If you eat too much while lifting heavy...

HeidiMightyRawr

If you consistently eat over your maintenance while you have a good strength training routine, involving heavy lifting, you could say that yes you will "bulk up"

However, it happens over a long period of time, fat AND muscle. It won't happen overnight, you will see your body changing and can make adjustments if you so wish. Most bulk actually comes from fat.

Personal experience, I did a purposeful bulk from July to December last year. I gained 16lbs and ended up back at my MFP starting weight, but t-shirts that were tight around the arms/shoulders were now loose, and I did more heavy lifting than ever before!! My bf was also 5% less! (I ate 2800 NET calories each day while bulking) Now I'm focusing on cutting, losing fat while maintaining muscle.

Diet is key, if you don't watch what you eat while lifting, and end up eating in a surplus, you will gain weight.

gmjminsz

@ellivort

1. The OP is not lifting heavy and certainly not in relation to the calories consumed. It's not constructive to write 'Good job keep it up champ' to everyone as that simply lowers people's goals. For example, I've stated some weights that girls can achieve and could be a realistic goal for the OP over the long-term.

As for arrogance, that is simply irrelevant. Your lifts to body weight ratio determines if you're lifting heavy, e.g. Bench - 1.5 x body weight; squats 2 x BW; deads 3 x BW. These are fairly standard goals.

2. Stronglifts - good call. Solid programme, but IMO it's push orientated and, frankly, a bit boring. The routine I've suggested includes an upper body push and pull, and a lower body push and pull with some ISOs. Nevertheless, stronglifts is solid.

3. Good point about diet and nice mention of TDEE - never heard of that so just googled it.

@OP - good luck.

tigersword

First of all, ignore the arrogant who are saying you aren't lifting heavy because you aren't doing their notion of heavy. Heavy is different for every person.

There's no arrogance in this thread. Lifting 15 reps per set is not heavy. Lifting 5-8 reps per set is heavy.

Elizabeth_C34

If you consistently eat over your maintenance while you have a good strength training routine, involving heavy lifting, you could say that yes you will "bulk up"

However, it happens over a long period of time, fat AND muscle. It won't happen overnight, you will see your body changing and can make adjustments if you so wish. Most bulk actually comes from fat.

Personal experience, I did a purposeful bulk from July to December last year. I gained 16lbs and ended up back at my MFP starting weight, but t-shirts that were tight around the arms/shoulders were now loose, and I did more heavy lifting than ever before!! My bf was also 5% less! (I ate 2800 NET calories each day while bulking) Now I'm focusing on cutting, losing fat while maintaining muscle.

Diet is key, if you don't watch what you eat while lifting, and end up eating in a surplus, you will gain weight.

This is dead on.

If you are binging on food, it might be time to do some serious adjustment to your diet and what you eat. Focus on this as a goal.

Start including more protein, less carbs, and more fiber. This won't affect how fast you lose but it will help keep you feeling fuller and more satisfied during the day.

Elizabeth_C34

First of all, ignore the arrogant who are saying you aren't lifting heavy because you aren't doing their notion of heavy. Heavy is different for every person.

There's no arrogance in this thread. Lifting 15 reps per set is not heavy. Lifting 5-8 reps per set is heavy.

This too.

15 reps is endurance training. Going up on the weight (no matter where you are) so that you can only do 5-8 reps to failure is the definition of lifting heavy.

Rae6503

I ate about 3000 calories while lifting heavy for 4 months. I gained 10lbs, probably 5 fat, 5 muscles. My before and afters are in my profile picture. I would not consider myself "bulky".

victoria4321

First of all, ignore the arrogant who are saying you aren't lifting heavy because you aren't doing their notion of heavy. Heavy is different for every person.

There's no arrogance in this thread. Lifting 15 reps per set is not heavy. Lifting 5-8 reps per set is heavy.

This too.

15 reps is endurance training. Going up on the weight (no matter where you are) so that you can only do 5-8 reps to failure is the definition of lifting heavy.

Clearly some people read what they want to see and not the whole thread. I said I plan to lift heavier and I'm doing higher reps so I can have good form first. I was asking the initial question not in relation to myself right now but what could possibly happen in the future. I wanted to hear from people with experience lifting. Someone just asked what my current routine was so I shared that answer.

victoria4321

I ate about 3000 calories while lifting heavy for 4 months. I gained 10lbs, probably 5 fat, 5 muscles. My before and afters are in my profile picture. I would not consider myself "bulky".

You look great btw! This is all I was curious about. I wanted to hear from someone who's actually done it and eats food.

Elizabeth_C34

First of all, ignore the arrogant who are saying you aren't lifting heavy because you aren't doing their notion of heavy. Heavy is different for every person.

There's no arrogance in this thread. Lifting 15 reps per set is not heavy. Lifting 5-8 reps per set is heavy.

This too.

15 reps is endurance training. Going up on the weight (no matter where you are) so that you can only do 5-8 reps to failure is the definition of lifting heavy.

Clearly some people read what they want to see and not the whole thread. I said I plan to lift heavier and I'm doing higher reps so I can have good form first. I was asking the initial question not in relation to myself right now but what could possibly happen in the future. I wanted to hear from people with experience lifting. Someone just asked what my current routine was so I shared that answer.

Working on your form with lighter weight is the best thing you can do when starting lifting so, it's a good thing. It's just not really "lifting heavy" by definition is all. If you want, you can changup your last sets so that it's a heavy lift set. So 2 sets at higher reps/lower weight, then do one set at 5-8 reps with heavier weights. That might be worth doing so you can continue to work on your form at the higher weights. Form tends to break down quite a bit the closer you get to your max lifts.

I'm not sure why you are so defensive, but I really don't see anyone attacking you here.

Oh, and I lift heavy 3x per week. Have for a long time now.

gmjminsz

@OP - if you're interested reading about big calories + lifters, go on to tnation.com and site search Dave Tate and Jim Wendler. Both power lifters with years of experience. Really interesting articles, and both have influenced my attitude to lifting.

For strength gains, Wendler's 5/3/1 is the best protocol I've done. It's an intermediate routine and simple. Very good strength gains, but you don't necessarily get massive if you don't want to.

Sofithomas

The topic title shouldn't be 'if you eat too much while lifting heavy', it should be 'if you eat too much'...in GENERAL, because regardless, if your caloried consumption is higher than your expenditure you WILL gain whether you are lifting heavy or running marathons!

As for calorie consumption, I average around 1700-2000 whilst lifting and have lost about 3 pounds this past month, so it toally depends on your calorie intake (I'm tall so I need a wee bit more methinks), but to 'bulk' you simply need to eat more than your TDEE..is what I believe anyway...

Mompanda4

Bump

gmjminsz

To clarify the rep range issue:

1. 13+ endurance (fitness and endurance)
2. 8-12 hypertrophy (size)
3. 4-6 strength (strength + some size gains)
4. 1-3 power lifters (max strength)

All good

victoria4321

First of all, ignore the arrogant who are saying you aren't lifting heavy because you aren't doing their notion of heavy. Heavy is different for every person.

There's no arrogance in this thread. Lifting 15 reps per set is not heavy. Lifting 5-8 reps per set is heavy.

This too.

15 reps is endurance training. Going up on the weight (no matter where you are) so that you can only do 5-8 reps to failure is the definition of lifting heavy.

Clearly some people read what they want to see and not the whole thread. I said I plan to lift heavier and I'm doing higher reps so I can have good form first. I was asking the initial question not in relation to myself right now but what could possibly happen in the future. I wanted to hear from people with experience lifting. Someone just asked what my current routine was so I shared that answer.

Working on your form with lighter weight is the best thing you can do when starting lifting so, it's a good thing. It's just not really "lifting heavy" by definition is all. If you want, you can changup your last sets so that it's a heavy lift set. So 2 sets at higher reps/lower weight, then do one set at 5-8 reps with heavier weights. That might be worth doing so you can continue to work on your form at the higher weights. Form tends to break down quite a bit the closer you get to your max lifts.

I'm not sure why you are so defensive, but I really don't see anyone attacking you here.

Oh, and I lift heavy 3x per week. Have for a long time now.

That's a good idea so I might try that actually. Doing my last set as a heavy one.

Not sure where you find defensive, but I just recall correcting any assumptions prior people have made. I just asked about lifting heavy and I got a lot of "you don't lift heavy!" but I never said I did, I just said I plan to eventually. I just like to have information about things before doing it. I'd rather learn something before than have to correct it when it's wrong that's all. Thanks to everyone who did answer the question though

Elizabeth_C34

First of all, ignore the arrogant who are saying you aren't lifting heavy because you aren't doing their notion of heavy. Heavy is different for every person.

There's no arrogance in this thread. Lifting 15 reps per set is not heavy. Lifting 5-8 reps per set is heavy.

This too.

15 reps is endurance training. Going up on the weight (no matter where you are) so that you can only do 5-8 reps to failure is the definition of lifting heavy.

Clearly some people read what they want to see and not the whole thread. I said I plan to lift heavier and I'm doing higher reps so I can have good form first. I was asking the initial question not in relation to myself right now but what could possibly happen in the future. I wanted to hear from people with experience lifting. Someone just asked what my current routine was so I shared that answer.

Working on your form with lighter weight is the best thing you can do when starting lifting so, it's a good thing. It's just not really "lifting heavy" by definition is all. If you want, you can changup your last sets so that it's a heavy lift set. So 2 sets at higher reps/lower weight, then do one set at 5-8 reps with heavier weights. That might be worth doing so you can continue to work on your form at the higher weights. Form tends to break down quite a bit the closer you get to your max lifts.

I'm not sure why you are so defensive, but I really don't see anyone attacking you here.

Oh, and I lift heavy 3x per week. Have for a long time now.

That's a good idea so I might try that actually. Doing my last set as a heavy one.

Not sure where you find defensive, but I just recall correcting any assumptions prior people have made. I just asked about lifting heavy and I got a lot of "you don't lift heavy!" but I never said I did, I just said I plan to eventually. I just like to have information about things before doing it. I'd rather learn something before than have to correct it when it's wrong that's all. Thanks to everyone who did answer the question though

Sorry if I misunderstood your tone. Certainly didn't mean to.

I'm glad you got some help though.