Bulk review

heartyty

Hey guys, new user to the app and new to bulking. I'm 18 and started at about 167 pounds on Febuary 16th with an end goal of
180 by May 16th. I haven't weighed myself since my start but I'd have to assume I'm at about 169-170. I try to hit at least 3000 clean calories a day with a diet structure of about 50% carb, 30% fat, 20% protein.

The greatest problem I'm having is getting enough carbs. I'm usually 100 carbs, give or take, under my daily goal of 375 carbs. Is there any recommended foods that are easy enough to prepare daily to get these extra carbs in? Should I up my calories? Please feel free to take a look at my calories and let me know what you think.

tquill

I think your calories might be a bit too high. I'm not sure how tall you are, but I think that will lead to excess fat gain. I'm no expert, but when I bulk, I am for a 5-10% surplus in calories.

steve0820

You're young and growing still, I wouldn't stress too much about it.

I would up your protein, add some ice cream, and try not to worry about doing a "clean" bulk. I'm 5"9, 175#, and if I don't hit at least 3500 cals/day or more, the scale ain't moving.

Eat , lift big and eat some more!!

Sarauk2sf

You're young and growing still, I wouldn't stress too much about it.

I would up your protein, add some ice cream, and try not to worry about doing a "clean" bulk. I'm 5"9, 175#, and if I don't hit at least 3500 cals/day or more, the scale ain't moving.

Eat , lift big and eat some more!!

^^what he said, especially about the ice cream!

helpfit101

Fast carbs? How about breakfast cereal, bananas, oatmeal, croissants.

cwsreddy

3000 is definitely not too much for an 18 year old. You'll probably need even more than that. Shooting for primarily clean stuff is great, but when it comes down to it if you're bulking it's about calories. So on top of the clean stuff, the ice cream or whatever is fine.

DopeItUp

Pop-tarts have been my go-to to up carb content. White potatoes are great too. Throw two in with each meal. Two regular potatoes is probably 100g of carbs on average and little else. I'll make oatmeal with maple syrup or honey too. Throw in butter, heavy cream or peanut butter for some added fats if you need them. A big bowl of oatmeal can be an easy 1000 calories, 75% of which are carbs (almost 200g per bowl). Use heavier breads/wraps when making meals. Panini bread is especially heavy, it can be 250-300 calories or more for two slices (another 50g of carbs).

Don't forget sugary drinks, which are pure carbs. I drink two servings of gatorade per gym session, there's another 40-50g of carbs that won't fill you up and will help fuel your workout at the same time.

jayche

McDonalds milkshakes.

MarioLozano16

Fruit has lots of carbs

waldo56

Fruit has lots of carbs

But its heavy on fructose, which is the least valuable carb, due to it having little to no insulin response and being metabolized mostly in the liver instead of contributing to muscle glycogen.

Starches and lactose/glucose/maltose sugar sources are the best carb sources. Sources heavy on the fructose (fruit, honey, HFCS) aren't as good. Sucrose (table sugar) is so-so due to being 50-50 glucose-fructose

TavistockToad

you probably need to weigh yourself to see how much you have gained to know if you are actually in a surplus... i would also add more protein.

SunofaBeach14

McDonalds milkshakes.

McDonalds is junk.



Wendy's is where it's at.

minuz5

You're young and growing still, I wouldn't stress too much about it.

I would up your protein, add some ice cream, and try not to worry about doing a "clean" bulk. I'm 5"9, 175#, and if I don't hit at least 3500 cals/day or more, the scale ain't moving.

Eat , lift big and eat some more!!

interesting. I am 6'4 and eating almost the same amount + burned cal from cardio. how much do you gain a week?

NRBreit

I am the same weight as you and have done 2 bulks. I went from 165 to 180 in 15 weeks eating 3,000 cals per day. Gains were very slow in the high-170's, so I upped to 3,200 cals the last few weeks. I found it very hard to eat a really clean 3,000+ cals. For my second bulk (170-186) I followed IIFYM with the same macros as before. I ate ice cream almost every day. It's MUCH easier if you dirty up the cals a bit.

NRBreit

Also, if you are eating enough, you would likely gain an initial 4-5 pounds in the first week or 2 due to all the extra carbs filling glycogen stores. If you didn't see a weight spike, you may want to take a look at your tracking/calorie levels.

grantdumas7

Just like protein powders there are carb powders. www.truenutrition.com has various carb powders you can try. You can even mix different ones.

FromHereOnOut

You can make delicious bean soups, lentils, bean salads ahead of time and just re-heat (except salad). Has the bonus of providing protein too. I live in Greece and bean soup (fasolada) and lentils (fakes) are staples. They are super easy to make, very few ingredients that keep well (dry beans, carrots, maybe tomato paste, maybe onion), there should be plenty of recipes online, and they are very tasty with many different modifications (try Indian style lentils too; or add a little vinegar & cheese like we do in Greece).

But if it is fast carbs you are after--fruit juice.

JoRocka

You're young and growing still, I wouldn't stress too much about it.

I would up your protein, add some ice cream, and try not to worry about doing a "clean" bulk. I'm 5"9, 175#, and if I don't hit at least 3500 cals/day or more, the scale ain't moving.

Eat , lift big and eat some more!!

what this guy said.

heartyty

A little more info for those viewing my case; I'm training on a 5x5 program not bodybuilding at the moment. I started weight lifting around September and since then moved from about 150 - 155 lbs to 165 lbs without tracking macros. I weighed myself yesterday and am 170lbs but I'll wait until I visit a gym with an accurate scale as my home scale often under weighs.

I chose to eat "cleanly" as the greatest source of my calories due to a holistic viewpoint not whether or not so I can hit max gainzz. I'm not opposed to eating "dirty" foods on occasion (sometimes daily) but I'm not going to throw a bunch of processed foods into my diet.

What do you think my adjusted macro intake should be?

EDIT: btw thanks for the helpful replies this quick, community seems to be very legit. This is the first fitness fourm I've joined and I think I'll stick around.

NRBreit

I chose to eat "cleanly" as the greatest source of my calories due to a holistic viewpoint not whether or not so I can hit max gainzz. I'm not opposed to eating "dirty" foods on occasion (sometimes daily) but I'm not going to throw a bunch of processed foods into my diet.

What do you think my adjusted macro intake should be?

EDIT: btw thanks for the helpful replies this quick, community seems to be very legit. This is the first fitness fourm I've joined and I think I'll stick around.

At your weight, my bulking macros were 180g protein, 300g carbs, 120g fat for 3,000 cals. You can adjust the carbs and fats up/down a bit based on what makes you feel the best and gives you the best gym performance. Nothing wrong with eating clean for sure. It's just physically hard to eat 3,000 clean calories per day consistently due to the volume of food.

OverDoIt

wow