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MyFitnessPal Community

how to explain a bulk to someone..

JakeBrownVB

after losing 50 pounds and starting a bulk I still keep getting asked "hows the weight loss going".. when I tell them I am bulking or when they see me eating like a horse, noone seems to understand and just laugh and say they knew I wouldnt keep the healthy eating up!!

I tell them that I am looking to build muscle and that can only be done in a calorie surplus but I always get a sarcastic response like "oh is that your excuse for giving up" or they say stuff like "all that hard work and your gonna undo it all".

next person who says it to meh is gone get a smack in de gobber nom saying?

Replies

fatfudgery

Marks281172

Did you resistance train while you were losing weight?

If your end goal is to be muscular im sure you did but if not I would eat your TDEE and hit a beginner barbell program like stronglifts 5x5 before going in to bulk/cut cycles.

Meg_78

There seems to be a lot of hate and distrust directed towards people who deliberately eat to gain...try being the <100 lb girl struggling to gain on 2400...."gee I WISH I had your PROBLEM "was the most common response ...dripping in sarcasm ...

It's probably harder for people to understand when you have been intentionally losing ...so honestly I wouldn't even bother to explain ....if they ask about your weight loss don't correct them...just say "fine ...still ongoing"...if they comment on your food (though I can't imagine why people would be so rude) simply say you're weight lifting and need the energy now....

Ignoring and not over explaining seem to work best for me....unless you are in it...intentional weight gain doesn't make sense to most ...and they don't really care to understand ...esp I'd they are on their own weight loss journey.

Jealousy is a glinty eyed bit¢h...

JakeBrownVB

well put meg!

i agree, it just seems alien to most that you are intentionally gaining weight and yeah to be honest a lot of people have been point blank rude to me about it.

@marks, been doing ICF 5x5 for a long time now. squatting 1.5x my body weight and deadlifting 2x my body weight. thanks for the advice but I am around about novice status now rather than begginner

neandermagnon

Did you resistance train while you were losing weight?

If your end goal is to be muscular im sure you did but if not I would eat your TDEE and hit a beginner barbell program like stronglifts 5x5 before going in to bulk/cut cycles.

I went straight into stronglifts 5x5 while eating to gain weight (i.e. over TDEE) - before that I'd been maintaning for a while and before that I was losing fat (i.e. going from obese to a healthy body fat percentage) - while I was doing weights all this time, I was doing a bunch of stuff wrong, mainly that I was using too light weights, so wasn't getting the benefit of it. I've gained 7lb so far, and my body fat percentage has stayed the same and I fit into the same clothes I did at the start. I'm female so a 7lb gain of mostly lean weight is really good progress... a young man should be able to gain quite a bit more than that with the right diet.

If someone is at a healthy body fat percentage, or is underweight, and their aim is to gain muscle/strength, there's absolutely no reason why they should stick to eating at TDEE while doing a beginner programme like Stronglifts. They will see much better results eating at a surplus while doing the programme, if the goal is gaining mass and/or strength. If someone is obese and their goal is to lose fat, then they should eat at a deficit while doing that. If they're someone who wants to gain strength but doesn't want to "bulk up" then eating at TDEE would be best. Bulking and cutting are not only for intermediate or advanced.... anyone who wants to change their body composition needs to do them. Bulking is only inadvisable for people who are currently overfat or obese (according to body fat percentage).

I definitely agree re that particular programme or a similar one like starting strength, but I totally disagree re eating at TDEE while doing it if the goal is to gain strength and mass. It's counter-productive to that goal to restrict yourself to eating TDEE as the time when you can make the most muscle mass and strength gains is when you're a beginner.

JakeBrownVB

lol why does everyone think anyone making a thread is a beginner, been doing this shiz over a year. (maybe I should update my avi lol)

TavistockToad

people are stupid. the end.

Marks281172

When I was competing I did run cut/bulk cycles to try and stay at weight (around 110kg), but once I broke into the 125kg category I just did one long bulk

I was always of the opinion that you had to eat a surplus to gain strength hence why I got to 135kg BW and did see a massive drop in strength when I started eating less to lose the weight once I 'retired' from PL. My raw bench press in particular went from 170kg @ 135kg to 90kg at 105kg BW, so not even 1x bodyweight (pathetic I know).

I panic'ed and started eating again as id rather be chubby and reasonably strong than thin and weak, so piled some weight back on and did get my lifts back up.

Once I got my head straight and decided I really had to loose the excess weight or going into my 40s it would be harder and harder to lose but decided to play the long game and try to eat around TDEE and create a small deficit with exercise.

I dropped PL training (Heavy day/Speed day) and moved to a 5/5/3/3/1/1 pattern of bench/squat/press/Row/Deadlift with dips/chins for assistance work 3 days a week and even in a slight deficit im gaining strength and according to my scales (not accurate I know) im increasing muscle mass.

Granted I still have excess bodyfat that may be helping but my point in all this rambling is unless you are a competing bodybulding or powerlifter.. the whole bulk/cut cycle mentality may not be ideal or even neccesarry.

I never hit a 1.5x bodyweight raw bench press when bulking/cutting .. im at 106kg BW and 145kg on my bench at the moment so 1.5x is close.

Just offering a different perspective on bulking based on experience

neandermagnon

marks:

bulking = trying to gain lean mass and strength while not gaining too much fat

cutting = trying to lose fat while maintaning the current lean body mass

this is body recomposition, if you want to gain weight or lose weight, you have to do that. It's not a mentality - it's simply what you need to do to gain or lose weight the healthy way. Everyone who goes on a diet is trying to cut... they might not call it that, they might not go about it the right way, but that's what it is. And anyone who wants to gain healthy weight (i.e lean mass, not so much fat) needs to go on a bulk... again, they might not call it that, they might not go about it the right way, but it's what it is.

You can't say that bulking and cutting is only for bodybuilders/powerlifters... it's what anyone has to do for body composition changes. People with a too high body fat percentage who are new to lifting may be able to make lean mass gains while losing fat, but they're the exception and those gains only happen for a short time as beginners. For everyone else, to gain mass, you need to eat at a surplus. You can gain *strength* eating at a deficit, due to neuromuscular adaptation, but the gains will not be as good as for someone who's eating at a surplus. If the goal is to gain *mass* you need to go on a bulk, and the only people it's inadvisable for are those who already have a too high body fat percentage.

ETA: if you assumed that the OP had an obese bodyfat percentage and was a beginner... the advice you gave would have been fine, but he's not obese or a beginner.

Marks281172

Ill PM you as it sounds like we could have a decent discussion

neandermagnon

also to add (to marks) - a properly planned bulk phase should not result in piling on loads of fat, just as a properly planned cut phase shouldn't result in massive losses of strength. Personally, I have no intention of ever cutting to the point that I lose strength. I'm only considering a cut if my bf% gets to around 28% (i.e. right at the top of the healthy range for women) and I've no intention of cutting to lower than 22%, because I want to be really strong, and don't care that much about 6 pack abs. But in terms of gaining strength, I'm eating at a small surplus to achieve this, I haven't piled on loads of body fat, the calipers say I've gained little if any.... accumeasure says my body fat percentage has stayed the same, Jackson Pollack said it's gone up by maybe around 1%. If I get to a point where increases in bodyweight don't equal increases in strength then I'll maintain my weight there. There's a limit to how much lean mas you can gain as a female... men can gain way more, especially young men.

neandermagnon

Ill PM you as it sounds like we could have a decent discussion

okay... I do appreciate you sharing your experience and i'm not discounting it. Just that other people's experience is different and anyone who wants to gain lean mass who isn't obese, needs to eat at a surplus to do that

JakeBrownVB

my bulking is currently gaining me around 0.75-1 lb a week. However I just started green mag creatine.. stuff is great and I know it would cause me to soak water up like a dang spong.. but I wasnt expecting 3 pounds in 2 days! I probably look a little puffier now on this creatine.

Marks281172

Be interested to hear you experiences with creatine, ive not used it for years but did used to swear by it (along with a bunch of other supps) but don't really bother with anything more than whey, omega 3 and multi vits these days.

JakeBrownVB

Be interested to hear you experiences with creatine, ive not used it for years but did used to swear by it (along with a bunch of other supps) but don't really bother with anything more than whey, omega 3 and multi vits these days.

only been on creatine a few days and my lifts have increased immediatly. so shocked that this stuff actually works!

I gained 10 kg on my squat, 5kg on my bench, 5 kg on my rows and 2.5 kg on my OHP and in general just felt more "alive" at the gym, usually I hit a few pull ups at the end of my 1.5 hour gym sessions and am usually dead as hell. But this green mag just made me feel like I coulda smashed out a hundred sets of chins

.

Kinda makes me pissed at myself that I didnt take it earlier.. all those gym sessions that could have been enhanced..

Fithealthyforlife

after losing 50 pounds and starting a bulk I still keep getting asked "hows the weight loss going".. when I tell them I am bulking or when they see me eating like a horse, noone seems to understand and just laugh and say they knew I wouldnt keep the healthy eating up!!

fukin pisses me of sumin chronic..

I tell them that I am looking to build muscle and that can only be done in a calorie surplus but I always get a sarcastic response like "oh is that your excuse for giving up" or they say stuff like "all that hard work and your gonna undo it all".

next person who says it to meh is gone get a smack in de gobber nom saying?

As a an ex fat guy (sorry to be blunt), it's easy to become overly sensitive to what others tell you. Don't let this happen! I am convinced that most people will never understand bulking. The reason for this, I've discovered, is that a lot of people who bulk actually do so by accident. So, your co-workers who don't count their calories/macros are probably stuffing their faces with calories they don't even know they're getting. If they aren't working out, they will just gain fat. However (and this is, I believe the key to why people don't "get it") if they're working out, they will actually bulk up accidently. The thing is, these people are in denial that they're eating a surplus. That's why they look down on others who supposedly *need* a "surplus" to gain muscle! They think they don't, that they are special snowflakes to use MFP terminology. They're not. They just have less knowledge than you do. Best ways imho to reconcile these thoughts are to either educate a person, or to just realize that you know how something works, and they don't.

There is also a lot of propaganda against weight gain in our culture. Dr. Oz Show, etc. That's how the supplement companies do business...they claim you won't gain fat if you use their product.

But the difference betweenwhat you're doing now wand what you did in the past is that your current weight gain is controlled. You're not going to gain much fat doing it properly.

DrMAvDPhD

Step 1. Eat all the yummy foods.
Step 2. Don't talk about it with others. If people have the nerve to comment on your eating habits tell them to mind their own f*cking business.
Step 3. Profit.

Fithealthyforlife

Step 1. Eat all the yummy foods.
Step 2. Don't talk about it with others. If people have the nerve to comment on your eating habits tell them to mind their own f*cking business.
Step 3. Profit.

I agree with this. To Op regarding #2: If someone who knew you when you were heavier does comment, simply tell them that your metabolism is now faster and you need more food. It's a white lie at worst, but it's a believable one, and will undo their "special snowflake" superiority complex. But it might make them jealous, so try not to say it unless you have no other choice. Then again, it could also inspire them to get on an exercise program. And it's not a total lie, because you ARE indeed burning more calories by exercising.

waldo56

I used to just tell people I am fueling my exercise, eating to perform.

If you are not going overboard with it, noone, 'cept maybe your spouse, should be able to notice the fat gain from bulking. You'll never see it in clothes, and even unclothed the changes are slow and subtle enough that it is hard to tell, even yourself.

Once you've bulk/cut a couple times it becomes really obvious that you do a bit of strength training, at that point noone will question your eating habits.

As I've gone from a big fat guy to slim and now through a couple bulk/cut cycles, people have really changed. Toward the end of my loss everyone was complimenting me and asking me how I did it, and would talk to me about dieting and exercise, and had all sorts of advice. Nowadays people tell me I look great, but that's about as far as it goes, noone really discussed diet/exercise with me anymore, I think that I intimidate people now on that subject. When people get big weight loss discussions going they don't even include me anymore.

jbgolf52

my bulking is currently gaining me around 0.75-1 lb a week. However I just started green mag creatine.. stuff is great and I know it would cause me to soak water up like a dang spong.. but I wasnt expecting 3 pounds in 2 days! I probably look a little puffier now on this creatine.

It's common for people to gain up to 5lbs when starting creatine, so you are fine, I would not sweat it.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

I just say that all the working out when you were losing weight revved your metabolism up so much that you'd get too skinny if you didn't eat this much. People love that sort of explanation. Honestly, it works for me with my family.

MyChocolateDiet

I just say that all the working out when you were losing weight revved your metabolism up so much that you'd get too skinny if you didn't eat this much. People love that sort of explanation. Honestly, it works for me with my family.

^this

I used to just tell people I am fueling my exercise, eating to perform.

^this....

simply say you're weight lifting and need the energy now....

aaaaaaaaaand this^.

I find the simplest one liners work best with the general public. Especially vague stuff that hints at something they already know and then leaves enough ambiguity or space to leave them thinking and give you time to make a clean getaway.

Fithealthyforlife

I just say that all the working out when you were losing weight revved your metabolism up so much that you'd get too skinny if you didn't eat this much. People love that sort of explanation. Honestly, it works for me with my family.

That's a much better way of saying what I said above.

mustgetmuscles1

You tell them you are trying to get big and strong so you are not an out of shape weakling.

Then you slowly scan them up and down and continue eating.

BeachIron

I find that not telling anyone what I do in terms of fitness to be helpful in avoiding these conversations.

Examples:

Question: Do you work out?

Answer: Not really.

Question: Hey, have you lost weight?

Answer: Not really.

Question: What do you do for exercise?

Answer: Not much.

The point is that unless the other person has an obvious and actual interest in fitness and exercise, and we have a common interest in terms of what we do, then I don't want to have this conversation with them. No good ever comes of it.

ryry_

I would probably just resort to self depracating humor and be done with it. Then when you are yolked throw said person out of a window or something.

BonaFideUK

Be interested to hear you experiences with creatine, ive not used it for years but did used to swear by it (along with a bunch of other supps) but don't really bother with anything more than whey, omega 3 and multi vits these days.

creatine is one of the very few supplements proven to do its intended job. Its well worth taking.. you can buy 6 months worth for as little as $15 / £10