Bulking tips

iggy93

Hi everyone, I'm currently doing a bulk right now but I'm a bit concerned on the amount of body fat I'm gaining. Started this journey weighing 110 lbs at 5'9. Now I'm weighing 155 lbs trying to push to 170 lbs. Current body fat is approaching 16 percent. Macro portion intake is as follows: 50% Carbs, 30% fats, 20% protein. I'm thinking of moving it around and reducing fats and increasing protein intake. Currently increased my gym days from 4 to 5 days. Gaining significant progress on my lifts through progressive overload. I know gaining fat is part of bulking, but at 16 percent, I'm considering slowing down a bit to cut fat. Thoughts?

Retroguy2000

How are you measuring your body fat %?

How quickly have you gone from 110 to 155?

20% protein seems low for your goals. How many grams is that? OTOH, you're probably eating well over maintenance, so if you were to lower total calories that % would go up by default.

You only need an additional 100-200 calories, which would result in most gains being from lean body mass.

michaelsmithpa

going from 110 to 170 is an incredible amount of weight to gain. What is your timetable to gain this much weight. I would agree with Retroguy slight calorie surplus is usually all that is necessary. Lift consistent. I myself would definitely try and up the protein uptake a bit. I myself don't measure bodyfat. I use the mirror. If the abs start to disappear I am gaining to much to fast and gaining fat. At 68 years old it is easier to gain fat than lean muscle tissue.
Keep grinding iggy93 the size and muscle will come in due time

iggy93

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

How are you measuring your body fat %?

How quickly have you gone from 110 to 155?

20% protein seems low for your goals. How many grams is that? OTOH, you're probably eating well over maintenance, so if you were to lower total calories that % would go up by default.

You only need an additional 100-200 calories, which would result in most gains being from lean body mass.

I'm measuring body fat with a scale and also a handheld device which you hold. I've gain 45 lbs over a course of 6-7 years. Protein is 1 gram per body weight, in this case 155 grams.

I never quiet figured out my maintenance calories, but my logic is I'd much rather be in a caloric surplus than a deficit if I'm lifting.

iggy93

michaelsmithpa wrote: »

going from 110 to 170 is an incredible amount of weight to gain. What is your timetable to gain this much weight. I would agree with Retroguy slight calorie surplus is usually all that is necessary. Lift consistent. I myself would definitely try and up the protein uptake a bit. I myself don't measure bodyfat. I use the mirror. If the abs start to disappear I am gaining to much to fast and gaining fat. At 68 years old it is easier to gain fat than lean muscle tissue.
Keep grinding iggy93 the size and muscle will come in due time

I'm currently 155 lbs with 16% body fat, the 15 lbs I want to gain I plan in a 3-4 month period. But yeaa I agree with your assessment regarding the protein! Gunna lower fats, and up protein. Thanks for the advice!

Retroguy2000

iggy93 wrote: »

I'm measuring body fat with a scale and also a handheld device which you hold. I've gain 45 lbs over a course of 6-7 years. Protein is 1 gram per body weight, in this case 155 grams.

I never quiet figured out my maintenance calories, but my logic is I'd much rather be in a caloric surplus than a deficit if I'm lifting.

That sounds like a questionable method of estimating bodyfat. What does the Navy system get you? It's apparently the next best thing to a DEXA, and it's easy to do.

That's a nice slow weight gain so far. Without pics or more info on training, hard to know if you're carrying more fat than ideal. You're not going to gain 15 pounds of muscle in 3-4 months after this many years of training though. If you're OK with a lot of that 15 pounds being fat, carry on.

1g per pound bodyweight protein is already at the high end of most recs, imo it's unnecessary to go even higher. Likely no harm in doing so, just not necessary.

iggy93

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

iggy93 wrote: »

I'm measuring body fat with a scale and also a handheld device which you hold. I've gain 45 lbs over a course of 6-7 years. Protein is 1 gram per body weight, in this case 155 grams.

I never quiet figured out my maintenance calories, but my logic is I'd much rather be in a caloric surplus than a deficit if I'm lifting.

That sounds like a questionable method of estimating bodyfat. What does the Navy system get you? It's apparently the next best thing to a DEXA, and it's easy to do.

That's a nice slow weight gain so far. Without pics or more info on training, hard to know if you're carrying more fat than ideal. You're not going to gain 15 pounds of muscle in 3-4 months after this many years of training though. If you're OK with a lot of that 15 pounds being fat, carry on.

1g per pound bodyweight protein is already at the high end of most recs, imo it's unnecessary to go even higher. Likely no harm in doing so, just not necessary.

Never tried the navy system before, I'll give it a try.

At this point I'm plateauing at 155 and I'm determined to break through. If I can gain 4-5 pounds of muscle at the coat of 10-12 pounds of fat I can live with that. I figure I'll deal with the fat later lol. I'll post a current picture.

iggy93

iggy93

Currently at 155, and the scale tells me 15-16% BF

ninerbuff

much much closer to 25% than 16% based on pictures. In my profile pic, I'm 21%

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Retroguy2000

Yeah no way that's 15%-16%, sorry.

Most scales body fat measurements are poor.

I think you'd be making a mistake deliberately adding more fat. IMO better to be at maintenance or very slight surplus, 100 cals, and focus on the liftting.

iggy93

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Yeah no way that's 15%-16%, sorry.

Most scales body fat measurements are poor.

I think you'd be making a mistake deliberately adding more fat. IMO better to be at maintenance or very slight surplus, 100 cals, and focus on the liftting.

Dang that's a shocker. Should I do a small cut and then keep bulking? I'm really determined to reach my goal of being lean at 170. However I need to find the right road to get there. My bulking is for the most part clean, with some junk food. Perhaps I am eating way over my maintenance? Currently eating 3k calories

iggy93

Thanks for the insight guys, much appreciated

Retroguy2000

iggy93 wrote: »

Dang that's a shocker. Should I do a small cut and then keep bulking? I'm really determined to reach my goal of being lean at 170. However I need to find the right road to get there. My bulking is for the most part clean, with some junk food. Perhaps I am eating way over my maintenance? Currently eating 3k calories

Have a Google for scales body fat accuracy. They shouldn't be relied on.

Did you try the Navy method yet? Tape measure around navel while relaxed, and throat, plug into online calculator, done.

I mostly question why you're determined to reach a certain higher weight, rather than what you'll look like if you get there. I earlier suggested a minor calorie surplus because that's all you need for a clean bulk, but you might well be better off dropping a couple hundred on your non work-out days, and really focus on the progressive lifting program.

What are you doing for the lifting?

JBanx256

You are nowhere in the ballpark of 16% BF. This visual estimation guide isn't perfect, but it's at least reasonable:



I will cast another vote for not trying to keep pushing your weight up at this point. You are really not in a good place for a decent p-ratio right now; you're just going to accumulate a lot of fat. While "lean at 170" is a perfectly good goal for the long term, right now if you push up to 170 you're going to be just flat-out fat. I mean hey, it's your body, do with it as you will, but...yeah. Just throwing in my $0.02.

cupcakesandproteinshakes

OP please can you summarise ur training history over the years you have gained that weight? There are some very knowledgeable people on this thread that can give general advice. I agree very much with the others that your idea of bulking to add so much weight in a very short period will not help your long term goal.

ninerbuff

iggy93 wrote: »

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Yeah no way that's 15%-16%, sorry.

Most scales body fat measurements are poor.

I think you'd be making a mistake deliberately adding more fat. IMO better to be at maintenance or very slight surplus, 100 cals, and focus on the liftting.

Dang that's a shocker. Should I do a small cut and then keep bulking? I'm really determined to reach my goal of being lean at 170. However I need to find the right road to get there. My bulking is for the most part clean, with some junk food. Perhaps I am eating way over my maintenance? Currently eating 3k calories

"clean" bulking is such a myth. If you consume more than you burn, you'll gain weight. Now it's your workout regimen and how you rest and recovery that will determine how your bulk looks. Bulking is gaining fat and muscle. You obviously want more muscle, so just working out on the right program and eating enough protein to sustain building is all you need for a bulk.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Retroguy2000

Is it a myth?

I thought clean vs dirty bulk referred more to the size of the calorie surplus. Slight surplus of 10% means still eating clean, with a slow weight gain. With sufficient training and protein, hopefully the gain is mostly muscle vs fat. OTOH, a high calorie surplus adding >1K calories say, probably eating junk to consume that much, means lots of weight gain including lots of fat.

Clean bulk certainly doesn't mean "eat as much as I want, so long as it's clean food". Also, a man at >20% bf shouldn't be bulking at all imo.

iggy93

cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »

OP please can you summarise ur training history over the years you have gained that weight? There are some very knowledgeable people on this thread that can give general advice. I agree very much with the others that your idea of bulking to add so much weight in a very short period will not help your long term goal.

When I started at 21 I was weighing around 110 lbs. It took me 7 years to hit my highest weight of 162. At first I was hitting the gym 3 days a week, with full body workouts. Then I transitioned to 4 days with an upper/lower body split. I stuck with this split for years, until recently I'm going 5 days now. Still playing around with my new workout schedule, but it is as follows:
Mon: Chest & triceps
Tues: back & biceps
Wed: legs
Thurs: rest
Fri: upper body
Sat: lower body
Sun: rest

Due to food allergies and other dietary restrictions, I have to tailor my diet to a pescatarian diet.

iggy93

This is me at 157, shortly after this I reached 162 my all time high, but have been unable to reach that weight again


I've been weighing between 148-155 lbs for around a year now and I am frustrated. So I am determined to do whatever it takes to break through this stalemate. If I have to gain some fat to get there I'm fine with that, I will deal with the fat later. But I don't want to be stuck at 155 any longer. I will perhaps drop a couple hundred calories, but my plan is to continue to eat at a slight surplus and lift heavy