Bulking Diet questions

jww13

New Member
I'm 20 years old, 5'-8", and about 155 lbs. One week ago I started a bulking diet. I first figured out my normal calories were about 1800 each day. My protein was only about 50-60g each day.

I decided to shoot for 2800 calories each day, and 160-200g of protein (coming mostly from tuna, milk, and protein shakes). I also started taking Creatine (5g each day before workout). Anyways, I've met these requirements for 7 days now and also started a new HST routine about 10 days ago (after 2.5 weeks of SD).

Here's my weight for the last week (taken on an accurate scale right after waking up each day). Tell me if this makes sense...

Day 1 - 153
Day 2 - 155.6 (I guess from eating so much more than normal?)
Day 3 - 155
Day 4 - 155.4
Day 5 - 155.4
Day 6 - 155.8
Day 7 - 155.8

Aside from the jump between Day 1 and Day 2, this doesn't seem like enough weight gain considering I bumped my calories up by 1000 each day! I figured the 2 pound jump was from eating so much more (having a fuller stomach than normal), but since that initial boost, I'm only really up by .8 lb!

Please give me comments and advice! Should I bump calories even more? I should mention that my routine is 6x/week, about 45 minutes each day. That probably negates much of the added calories, right?

thanks
 
That initial weight gain could be due to the creatine causing you to retain a bit more water than normal. Anyway, I think you should wait another week and see if you haven't gained a couple pounds. In my opinion, you don't want to gain more than a couple pounds a week or you will probably be taking on a lot of fat. If you still haven't gained anything after another week, but you also haven't lost anything, try bumping it up another 500. If you aren't too worried about gaining fat, you could bump it up by 500 now and see what happens.
 
jjw,

Seems about right.

3500 calories more or less make a pound.

7000 extra for the week, 2 pounds, some probably from the creatine/water as well.

Think long term, this is not exactly how it works, but if you gain 0.8 lbs in 4 days, that is about 73 lbs for the year. How big did you want to be ?
butbut.gif


My experience has been when you up the calories however the body finds ways of getting rid of them. I get at least 4000 a day and cannot get above 170 lbs.

It seems likely to me that 2800 is not enough for a 20y/o weight lifter, but above advice abotu small increments is probably correct.

I am sorry for the unsolicited advice below, but I experienced the following:
temporary swelling of stomach from dead lifts and squats.
temporary swelling of stomach from extra water required by creatine.
Both of these have the effect of making your stomach bigger and it appears to be fat. But it is not and these effects are temporary.
:D
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (jww13 @ June 27 2005,11:48)]I'm 20 years old, 5'-8", and about 155 lbs. One week ago I started a bulking diet. I first figured out my normal calories were about 1800 each day. My protein was only about 50-60g each day.
I decided to shoot for 2800 calories each day, and 160-200g of protein (coming mostly from tuna, milk, and protein shakes). I also started taking Creatine (5g each day before workout). Anyways, I've met these requirements for 7 days now and also started a new HST routine about 10 days ago (after 2.5 weeks of SD).
Here's my weight for the last week (taken on an accurate scale right after waking up each day). Tell me if this makes sense...
Day 1 - 153
Day 2 - 155.6 (I guess from eating so much more than normal?)
Day 3 - 155
Day 4 - 155.4
Day 5 - 155.4
Day 6 - 155.8
Day 7 - 155.8
Aside from the jump between Day 1 and Day 2, this doesn't seem like enough weight gain considering I bumped my calories up by 1000 each day! I figured the 2 pound jump was from eating so much more (having a fuller stomach than normal), but since that initial boost, I'm only really up by .8 lb!
Please give me comments and advice! Should I bump calories even more? I should mention that my routine is 6x/week, about 45 minutes each day. That probably negates much of the added calories, right?
thanks
I think I would stay with current calories at least for a month; then make changes. If you continue now looks like 12lbs in a month, pretty good by my books. Interesting to see how much LBM. Keep us posted. Good luck.
 
Back
Top