burtnyks Member

I've gone up as much as 3 lbs in a week depending on the time of the month and then I'll be back down 2 weeks later. What I started doing is keeping a spreadsheet of my weight in Excel. So I will weigh in every Monday morning as soon as I wake up. In addition to just looking at that number, I also average the previous 4…

Good to know JoRocka, thanks! I'm definitely trying to do a clean bulk and want to keep the surplus to ~200-300 cals over. My last attempted bulk I think I went way too high and gained a lot of fat so it scared me off for awhile. I feel like my bodyfat is in a better place now where I won't completely freak out if I end up…

Thanks! I am in this for all of 2014 so I have been a little hesitant to bump up calories too high. Guess I will give it another week and see if I need to bump up 100 again.

Wow! Good for you pandorakick. I love seeing transformations. I follow a girl on Instagram who posted 2 pics of herself at the same weight and the comparison was amazing. She was so much smaller and compact in the "after" photo.

I recently started working towards putting on more muscle and I'm eating 2300 cals per day. I just track my weight on a weekly basis to make sure I'm not gaining too fast (at this point I have yet to actually gain since I was trying to find maintenance for awhle). I figure as long as I'm monitoring it weekly I can make…

Hi there! New on this forum and currently bulking (or trying to at least)! 1. Starting weight - 132 lbs 2. Bulk goal weight - No particular goal weight, going purely by looks but do not want to go over 150 lbs 3. Maintenance calories - Still trying to determine this, but it appears to be around 2200-2300 4. Bulk calories -…

Good point! I never thought about it that way.....that I will be increasing both muscle and fat so bodyfat should stay relatively the same. Makes me feel a little better. I dread going back to cutting and being hungry. Part of the reason I'm doing an extended bulk, I like the food and might as well lift heavy to make it…

Oh wow sarahstrezo! I would be ecstatic if I could have 2800 cals/day. More PB! :-D This bulking business is difficult. Part of me doesn't want to waste my gym effort if I'm not eating enough to build muscle, but on the other hand I don't want to just go all out and consume excess calories and put on a ton of fat either.…

Thanks ladies. I'm not 100% certain 2200 is maintenance, but its the first time so far that I weighed in the same amount 2 weeks in a row. So I upped it to 2300 this week and will see how that goes and if I gain. Maybe I'll still have my cheat meal but try tracking the calories to see where I fall. Its usually nothing…

I agree that its kind of pointless to try to meet a certain ratio. As long as you hit minimums on protein and fats, you can do what you want with the balance of your calories. The minimum recommendations vary, but I shoot for 1g Protein / lb and about 0.5g Fat/lb. Then I fill the rest with carbs or more protein.....or…

I'm no expert, and this is just my opinion based on years of yo-yo dieting and finally finding something that works long term. I follow the IIFYM approach to food. I used to think like you did and in the last year I've learned that carbs, or fats or protein are not the enemy. Eating too much food is the enemy!! An easy way…

I'm not a huge fish fan, but I do like to bake it in the oven and then put it under the broiler for about 3 minutes to get a little crispy. Works well with salmon. You mix a little soy sauce, honey and lime juice and brush it on top. The honey kind of caramelizes and makes a nice crust. Today I tried a similar method with…

I like adding oatmeal because it almost give the shake a cookie flavor. You can make an oatmeal cookie smoothie or even chocolate chip or peanut butter. I just throw it raw right into the blender.

Cheesecake Smoothie 1/2 cup almond milk 1/2 cup water 1 scoop protein powder (I use graham cracker whey, but could use vanilla and throw in a crushed up graham cracker) 1/4 cup cottage cheese ~50g of fruit....whatever flavor you desire: pumpkin, blueberry, cherry, raspberry..... Sometimes I make espresso cheesecake and use…

Good luck! I recently started my first bulk as well. Although I gave in to the mental game and cut back on calories after all my holiday indulgences. :-/ I was scared of starting off on the wrong foot with an excess of fat gain. And by the way, in this article Lyle McDonald suggests bulking for women at the 19-24% body fat…

NYE dinner from last night was ribs, cornbread, smashed red potatoes, lemon dijon green beans and cole slaw! Today's breakfast was high protein "cheesecake" stuffed french toast topped with warmed berries.

Turkey smoked sausage and veggie grill packet with jalapeno maple mashed sweet potatoes.

I did a reverse diet after cutting. Was eating a little under 1600 calories and upped it by 100 per week until I hit what I thought would be my maintenance of 2000 cals. You can do 50 calories, but its on the conservative side. I would guess your maintenance is going to be more than 1600. If you are active, a good estimate…

I have the same problem. I ate at 1650 calories per day for about 4 months before switching to maintenance. I slowly increased by 100 calories each week until I hit 2000 calories. Each week I am still losing weight and plan to increase again in the new year (I got plenty of extra calories over the holidays so I decided to…

No logging here....especially since I wouldn't even know where to begin! One day out of 365 won't kill you. I saw a quote recently that said 1 salad won't make you skinny and 1 cheat meal won't make you fat! Enjoy the holidays!

I have heard its not a good program to do, but I do not have personal experience. I was advised to follow a program that uses more compound lifts like NROL4W, strong lifts, 5x5 etc. I guess you get more bang for your buck. I am doing NROL4W and I am seeing great progress so far. I guess it depends on what your fitness…

Post workout meal: Chocolate protein crepes filled with banana protein fluff, topped with a mix of sugar free maple syrup and cocoa powder and 1/2 a banana. 356 calories, 43g carbs, 4g fat, 40g protein

Two new recipes I tried this week! Ham and Cheese Pancakes: And today for lunch I had an open face Hawaiian BBQ salmon burger with a side of kobocha squash fries: The burger is under there somewhere, I promise! :-) Last night went out to a local BBQ place featured on Diners Drive ins and Dives! Had the pulled pork,…

Just speaking from personal experience, I was a yo-yo dieter because I would restrict myself to only eating certain "healthy" unflavorful foods and eventually fall of the bandwagon and binge my way back to an unhealthy weight. I finally decided to try IIFYM and the whole calorie in vs calorie out theory. I will say that I…

I was wondering about this myself. I typically will verify the foods I enter to avoid that problem. But you are saying MFP will round up on macros? I've been going by my macros and letting my calories come in lower, but maybe I need to go by calories from now on.

I second this statement! Typically women can only gain 0.5 lbs of muscle a month if they are doing everything right. And those that claim to be "bulky" just need to cut the bodyfat some and they would see the nice muscle underneath! I was one of those girls that thought I was "bulky"....turns out I was just carrying more…

Thanks! Good luck to you as well! :-)

I have heard that when you initially start weight training that your muscles will flood with glycogen which can increase weight. If you are just starting out weight lifting it could be due to that. I doubt that its actual muscle weight at this point. Women typically gain 0.5 lb of muscle per month.....and that is if you…

Stoneyfield OIkos is good.

I do everything raw as well.