cmeiron Member

You can definitely get really good results with dumbbells at home, but you may find that you quickly need heavier weights. Check out the classifieds for used equipment (there's often a lot floating around this time of year b/c people upgraded their stuff for the new year). I'm a student and couldn't afford the gym either;…

If you want your muscles to actually get bigger, this requires gaining weight by eating at a surplus (above your maintenance intake level). If you just want to get stronger and retain your existing muscle while you continue to lose fat, then you can do that as an alternative to mass gains. An in-between approach is to eat…

I set my macros according to my body weight, not %, and consider the protein a minimum. Right now 150g P, 80g F, whatever's left goes to carbs.

This place has been life-altering. I've learned so much and still have a lot to learn as I keep challenging myself. My FL is full of awesome, inspiring, hard-working people. Not going anywhere any time soon.

Full body three days a week, for about an hour. 1-1.5 minutes between sets.

:love: Oooooh, scorpionfly!!!!! They're so cool (said the entomologist) :drinker: Wikipedia info for anyone (other than me) who is interested in this sort of thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecoptera Also: that "stinger" is actually his junk. You jelly?

First, I disagree. She is very active and doesn't have much to lose. I agree with ILiftHeavyAcrylics - why not try out the higher number that the calculator came up with for a while, and adjust up or down from there? It's always preferable to consume the maximum number of calories possible while maintaining a reasonable…

A tip that's saved me a bunch of frustration is, when you're looking for produce (and often meat), if you type in the PLURAL of the item (if there is one - "lettuce" would just be lettuce, for example) and the word RAW, you usually get the correct USDA data (the one without the * next to the entry name) (so here, "bananas…

Replace a bunch of those glasses of water with glasses of whole milk. Done.

This. Way to totally avoid the very valid point that was raised. Also this. Also: HAHAHAHAHAHA IT'S SO FUNNY TO JOKE ABOUT THE OP MAYBE BEING GAY.

Bumping to stalk awesome bulkers. I've been bulking on ~2650 (150g protein) since September, weight has gone from 128 to 140, doing 3x/week full body lifting routine, no cardio. Planned end date of this bulk (my first one) is a week and a half from now. Based on bf% estimates I've put on somewhere between 4 and 6 lbs of…

Cool, thanks! .75-1 lb/week sounds manageable :) 1.5 is a bit on the high end, I think. I want to get back into maintenance asap but I know myself and my healthy appetite :wink:

You want me to avoid chocolate? Not sure if srs.

Ok, I thought about it. Here are my thoughts: a) I'm not a guy. I'm a woman. Who is bulking. b) I'm glad you found a way of eating that works well for you and makes you happy and makes you feel good. That is important. c) Many people find that type of diet to be unsustainable in the long run; people who promote restrictive…

Ok, so what IS a reasonable rate at which to drop fat after a bulk? I have no interest in crash dieting or sacrificing any hard-earned muscle unnecessarily. At the end of August I was about 128lbs and around 19% bf; I'm a week and a half away from the end of my bulk and I'm now around 140 lbs. I'm not sure what my current…

OP, if you want to see results, you have to be consistent. 1. get that food scale, weigh everything, and log everything, every day. Right now you actually have no idea how much you're eating. You can eat "healthy" all you want, but if it's too much "healthy" food, it's still going to put you at or over a maintenance…

This. And alas, there is not a donut in sight :( OP, just log it and get on with your day, and do your best to stay in your calorie goal but don't sweat it if you end up going over a bit. You'll still have a deficit, overall, for the week.

LMAO Sorry, I don't have anything super useful to contribute. I get giganto-food-babies on the days I don't eat enough earlier on and have to cram in All The Food at supper, but there's nothing in particular that makes it worse - just food bulk generally.

Hope you're feeling better now! Chocolate cures everything :wink: Since I switched to bar I've been sore all the time, it's only been 3 weeks for me but I kind of hear you (ouch!)

This exactly! Celebrate every bit of your own progress and don't worry about what anyone else is doing! :smile:

Any calculator can only provide an estimate. These estimates can provide a useful starting point in terms of picking an appropriate intake level. The only way to determine your true TDEE is to meticulously track your caloric intake and monitor your weight for a period of time (at least a month, more, ideally). You can use…

Wow. Strong first post. Why am I pretty sure this is going to be spammed all over the boards? OP, don't listen to 90% of that. First, understand that you can't covert muscle to fat. You also can't build muscle while you're dieting/eating at a deficit. That said, if you're weight training while dieting you CAN RETAIN muscle…

What no one has mentioned yet is the fact that you cannot BUILD muscle unless you are a) eating above your maintenance intake level and b) progressively overloading your muscles with weight (which usually means weights or some kind of resistance aid must eventually be added). If you simply want to reveal the abs you have…

180g is a bit on the high end. The most recent research suggests up to 1.4g/lb lbm, or about 175g for your size - but this was in the context of someone lean who was cutting and wanting to preserve muscle. When you're gaining muscle you can relax the protein intake a bit. But again, a lot of it is personal preference: as…

You got it: the length of a bulk is usually determined by looks, weight, and body fat%. Basically, you bulk until it's "too high". This number will depend on the person's comfort level and where they started out. Usually, the recommendation for guys who are super-concerned about physique/appearance is to start bulking when…

Drink water. Water won't have any effect on fat loss, but hydration is important. 20 lbs in a month is crazy. You don't have 300 lbs to lose. Try for something more reasonable, like 4-8 lbs. You lose weight that fast, you're going to lose a ton of lean body mass (muscle) in addition to fat. No bueno. Please consider…

Find a lifting program that has you gradually increase the weight you use over time. Something that keeps the number of reps per set low (under 12) and the weight challenging (so it's hard to finish the last couple of reps). You can use any of the barbell programs and just do modified versions of the lifts for DBs. I've…

I'll just chime in with my own experience on this...I started weight training as a complete newb, working out only at home, with dumbbells ranging from 3 to 45 lbs. If you've got a good range of weights that go pretty heavy, you can see some pretty good progress while working out at home (OP, check my before/afters in my…

So awesome!!!! :drinker:

Here's me about a year ago (left) and currently (right). Same weight, very different body composition! I'm at the end of a bulk so my bf% is a little higher than I'd like, but I'm pretty dang happy with the muscle gains! Here's a comparison of the same photo on the left and after I'd finished my first cut:…