First Time Bulking

theoriginalfoo

I've always been on the smaller side. After gaining some fat over winter break I decided to go on a cut to see how low I could get my BF%. Decided to take tracking calories more seriously than I have before so I hopped on MFP.

After a 7 week cut, I am satisfied with how lean I was and now I wanna gain some mass. During the cut I was on 1800 calories and I got down to 156.8lbs at 6ft. However, my weight stopped dropping at around the 157lb mark which also influenced my decision to switch to a bulk.

According to many TDEE calculators, my maintanence is ~2700cals which is much more than I am used to. The issue is that my body MAINTAINED its weight at 1800cals which is apparently waaaay lower than my maintanence calories.

For the past week, I've been shooting for 2400cals to see how my body reacts. Do you guys think I should just wing it and go for above 2700 or should I continue experimenting with this mid-level consumption to see if anything noticeable changes?

Also feel free to add me I need friends. Thanks.

happysquatter

Hey there!

Good job on the cut.

How long have you been at 157? It is recommended to stay at your maintenance level for a few weeks (2-3 at the minimum) before increasing cals.

Are you on a lifting program at the moment? Were you lifting while on a cut and has the nature of the program changed?

That said, the simple answer to your question would be, the jump is a bit too much, too fast and it would be better in the long term to move up in smaller increments. You need not stay at those increments for long (perhaps a week to two)

I will say that you are definitely on the lower side of weight for your height.

But probably at the perfect body composition to benefit from a nice long linear progression with slowly increasing surplus in calories.

See Starting Strength.

Cheers man

ecjim

Happy Squater gave you good advice - when you increace the cals , just bump it 2-300 cals per day, stay there 2 weeks - 1 month , then repeat as needed, you will be better off with a slow increase and slow weight gain.

theoriginalfoo

happysquatter wrote: »

Hey there!

Good job on the cut.

How long have you been at 157? It is recommended to stay at your maintenance level for a few weeks (2-3 at the minimum) before increasing cals.

Are you on a lifting program at the moment? Were you lifting while on a cut and has the nature of the program changed?

That said, the simple answer to your question would be, the jump is a bit too much, too fast and it would be better in the long term to move up in smaller increments. You need not stay at those increments for long (perhaps a week to two)

I will say that you are definitely on the lower side of weight for your height.

But probably at the perfect body composition to benefit from a nice long linear progression with slowly increasing surplus in calories.

See Starting Strength.

Cheers man

Thanks for the advice!

My weight plateaued a few weeks ago, so I'm assuming my body settled at 157 and I agree it's quite low for my height. I've been lifting for a while but started taking it more seriously at the beginning of my cut. Since then, my strength has increased quite a bit even while on a defecit.

It makes sense to increase the surplus gradually instead of all at once. On my current diet (2400) which has been going for a week now, I went up by ab a pound which I'm pretty comfortable with. I will probably stick to this diet for another week or two and increase calories if necessary.

Thanks again. Here's to new gains 💪