Bulking & cutting

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Girl_Bomb
Girl_Bomb Posts: 195
in Fitness and Exercise
So forgive me if I'm not as knowledgable about bulking and cutting at this point but I'm trying to learn & the Internet is not giving me and answers I'm looking for so,

For the past 6-8 months I have been lifting heavy weight which has included regular gym visits and crossfit for the past 3 months (of course my calorie intake was around 2000, I eat paleo so high fat high protein) iv gained 20 lbs scale wise I can still fit into all my clothes, but other then slightly in my legs I can barely see any muscle definition as my body fat is still high (I'm going to go check it in a half hour today when I get to the gym) I know I have gained muscle as my strength has doubled and even tripled in some places.

So my question is, does this sound like a bulk? I never planned on doing one but iv heard and read about them. Should I now research and start a cut considering iv gained a considerable amount of muscle?

I wanna see my muscles!! I wanna see all my hard work!!

Replies

  • Dlacenere
    Dlacenere Posts: 198 Member
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    Have you figured out what your TDEE is to maintain? If 2000 is higher than that, hence a calorie surplus, then you would in fact be in a bulk - you technically need to be above your maintenance calories to bulk, otherwise you would be recompositioning. If you look up a TDEE calculator, you can get an idea of what your maintenance calories would be, eat at a surplus of that to bulk and at a cut of that to lose.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
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    i love you. it is refreshing to finally see a post about a gril who wants more muscle, and isn't afraid to be bulky and lift heavy.

    yes, that sounds like it may have been a bulk, but i'm a noob, so I'll let others step in.
  • projectbam
    projectbam Posts: 55
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    hey .. not that clued up on the whole process myself altho i am attempting a lean bulk and then a cut (so would be interested in the feedback here also) .. but i guess provided you are eating OVER your TDEE, lifting like a Boss and gaining weight .. both muscle and fat .. then yeah this would be a bulk. For example for me i've figured out that a Bulk would be 3161 cals/ maintenance for me would be 2874 cals and a cut would be something like 2299 cals.

    I'm targeting the higher of these right now (so 3161 cals per day) but will soon drop to my maintenance for a couple of weeks and then further to my cut for maybe 6 weeks to see what happens.
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
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    Strength gain is not indicative of muscle gain..... you could have tripled your lifts in a calorie deficit (depending on what they were like at the start). It's mostly neuro-muscular adaption. You learn to activate more of your muscle fibres when doing a movement than you previously could. In this regard strength is a bit like a skill.....

    ....having said all that, a muscle can only get so strong at a certain size and then you'll need to make it bigger to get more strength gains. If you've been eating over your TDEE, you'll have most likely put on some muscle, but you don't give your stats and whether 2000 a day is over your TDEE or not. To truly bulk, you'll need to find your TDEE and make sure you are eating more than it. Too much more than your TDEE and you'll gain more fat along with the muscle. Too close and you'll gain so slowly that it might take forever. It's something you have to play with and see how you get on. Everybody messes it up a bit to start with - remember online TDEE calculators are best-guess estimates, you'll have to experiment to zone in on your actual TDEE.

    If you want to see muscles you may have already built, then you'll have to do a cut to lower your bf% and reveal them. Then you can decide after that if you want to maintain, slow bulk or dirty bulk. At the end of the day, only you can judge what's best for you - I wish you luck!
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    So forgive me if I'm not as knowledgable about bulking and cutting at this point but I'm trying to learn & the Internet is not giving me and answers I'm looking for so,

    For the past 6-8 months I have been lifting heavy weight which has included regular gym visits and crossfit for the past 3 months (of course my calorie intake was around 2000, I eat paleo so high fat high protein) iv gained 20 lbs scale wise I can still fit into all my clothes, but other then slightly in my legs I can barely see any muscle definition as my body fat is still high (I'm going to go check it in a half hour today when I get to the gym) I know I have gained muscle as my strength has doubled and even tripled in some places.

    So my question is, does this sound like a bulk? I never planned on doing one but iv heard and read about them. Should I now research and start a cut considering iv gained a considerable amount of muscle?

    I wanna see my muscles!! I wanna see all my hard work!!

    Eat at a deficit, consume adequate protein and continue lifting, profit
  • kuntry_navy
    kuntry_navy Posts: 677 Member
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    be sure to get adequate rest while bulking. overtraining can be a mass killer
  • HelloDan
    HelloDan Posts: 712 Member
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    Even for a guy, to gain 20lbs of muscle in 6-8 months would be very hard, so it's likely you've gained a mixture of fat and muscle. Without getting into semantics, effectively a bulk is gaining mass, it would usually be intentional, but effectively you have been bulking.

    If you want to see muscle definition, you're going to have to cut, so that you lose some of the layer of fat that is covering the muscle, and so obscuring its definition.

    What to do next is up to you, and what you want to achieve.
  • Girl_Bomb
    Girl_Bomb Posts: 195
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    Well with all this being said my arms are up an inch when flexing and my butt is definetly an *kitten* now so I went up a pants size as my squat booty didn't quite fit in all my low rise. My legs also went up an inch (I don't have any hips and had no butt befor) and my chest and waist went down an inch and in the past year and a half my calves went down 3 inches can barely grab skin on those puppies.

    I have calculated my TDEE i just did it again and apparently it's gone up to bulk at 2600 and maintain at 2400 with a BMR of 1560, so I guess I wasn't eating quite enough but being paleo my diet is full of monounsaturated fats such as cocnut oil & avocado and high proteins like steak and beef, I also juice and drink lemon/cranberry/ecanasia every morning so my diet has adequate nutrition.

    Befor I started lifting heavy I did do weights just not as much as well as kickboxing, it's been almost 3 years since I decided it was time for a change, even with the 20lb gain I'm still 30lbs below where I used to be
  • HelloDan
    HelloDan Posts: 712 Member
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    Just 1 thing to clear up - you said you were eating around 2000. So either you were eating a bit more, or your maintenance is lower than 2400, as you have gained weight, so you must have been eating over maintenance one way or another.

    Calculating requirements is useful, but then you will have to adjust based on real world outcomes, as it's unlikely the calculation will be spot on right off the bat.
  • NovemberJune
    NovemberJune Posts: 2,525 Member
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    Just 1 thing to clear up - you said you were eating around 2000. So either you were eating a bit more, or your maintenance is lower than 2400, as you have gained weight, so you must have been eating over maintenance one way or another.

    Calculating requirements is useful, but then you will have to adjust based on real world outcomes, as it's unlikely the calculation will be spot on right off the bat.

    I agree. If you were gaining on 2000, your maintenance isn't 2400, it's lower than 2000. If you are interested in cutting now, I'd start by lowering by a couple hundred, and see what happens after a couple of weeks. If your weight drops slowly, then you're on the right track. If it drops quickly, you might need to go back up a bit. If it stays the same, go a bit lower and wait a couple more weeks. Keep in mind that weight fluctuates a lot day to day so watch the trend. Good luck and congrats on your gains! :smile:

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