Which is best to aim for, o.5lb gain per week or 1lb pwer week?
filbo132
Posts: 956 Member
So I just finished off with my cut, for the next 2 weeks, I will be trying to maintain my weight...after that, it will be back to bulking again. One thing I am not sure is if I should aim for 0,5 lb per week 1 lb per week?? Last time I bulked, I wasn't using mfp, so I just took as much food as I could and although I did gain a lot of muscles, I also gained some fat in the process....so in this bulk, I want to do it right by counting my calories and try not to gain as much fat as possible.
2
Replies
-
0.5 LBS IZ DA WAY 2 GO. MAKE SURE U R ON A STRUCTURED LIFTING PROGRAM WHILE UR BULKING SO U CAN LIMIT FAT GAINS BT U WILL GAIN SUM FAT N DA PROCESS ND DATZ INEVITABLE. I WENT FROM 142-151 SINCE MAY 24TH. I LIFT WEIGHT 5 DAYZ A WEEK. NO CARDIO TIL I CUT. I WALK A LOT AT WORK ALREADY SO I'M NOT TRYNA LOSE TIL ITS TIME-1
-
The slower you gain, the less likely you will optimize rate of muscle gain and the less fat you will accumulate.
The faster you gain, the more likely you will optimize rate of muscle gain and the more fat you will gain.
Rate of muscle gain is limited, so at some point, gaining too fast is ONLY going to add additional fat and not additional muscle.
If it were me, I'd limit the 1lb/week gain to teenage males who are new to lifting or to males who have a very easy time losing fat and who aren't discouraged by fat gain.2 -
This content has been removed.
-
I think I will slowly start at 0,5 lb / week for 1-2 weeks, if I see the progress is slow, I will increase it at 1 lb per week. In the past, I already did bulk, but without counting anything and it showed because despite gaining muscles, I noticed fat too, I was starting to get man boobs...that is why I was on a cut the last month. This will be the first time that I will actually use mfp for bulking. I used it for cutting and I found it worked wonders (I lost 11lbs in one month and I wasn't a big person to begin with, so I didn't expect to lose that much weight in such short time).
If you start at .5/week and you succeed in gaining .5/week then I wouldn't up it to 1lb/week.
I would base the adjustments to calorie intake on the rate at which you gain weight.0 -
.5 should minimize fat accumulation if your macro is dialed in. Also stated above by SS0
-
This content has been removed.
-
good luck brother. BTW bulking and cutting seems to be an effort in futility (at least for me). I try to stay with steady progress for best results. I realize some have genetics that lend themselves to a bulk/cut type of building but I been at this a while and it just simply never seems to really benefit me. Yes my lift go up when I bulk but they drop right back on a cut. I also think Age plays a role as well.0
-
This content has been removed.
-
I personally like to slow bulk (+0.5lbs per week). Like yourself, I did the regular bulk earlier on, and went too far with it and it extended my cut.
Now that I am on a more advanced program where I increase weight lifted monthly instead of between sessions, a slower bulk does the job and I still gain good strength with minimal fat gains. And if I am going on vacation / need to look good, I can quickly run a TDEE-500 calorie deficit for a couple of weeks to get abs ASAP.good luck brother. BTW bulking and cutting seems to be an effort in futility (at least for me). I try to stay with steady progress for best results. I realize some have genetics that lend themselves to a bulk/cut type of building but I been at this a while and it just simply never seems to really benefit me. Yes my lift go up when I bulk but they drop right back on a cut. I also think Age plays a role as well.
I find my lifts will go up steadily on a bulk, and you will have to fight to maintain them on a cut. General rule is maintain intensity(weight lifted) but reduce volume(reps) on a cut. I am still making slow progress on a cut however, but that might be due to a slow cut (tdee-300cal instead of 500) / monthly gains program (like 5/3/1 or GZCL) / I'm not in advanced lifts territory yet / I'm still young.0 -
Agreed with what has been said above about <0.5lbs per week. Would also add that unless you are already lean, you will end up gaining a higher proportion of fat and end up worse than when you started. Sub 13% would be ideal.0
-
I was already pretty lean when I started, but since June7 I have gone from around 142 to 152 with noticeable fat reduction and significant gains in every area. The idea you can't bulk over 0.5lb per week without fat is not true at least in my case.
Eat 300 to 400 calories surplus daily. 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per lb per day. 0.4 to 0.5 grams of fat per lb per day. Everything else carbs.
Don't go over a cup of rice (uncooked) and 10oz of potatoes in terms of starches per day. Drink lots of water. Don't eat processed sugars. Eat 2 to 3 pieces of fruit per day, one in morning and whatever after workout. Don't eat simple carbs within 2 hours before the gym but load up on some fat and maybe a little protein but protein can spark insulin production which isn't what you want while working out. Eat as much as you can immediately after.
I do PHUL workout 4 times a week and I do cardio on every off day and abs twice. You can do it with enough diligence and hard work. I'll decrease calorie goal before I ever do a cutting cycle. I'm at 3300 calories per day atm.0 -
JeffMatchett wrote: »I was already pretty lean when I started, but since June7 I have gone from around 142 to 152 with noticeable fat reduction and significant gains in every area. The idea you can't bulk over 0.5lb per week without fat is not true at least in my case.
Eat 300 to 400 calories surplus daily. 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per lb per day. 0.4 to 0.5 grams of fat per lb per day. Everything else carbs.
Don't go over a cup of rice (uncooked) and 10oz of potatoes in terms of starches per day. Drink lots of water. Don't eat processed sugars. Eat 2 to 3 pieces of fruit per day, one in morning and whatever after workout. Don't eat simple carbs within 2 hours before the gym but load up on some fat and maybe a little protein but protein can spark insulin production which isn't what you want while working out. Eat as much as you can immediately after.
I do PHUL workout 4 times a week and I do cardio on every off day and abs twice. You can do it with enough diligence and hard work. I'll decrease calorie goal before I ever do a cutting cycle. I'm at 3300 calories per day atm.
With only a 10 lb gain, especially as a male, you generally wouldn't see any huge difference in fat accumulation. Especially considering some of that will be from increase glycogen capacity. When you are putting on muscle, you aren't increasing body fat % all that much, which is why it appears you haven't really gained. Below is theoretically what happened. Since I didn't know your starting point, I will assume 10% body fat and roughly an 50/50 distribution on lean body mass to fat.
142 * (1- 10%) = 127.8
127.8 + 5 = 132.8
1-(132.8/152) = 12.6%
At 2.6% body fat (which depending where you generally store fat) you may not be a huge impact on look, especially knowing you have a very solid workout program. I am trying to find the article, but things become more noticeable when you start exceeding 3-4% body fat growth.0 -
JeffMatchett wrote: »I was already pretty lean when I started, but since June7 I have gone from around 142 to 152 with noticeable fat reduction and significant gains in every area. The idea you can't bulk over 0.5lb per week without fat is not true at least in my case.
Eat 300 to 400 calories surplus daily. 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per lb per day. 0.4 to 0.5 grams of fat per lb per day. Everything else carbs.
Don't go over a cup of rice (uncooked) and 10oz of potatoes in terms of starches per day. Drink lots of water. Don't eat processed sugars. Eat 2 to 3 pieces of fruit per day, one in morning and whatever after workout. Don't eat simple carbs within 2 hours before the gym but load up on some fat and maybe a little protein but protein can spark insulin production which isn't what you want while working out. Eat as much as you can immediately after.
I do PHUL workout 4 times a week and I do cardio on every off day and abs twice. You can do it with enough diligence and hard work. I'll decrease calorie goal before I ever do a cutting cycle. I'm at 3300 calories per day atm.
With only a 10 lb gain, especially as a male, you generally wouldn't see any huge difference in fat accumulation. Especially considering some of that will be from increase glycogen capacity. When you are putting on muscle, you aren't increasing body fat % all that much, which is why it appears you haven't really gained. Below is theoretically what happened. Since I didn't know your starting point, I will assume 10% body fat and roughly an 50/50 distribution on lean body mass to fat.
142 * (1- 10%) = 127.8
127.8 + 5 = 132.8
1-(132.8/152) = 12.6%
At 2.6% body fat (which depending where you generally store fat) you may not be a huge impact on look, especially knowing you have a very solid workout program. I am trying to find the article, but things become more noticeable when you start exceeding 3-4% body fat growth.
Interesting. Maybe you're right. I have no intentions of stopping for the next 10 weeks so let's see what happens!0 -
JeffMatchett wrote: »JeffMatchett wrote: »I was already pretty lean when I started, but since June7 I have gone from around 142 to 152 with noticeable fat reduction and significant gains in every area. The idea you can't bulk over 0.5lb per week without fat is not true at least in my case.
Eat 300 to 400 calories surplus daily. 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per lb per day. 0.4 to 0.5 grams of fat per lb per day. Everything else carbs.
Don't go over a cup of rice (uncooked) and 10oz of potatoes in terms of starches per day. Drink lots of water. Don't eat processed sugars. Eat 2 to 3 pieces of fruit per day, one in morning and whatever after workout. Don't eat simple carbs within 2 hours before the gym but load up on some fat and maybe a little protein but protein can spark insulin production which isn't what you want while working out. Eat as much as you can immediately after.
I do PHUL workout 4 times a week and I do cardio on every off day and abs twice. You can do it with enough diligence and hard work. I'll decrease calorie goal before I ever do a cutting cycle. I'm at 3300 calories per day atm.
With only a 10 lb gain, especially as a male, you generally wouldn't see any huge difference in fat accumulation. Especially considering some of that will be from increase glycogen capacity. When you are putting on muscle, you aren't increasing body fat % all that much, which is why it appears you haven't really gained. Below is theoretically what happened. Since I didn't know your starting point, I will assume 10% body fat and roughly an 50/50 distribution on lean body mass to fat.
142 * (1- 10%) = 127.8
127.8 + 5 = 132.8
1-(132.8/152) = 12.6%
At 2.6% body fat (which depending where you generally store fat) you may not be a huge impact on look, especially knowing you have a very solid workout program. I am trying to find the article, but things become more noticeable when you start exceeding 3-4% body fat growth.
Interesting. Maybe you're right. I have no intentions of stopping for the next 10 weeks so let's see what happens!
Another way to think of it, look how many people have to lose 20 lbs before they notice... why, because of fat distribution. With weight gain, you can gain muscles in specific areas, but fat distribution stays the same. So the gaining might just be outweighing the fat ATM.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 176K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.6K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions