Question about gaining/bulking

Are you 6'4"? 3400 seems highish. If you're just starting SL, I recommend you continue to eat maintenance for a while. There's a bit of a ramp up before you're doing enough work to justify extra calories that won't turn into fat.

When it is time to eat at a surplus, I'd go with 250-300 everyday. Anything more and you're at risk for putting on too much extra bulk

I'm 6' @ 250lbs at the moment. Alright, I will stay at maintenance in the time being, but how long would you think I would start to add in the surplus, 1-2 months?

Are you lean enough to be bulking? If you're just getting into fitness/diet you have two options, look like dyelbro for a while or look like a fatass for a while. If you already have a little muscle I'd go the dyelbro path and cut while lifting. If you're just starting lifting you can still gain a fair amount of muscle while cutting.

keep it simple. eat maintenance, and start lifting. evaluate after a couple of months and figure out what you want to do with your calories from there. since nothing you decide today is permanent, there's really no reason you have to decide today.

Are you lean enough to be bulking? If you're just getting into fitness/diet you have two options, look like dyelbro for a while or look like a fatass for a while. If you already have a little muscle I'd go the dyelbro path and cut while lifting. If you're just starting lifting you can still gain a fair amount of muscle while cutting.

Well I was/am going to be doing some HIIT cardio on my off days as well.

I do see where you are coming from about being a 'fatass' (nice way to put it, I guess. heh). So should I stay TDEE - 20% to cut some of the BF off while still lifting? or where should I be under TDEE for what I am wanting to do?

Thank you guys & lady for the feedback too

I will be lifting Mon-Wed-Fri

I'm doing the same thing! 5'9 CW 175 BF% 13.8...I eat TDEE less 500 cal until I hit 165 or 11%BF (which ever comes first) Then Bulking not to go above 15%BF and a cut back to 11 - 12%. I highly recommend getting your BF% down before bulking. Otherwise your lean cut will take FOREVER!

Get to the point where you can at least see the first two set of abs...and that's a minimum time to bulk. Just as in losing weight...It takes time. I started SL 5x5 last week, but already did 8 weeks of P90X to improve my strength.

Patience and stick to it!

For a majority of people bulking and cutting doesn't work. You eat X amount of calories over maintenance and gain both fat and muscle. Then you X amount less than maintenance and loose the fat but also some of the muscle so you end up with about 2 LBS of more muscle at the end.

Don't you think that if this were the case, competition level bodybuilders wouldn't bulk/cut, they'd recomp?

Disagree with you on the above. Done correctly it's effective.

For a majority of people bulking and cutting doesn't work. You eat X amount of calories over maintenance and gain both fat and muscle. Then you X amount less than maintenance and loose the fat but also some of the muscle so you end up with about 2 LBS of more muscle at the end.

Don't you think that if this were the case, competition level bodybuilders wouldn't bulk/cut, they'd recomp?

Disagree with you on the above. Done correctly it's effective.

A lot of people don't do it correctly or at least that's what I read in other forums. and competitive bodybuilders do have the aid of "supplements"

OP: what are your goals. I am not sure if that has been asked yet, however from your ticker, you have quite a bit of weight to lose. If you are new to lifting, take advantage of the newbie/overweight gains and still eat at a deficit to get your BF% down. Also, being more experienced with lifting will make the gains more effective when you do bulk (if you so choose).

Most of what I read said to eat a little less on your non-workout days.

This method is only used to create a deficit. Rest/Day training macros offer NO advantage over having a straight set of macros 7 days a week.

Are you lean enough to be bulking? If you're just getting into fitness/diet you have two options, look like dyelbro for a while or look like a fatass for a while. If you already have a little muscle I'd go the dyelbro path and cut while lifting. If you're just starting lifting you can still gain a fair amount of muscle while cutting.

Well I was/am going to be doing some HIIT cardio on my off days as well.

I do see where you are coming from about being a 'fatass' (nice way to put it, I guess. heh). So should I stay TDEE - 20% to cut some of the BF off while still lifting? or where should I be under TDEE for what I am wanting to do?

Thank you guys & lady for the feedback too

I will be lifting Mon-Wed-Fri

Having a cut of about 20% off TDEE makes the most sense to me. Reassess when you get more experienced with lifting and to a lower BF%. Make sure your get your macros sorted out as well.

For a majority of people bulking and cutting doesn't work. You eat X amount of calories over maintenance and gain both fat and muscle. Then you X amount less than maintenance and loose the fat but also some of the muscle so you end up with about 2 LBS of more muscle at the end.

What are you talking about?

Here are the problems:

1. They diet incorrectly during prep or just getting lean.
2. They reach their goal and decide to buik. So they pile on the calories. Most don't give their metabolism enough time to catch to up, so they pile on the weight.
3. They don't allow themselves time to stay in a caloric surplus. You're not going to put on any muscle with a "winter" bulk. I laugh when people say they adding mass during winter. If you're a natural, look at a year + of being in a surplus. You can do mini-cuts along the way, if your bodyfat levels get too high. That being said, if done correctly you don't even have to worry about mini-cuts.

Maybe what I have read from other sources could be wrong or a lot of people don't know how to bulk and cut correctly. I do believe it's also psychological at least for me. I eat at a surplus (not much over) but then I begin to look a little smooth and my waist goes up 1 to 1.5" and then I cut back the cals. I end up looking more defined but then I want to gain again.

For a majority of people bulking and cutting doesn't work. You eat X amount of calories over maintenance and gain both fat and muscle. Then you X amount less than maintenance and loose the fat but also some of the muscle so you end up with about 2 LBS of more muscle at the end.

What are you talking about?

Here are the problems:

1. They diet incorrectly during prep or just getting lean.
2. They reach their goal and decide to buik. So they pile on the calories. Most don't give their metabolism enough time to catch to up, so they pile on the weight.
3. They don't allow themselves time to stay in a caloric surplus. You're not going to put on any muscle with a "winter" bulk. I laugh when people say they adding mass during winter. If you're a natural, look at a year + of being in a surplus. You can do mini-cuts along the way, if your bodyfat levels get too high. That being said, if done correctly you don't even have to worry about mini-cuts.

Maybe what I have read from other sources could be wrong or a lot of people don't know how to bulk and cut correctly. I do believe it's also psychological at least for me. I eat at a surplus (not much over) but then I begin to look a little smooth and my waist goes up 1 to 1.5" and then I cut back the cals. I end up looking more defined but then I want to gain again.

If you're talking about training day/rest day, then yes it purely psychological. Many believe they are going to get fat, if they consume more on a "rest" day. It's doesn't work like that.

Regarding caloric intake. The only one that will truly know is the OP. To say a particular caloric intake is too etc, is reaching. Especially when the guy is 4 inches taller than me and weighs 50 pounds or more. I consume around 3700-4000 calories per day and still have issues with putting on a steady increase in weight.

Mind you my only activity is the gym.

Just realized he is 6ft. Yeah, bro drop that bodyfat down first.

Dear OP,

RUN! Go start lifting and don't come back to your thread. We're about to turn this into a bunch of theoretical gobbley gook that has very little relevance for you, a novice lifter that still has a fair amount of weight to lose. Now excuse us while the experienced people hash this out until we can all agree on the One True Way.

All the info you need from this thread is contained below.

It's very likely that at 6' and 250 you should be eating in a caloric deficit.

^^^^This! You'll get some newbie gains but right now, your focus should be on lifting and losing. At 6' and 250 you have plenty to lose before considering a bulk.

As far as the effectiveness of bulk/cut cycles, they work quite well and are not really very complicated. Eat a slight surplus, gain about 50/50 muscle/ fat. Eat at a slight deficit, lose about 80%+ fat and a little muscle. Gain 15 lbs on a bulk, keep 10 to 12 in muscle. No sure where the poster who's saying they are not effective is getting the idea they don't work but there are many here including Dave, Sidesteel, Fitnessocial, Sara and myself who have done them this way with great results. Stil gotta watch your cals and your macros and not just eat like a maniac as Fitnessocial said.

It's very likely that at 6' and 250 you should be eating in a caloric deficit.

I agree with this. And to answer your question: eat the same on all days. Don't stress too much about a 45 calorie difference, though.

Are you 6'4"? 3400 seems highish.

I'm 5'8" and my maintenance is 3100. Maintenance depends on level of activity as well as weight/height.

everybody has a different metabolism. im 42, 5 11", 200lbs, and i maintain at 2300 calories. u have to figure it out mostly thru trial and error.