Time to Bulk ?

2

Replies

  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
    Joseph94x wrote: »
    PPumpItUp wrote: »
    IMO the three most important factors in building muscle are 1) resistance training 2) protein intake 3) carbohydrate intake. When you were cutting you should have had a protein intake of around 150g-160g of protein. For maintenance and bulking it can be a little lower. You can maintain muscle with resistance training and low protein but it is hard to build unless you bump the protein up.

    Probably i could have .. but going low on carb for that long wouldnt workout for me , i looked weak and tired .. as soon as i went back to +180C everything went better except the "weight loss"

    The bold isn't true (just FYI) it's backwards, but I think it's just a typo, but on a separate note, 180C is probably just fine for you on a cut, but you'll still need to reduce total calories to lose weight. To keep the muscle you have, keep protein at least 1g/lb bodyweight while cutting (it's just a nice round number that also keeps you full, but 0.8 will work too), keep lifting, get at least the minimum amount of fat 0.45 g/lb, and then do whatever you want with the rest of your calories.
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    Rusty740 wrote: »
    Joseph94x wrote: »
    PPumpItUp wrote: »
    IMO the three most important factors in building muscle are 1) resistance training 2) protein intake 3) carbohydrate intake. When you were cutting you should have had a protein intake of around 150g-160g of protein. For maintenance and bulking it can be a little lower. You can maintain muscle with resistance training and low protein but it is hard to build unless you bump the protein up.

    Probably i could have .. but going low on carb for that long wouldnt workout for me , i looked weak and tired .. as soon as i went back to +180C everything went better except the "weight loss"

    The bold isn't true (just FYI) it's backwards, but I think it's just a typo, but on a separate note, 180C is probably just fine for you on a cut, but you'll still need to reduce total calories to lose weight. To keep the muscle you have, keep protein at least 1g/lb bodyweight while cutting (it's just a nice round number that also keeps you full, but 0.8 will work too), keep lifting, get at least the minimum amount of fat 0.45 g/lb, and then do whatever you want with the rest of your calories.

    A quick calculation on what u recommand it will be around 1850Cal .. i used to cut as low as 1500Cal .. keep in mind im only 5'6 *a bit of a large frame tho*

    Thats why i said i went back to 180C .. approx 1900 to 2100Cal
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
    I'm 5'6" too. The most I could consistently maintain was 1600 at 130 lbs with 35% protein. What got the extra few pounds off was intermittent fasting. I just skipped breakfast, but I had plenty of black coffee in the morning (3 cups or so). This allowed me to come within my calorie goals effectively and the last 8.5 lbs or so came off within about 6 weeks.
  • pbryd
    pbryd Posts: 364 Member
    I'd be fed up after a 10 month cut too. You could follow Layne Norton's advice and do a reverse diet, just up to your maintenance calories, Pause for a couple weeks, and continue your cut down to 10-12%
  • jasonlh515
    jasonlh515 Posts: 17 Member
    With your body fat being at 16-20 % I would stay away from bulking for the time being. I personally get down to about 7-8% before I start a bulk and once I hit about 15 I go back to cutting. When I'm maintaining weight I like to stay around 9%. Being at 63kg though you will really want to keep your protein intake high enough to retain as much muscle mass as possible. To lose that body fat you will need to get into a caloric deficit. Once you get to a desired body fat percentage and feel you want to start bulking up just make sure to do a clean bulk. Too many people think bulking is just consume as many calories as possible no matter where you get them from but this is not true. This will only make you reach a higher fat percentage before a desired muscle gain has been made. Bulking does mean a caloric surplus but nothing too crazy just enough to support hypertrophy and it needs to be with nutrient dense foods.
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    Skip any bro scinence about "belly fat " and "macros " just eat smart and lift man listen to your body your a man don't count calories just listen to ur hunger and fullness and focus on building up your strength and increasing ur weak body parts to build a well balanced physique worrying about belly fat will only stall you for a long time trust me . Good luck !

    I would love to do that , honestly i would .. but my apetite is big and if i did that i will be back to where i started just with a bit more of a muscle foundation
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    pbryd wrote: »
    I'd be fed up after a 10 month cut too. You could follow Layne Norton's advice and do a reverse diet, just up to your maintenance calories, Pause for a couple weeks, and continue your cut down to 10-12%

    Thats what i started doing
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    Ok after 12 days i started feeling like im gaining weight .. 1kg = 2lbs , is thats normal ? Or im i possibly over eating ! Which is highly unlikly * ok other than one day where i binged *
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    edited September 2017
    Update 13th of sep .. i feel like im gaining weight while eating at maintenance , it may be caused by water retention but my waist is upto 80cm from 78cm ! Is it normal ? Any ideas ?
  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
    So, you are 5'5" @ 139lbs, right?

    166cm = 5'5" (2.54CM per Inch)
    63kg = 139lbs (2.2046kg per LB)

    Might I ask how you know that you BF is 16% to 20%?

    And, what you do next - as others have suggested - is going to depend on your goals. Bulking - as already stated - when you have 16% to 20% BF might have results that you do not want. Namely, your BF will go up. Likely.

    If you want strength - and that is what it seems like you want - and you feel that you are loosing strength at the moment....I would suggest that you consider taking a break. If you have been in the cut for 10 months, man - that is a long time.

    That break is from both from the gym and the "diet". Take a few days or take a week. But not too much longer.
    Please do not take this as a license to binge on all of the stuff that you have not had in the last 10 months! LOL!

    This break will be good for you, mentally. And physically.

    Then, and someone else suggested this, consider a reverse diet to get your caloric intake to a higher space. Build up to maintenance, increasing caloric intake a bit each week (not sure where you are now and where your maintenance is....so difficult to suggest how much....). Maybe consider this:

    From the 16th of August your macros look like this:

    "From yestarday i started going for 140P , C300 , F45 .. approx".

    So, that is 2,165 Calories. So, that seems like what you are doing now. That was nearly one month ago so things could have changed. Let's use this number for my following example.

    I do not know how old you are so I can not figure out your TDEE (using the BMR from Mifflin-St. Jeor Equation). And this would simply be a starting point. Anyway....

    If your maintenance were, say 2,600 Calories then maybe increase your Caloric Intake from 2,165 to 2,250 (so, roughly 85 Calories a week) and so on. Do that for five weeks....then you are at your maintenance (again, I totally assumed this number - 2,600 Calories - for this example). Once you do that reverse diet for five weeks and you have reached maintenance hang out there for two or three weeks. That is roughly two months.

    At that point re-evaluate.

    You are in a much better place with respect to caloric intake. You are now well established at 2,600 Calories (again, totally assumed that number for this example) and your body has had the time to properly adjusted to that level of intake.
  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
    edited September 2017
    And, my post above is simply a suggestion. I would suggest that you fill in the numbers as best suits you and how your body responds.

    I would actually - were I in your situation with your stats - reverse diet for a longer period of time (as you were in a long cut of 10 months) so I would actually increase a little less each week. But, I know that people seem to have an issue with "patience" (I am the Captain of that club!) so I suggested only five weeks....then three weeks at maintenance. Then re-evaluate. So, I would likely - for me - do this for 10 weeks or 12 weeks (reverse diet to maintenance) and then sit at maintenance for four weeks. Then re-evaluate. But that is just me.
  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
    Dang it....just saw your last three posts. Not sure how I did not see them initially. Anyway....

    So you are doing a reverse diet? Or, are you eating at maintenance? Either way - good for you. As long as that works for you.

    And, you "feel" like you are gaining weight? How does the scale feel? LOL!

    Are you weighing yourself everyday, on the same scale, at the same time? And then taking a weekly average? I would be most interested in that! The human body can fluctuate a lot (whatever "a lot" means - for you).

    And, assuming that you have your maintenance numbers from a calculator (MFP or something else) I would just remind you that these calculators - no matter which one you use - is a great starting point....but it is just that - a starting point. Without playing with this - which takes time and patience - you wont really know the EXACT number for YOU.
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    Dang it....just saw your last three posts. Not sure how I did not see them initially. Anyway....

    So you are doing a reverse diet? Or, are you eating at maintenance? Either way - good for you. As long as that works for you.

    And, you "feel" like you are gaining weight? How does the scale feel? LOL!

    Are you weighing yourself everyday, on the same scale, at the same time? And then taking a weekly average? I would be most interested in that! The human body can fluctuate a lot (whatever "a lot" means - for you).

    And, assuming that you have your maintenance numbers from a calculator (MFP or something else) I would just remind you that these calculators - no matter which one you use - is a great starting point....but it is just that - a starting point. Without playing with this - which takes time and patience - you wont really know the EXACT number for YOU.

    The scale is saying +2kgs
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    F**k just deleted all what i wrote accidenatly
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    Ok it wasnt by accident the app have some problem , im 23 btw .. my calculationas are based on online calculators , the margin of error could not result this much variation .. im concerend that i damaged my metabolism
  • bioklutz
    bioklutz Posts: 1,365 Member
    It is completely normal to gain a little when you increase calories (water weight, more food weight to digest). A quick increase in the scale is not fat gains. How long are you going to sit at maintenance calories?
  • Joseph94x
    Joseph94x Posts: 25 Member
    bioklutz wrote: »
    It is completely normal to gain a little when you increase calories (water weight, more food weight to digest). A quick increase in the scale is not fat gains. How long are you going to sit at maintenance calories?

    Planning to recomposition according to the plan 4 to 6 months
  • TeddyK4975
    TeddyK4975 Posts: 106 Member
    Skip any bro scinence about "belly fat " and "macros " just eat smart and lift man listen to your body your a man don't count calories just listen to ur hunger and fullness and focus on building up your strength and increasing ur weak body parts to build a well balanced physique worrying about belly fat will only stall you for a long time trust me . Good luck !

    Agree with this. No need for a true bulk until you're down to about 10% bf.
  • bioklutz
    bioklutz Posts: 1,365 Member
    Joseph94x wrote: »
    bioklutz wrote: »
    It is completely normal to gain a little when you increase calories (water weight, more food weight to digest). A quick increase in the scale is not fat gains. How long are you going to sit at maintenance calories?

    Planning to recomposition according to the plan 4 to 6 months

    I would stick with the calories intake for another 2 weeks and see if your weight stabilizes. You may find you need to make some small adjustments but you really should give it about a month. If there is no further change in your weight you have found your maintenance calories. You may find that some (but not all) of the water weight drops.