fivethreeone Member

Gross calories vary, but it's about 1450 net. Gross is more like 1650 4 days per week and 1450 3 days per week, so an average of about 1564 gross/week. I have been at a deficit off and on for 13 months. It has not been consistent. I do about 2 months at a deficit and one month at maintenance. That water weight fluctuations…

No worries; I am grateful for your help. It has been about a month and a half.

Granted, I haven't been back that long, but I did expect newbie gains coming back from bedrest and did not at all feel like that was happening. It is far more difficult right now to increase my lifts than it was when I first began. Would that change simply by upping my cals to maintenance? I really like 5/3/1 for its split…

Alright, got it. Previously: DL: 195 OHP: 83 Squat: 142 Bench: 117 Planning to begin within a month, looking for hypertrophy specifically in my deltoids, glutes, and hamstrings

Thanks for your input, Sara. My current gym maxes are horrible, as I am just getting back from being on bedrest all summer. (1RM, calc or tested) DL: 135 OHP: 74 Squat: 95 Bench: 105 I have been lifting for less than a year (and will still have been lifting for less than a year by the time the bulk is over), so I think…

Any program with progressive overload, provided you are losing weight slowly and getting plenty of protein. Check out StrongLifts or 5/3/1

snortlaugh

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Six pounds that took you a week to lose isn't real weight, it's water weight. Water weight doesn't matter. Real talk: nobody is in charge of you, but you. Don't blame him for your determination. It's YOUR determination. Know what that means? YOU. DETERMINE. That said, there's nothing wrong with eating a little of whatever…

Hi Jen! I noticed that your goals don't seem to match up, so I crunched the numbers and found that if you increase your cals as you're planning (by about 250 to gain .5 lb/week) and your bulk lasts 9 weeks (till New Years), you would gain about 4.5 lbs total (of which about half will be fat). At 124.5 lbs with 2.25 lbs…

outside of small "noob gains" the only studies I have seen that show this is possible used obese subjects and the gains were very minimal. It is pretty safe to say there are no muscle gains being made. OP, the reason it looks like your muscles are growing is because you are training the muscle you currently have and are…

Wait till I start my bulk. :tongue:

This group is awesome, and it sounds like you're right on track as well. Nice work. In to follow this.

Ahhh. Okay, thanks for that clarification. It backs up what I'm doing right now. I'm not much of an expert, so I'm glad to hear that's something someone with, y'know, actual brainz came up with, too. So far I'm hearing I'm on the right track overall. Any criticisms?

Wow, your muscles are looking amazing! In to follow your bulk.

Hi! I'm glad to have found this group, thank you PrimalRunner for creating it. I'm not starting my bulk for another 3 weeks or so, but I'm definitely going to be lurking and researching and watching everyone's progress. One suggestion-- instead of starting/goal weights (or in addition to) I think it would be more…

Interesting. I didn't know that, but I've recently started doing something similar with my assistance work. 5/3/1 Deadlift then front squat in assistance ranges as part of my assistance. So instead I would deadlift AND front squat using 5/3/1?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I looked at the ACSM position summary first; I'll check out the other when I have more time. Based on this information, for greater hypertrophy and strength progression, should I add sets of my big lift at, say, 50% of my 1RM as assistance work, a la Wendler's 5/3/1 "Big But Boring" method?

tagging as I am getting ready for my first bulk

If your sedentary TDEE is 1750, that is the number of calories required for your to maintain weight at the activity level of doing absolutely nothing. If you burn 500 cals a day, your actual TDEE is 2250, again meaning you maintain weight at your current activity level. Net calories are total calories consumed minus…

amazing. tagging.

EAT MORE. You will lose when your body is not so stressed with such a huge calorie deficit.

I gave you an idea in answer to your previous question and seeing this makes me want to go back and edit it out.

How about doing the opposite of eating every 2-3 hours (lowering your available calories by dinner) and instead look into Intermittent Fasting? Granted, the first few days are hard, but IF means that you could eat a TON around dinnertime and not blow your calories out.

I had a day like that today. Know what I did? I ATE. Lots. Like 500-700 calories over my goal, lots. And I don't feel badly at all. It rarely happens, it won't hurt me in the long run, I'm not going to try to punish myself for it with exercise, and my body obviously needed it. It's just one day. One day won't make you fat,…

ALMOST right. This is full of great info, OP, except for the part about hypertrophy (actual muscle volume growth) which does not occur at 3 reps max, but between 6 and 12 reps. Training above 12 reps is endurance, training below 6 reps is pure strength training, which does not correspond to muscle mass.

put me down for losing five pounds on your behalf. I can look better and also feel like I am doing something charitable. This is a great idea, OP

I do zero cardio. Unless you count walking at under 2 miles per hour, which I do after leg day for 20-30 minutes to cool down and keep the soreness away.

Besides everything already said, one thing to note is that the number MFP gives you is not totally accurate when counting calories because food companies round the number of calories up or down to the nearest 5. Over time, this can make a difference. The easiest way to know your actual calories is to calculate by using…