keithcw_the_first Member

Fasted, yes

No no, that's was all I ate for ten weeks! Well, also whey, chicken, burgers, veggies, bread, and a whole host of other foods. The numbers: HDL 54 LDL 97 Tri 56 Ratio 3.0 Glucose 82 LDL was close to threshold but still within tolerances.

I've never seen the numbers for sodium. I feel better. When I was bulking, I didn't really care. Now I'm cutting and it's disheartening to see the scale leap 5 pounds and then linger, especially when I know that the true scale number is lurking somewhere in there.

You very quickly end up using a different weight on each exercise, so unloading/loading the bar tacks on some extra time. I could see getting in the three main lifts in about a half hour. If you used the same weight for everything and only rested for 30 seconds between sets then yes, I guess I could see you knocking it out…

Is .5 lb/week overly cautious for a cut?

That's okay, I ate too much cake. Don't assume you've blown your progress and you may as well just quit. It was one weekend out of many. Whatever it does to the scale -- if anything -- will go away and the numbers will smooth back out. Don't worry about it.

I did the "peanut butter sandwiched between two pop tarts" thing for breakfast. Then oats with peanut butter, whey and agave for snack. Lunch was ???? but often two chick-fil-a sandwiches; about 1,000 calories and 40 or 50 grams of protein. Afternoon snack was a PB&J. Dinner was a regular-person dinner, but probably with a…

I started feeling beat up all the time on 5x5. If you look at Mehdi's site, he says something about switching to 3x5 after having missing lifts and deloading three times, and then maybe down to 3x1? Anyway, I'm not following SL as written. But I did find a lot more success when I dropped my bench down to 3x5. I would say…

I tried the "healthy" thing. If you're trying to actively put on weight it becomes very difficult to get all of your calories from healthy or clean or whole foods. If you're 300 calories short at the end of the evening, you can try choking down another 6 ounces of chicken... or if you already hit your macros, just eat some…

That happened kind of as a matter of course. I like to do 100 pushups in as few sets as possible when I can't make it to the gym as part of a bodyweight routine. Usually I finish it with some token curls. Yesterday the curls just weren't going to happen.

I've heard a few people mention the slow bulk/permabulk thing. What's that look like for you, personally? What kind of surplus are you running and what kind of gain per week are you shooting for? Quarter pound? Less? I've actually upped my protein just a bit, maybe from .8 to .9 grams/lb. I go for a quick walk at lunch…

How are you defining volume vs. intensity? Like, fewer reps or sets but the same weight?

Serratus... like they're blanketed in snow, maybe. Very faint. No abs... which is why I started a bulk. I actually hit my bulking goal of two plates on the bench press last night so I'm wrapping this up. Should have a little bit of time to get a small cut in before summer is through and then I can do it again over the…

Oof, I can only imagine. Definitely a journey.

So, right now my MFP is set to 2790, which I either hit or go higher than on most days net. My total consumption of calories is like I said, closer tot he 3400's. If I want to net 2728, then I have to set my MFP to lower than that. Right?

I'm not sure, I guess you're right. If 3400 netted me .6 lbs. a week gained, then that's .6*3500 = 2100 extra calories a week, or 300 calories a day. Does that mean my TDEE is closer to 3100? So then I'd want a 10 - 15% decrease from that, which would be about a 372 calories (12% decrease). So... I'd want to be eating 2728…

I'm all for gathering additional data.

So that's a vote cast for measurement error.

Maybe the veins are getting larger? Or being pushed to the surface by increased muscle mass? I would guess it's a combination of both vein development and fat loss, since I'm seeing increased vascularity in some areas while I can also confirm I'm gaining fat on a bulk.

Boom. http://lowcarbediem.com/fat-bombs-recipes-atkins-ketosis/ Or just load up on cheese/avocados/peanut butter.

Fair enough! The boards often deal in absolutes, which is rarely how things work.

I'm fascinated to see so many pro-bulk anti-recomp types come out in this thread – in favor of recomping. I mean, I'm all for this. This is good info. I guess I was expecting more vitriol. I have this one starred as a reference.

Are you tracking your calories?

So, this is still happening. I think @terizius was the only other person providing ongoing blow-by-blow of his bulk? * I'm about nine weeks in. Picture, calipers, they're all showing fat gains. They're subtle but they're occurring. * I've held it to .6 pounds gained per week, which is a little higher than I was shooting…

Almonds are pretty filling, and so is sweet potato. I was having some of the same problems you seem to be having and I found that switching to a lower-fiber version of whatever the food was helped a little. So instead of the fancy flax seed multigrain bread I'm eating regular wheat bread. I thought I was going to be eating…

I've heard about the P ratio; do you find its been accurate in your experience?

So let's say I hit 10 lbs. gained and really have it dialed in. I mean, not picking the one day where the scale is three pounds higher and saying "okay that's it!" More where I'm holding steady at +10lbs. for a week or two. Good time to cut then at about 1lb. a week? It does sound like I need to shoot for a larger bulk…

@jmule24 I thought .5 lbs a week was usually quoted as a conservative goal for bulking... @jimmmer Thanks - that's kind of what I though/was afraid of.

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