then do bodyweight / DB stuff the following week when you don't have gym access or back-to-back weeks go more moderate. That's tough, I really don't have a great suggestion for you; I was in a similar situation for a while and it's very hard.

time2cutnow

I recommend upping your calories. I just came off of a 5 month bulk (currently cutting now). I at at a 300 - 500 surplus per day and ended up gaining 10 lbs. The quickest way to build muscle is with a bulk.