Emotional/Mental side of bulking and general bulking advice- 1st time bulker

nay0m3

Hi All, I have committed myself to a bulk after talking with an experienced lifter/body builder at my gym who encouraged me to do so. I feel like I have a good plan from using a TDEE calc and have a strong lifting plan as well and look forward to some gains in the gym. I am worried though about my perception of myself as I gain weight and the mental toll this may take. I have worked hard to get my body/nutrition/exercise to where I am at and I am confident I can progress even further. For some history, from April 2019 to Dec 2019 I lost 20 pounds from 153 to 133 and started lifting weights January 2020 when I gained about 5 pounds over a few months but then lost it and since August 2020, I have been hovering between 130 and 133 pounds.

Would love to hear other people's experience bulking and any advice, thoughts, suggestions or stories would be awesome!

cupcakesandproteinshakes

I’ve been gaining for 6 months. I’ve been lifting properly for 4 years, basically recomping at around 135 to140 pounds.
I got a bit frustrated with lack of progress so started a bulk when the gyms reopened here in April.

I’m not that happy with what I see in the mirror but my gym progress is good. Will finish up at the end of October then try and lose back to 140.

It definitely takes some getting used to. I’ve found I need to eat quite a lot more as the time passed and my gain stalled.

nay0m3

@cupcakesandproteinshakes How much have you gained so far? What is your height? How many calories are you eating and what’s your training like? How do you cope with not liking what you see in the mirror?

cupcakesandproteinshakes

I’m 5 ft 9. Currently 150.
I just don’t look in the mirror so much any more! Long term it’s gonna be good for me.
My training is a 4 day upper lower split based on the principles in muscle and strength training pyramid by Eric helms. Reasonable volume, but not too crazy. I also do quite a bit of LISS cardio.

cupcakesandproteinshakes

Calorie wise I’m eating about 3000. Which seems insane to me. I think my NEAT must have increased considerably with the extra food because I had estimated 2500 to gain at a half pound a week. That worked for the first few months but then I stalled. So increased to 3000.