Bulking diet help

[Buntsnasty]

Hi I'm 20 years old and am currently 178lbs and 6'1 tall and I'm looking to add bulk but not sure what my calories and macros should be. I currently workout everyday, 2:20 of lifting then around 40 minutes of abs and cardio. Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike_RN]

++++++Very basic help, since you told us very little about your training and diet+++++

Pick a 4 Day split and stick to it. Too much work is almost like doing cardio. Cut back Cardio to 30mins post workout. Cut workout to 1.5hrs and tarin less sets/reps with Moderately high weights. Train Abs 1-2 x per week not daily. Whatever you are eating now to maintain weight...add 500 clean calories every other week until you start to get fat. Don't "dirty bulk" on fast food and shit. Have 2oz more of Protein with every meal (e.g. 8oz instead of 6oz) and have 2 Tbsp. of Almond butter or Natty PB prior to bed.


Progress will be slower than a 30day Taco Bell binge but the gains will be quality. If you are using Performance enhancements then you can push the calories faster. 6'1" 178 sounds Very lean, I'm 5'7" and competed at 176" with about 5% BF. You are certainly not eating enough and might not even need 30mins of Cardio during the bulking phase.

 

[HisAngriness]

Pretty sure I've never used the words "bulking" and "diet" in the same sentence. When I'm bulking I eat everything in sight and keep my protein intake high; when I'm dieting I keep track of macros. It's really that simple.

DISCLAIMER: I don't really diet but for the sake of this thread and sharing my vast knowledge I referred to myself in order to get my point across. Now leave me to my pre-workout pizza and honey buns

 

[shortz]

I think he was using "diet" by its original definition, pretty much just whatever you happen to be consuming. We say "dieting", but in reality, dieting is just a marketing word.

Regardless, I agree with what say about cutting/dieting, but with bulking, I tend not to eat everything in sight anymore. I think bulking should still be structured, like Mike mentioned, because I don't think we need to reach BFs of over 14% to reach maximum muscle gain potential, at least, from a BBing standpoint. PLing is a whole other beast, but I am no PLer, and have not trained or eaten that way for many years, so I won't claim to be an authority on that subject.

Where I differ from most peeps on this board is types of foods you need though. I tend to follow an IIFYM diet. As long as you're getting in your macros, you're going to get pretty much what the body needs from a micro nutrient view, but the diet is much more flexible, and I am not one that prescribes to the notion that gains will be any less quality.

That's for another thread though. Just focus on setting up your macros/calories based on your goals, and you can figure out that others stuff later. Typically, for a bulking diet, you can start off with a 40/40/20 (p/c/f) split among your total calories. From there, make adjustments, perhaps increase protein more, or carb cycle etc. Lots of techniques and tweaking you can do from there, but I don't recommend dropping protein much below that number.

 

[PillarofBalance]

I think he was using "diet" by its original definition, pretty much just whatever you happen to be consuming. We say "dieting", but in reality, dieting is just a marketing word.

Regardless, I agree with what say about cutting/dieting, but with bulking, I tend not to eat everything in sight anymore. I think bulking should still be structured, like Mike mentioned, because I don't think we need to reach BFs of over 14% to reach maximum muscle gain potential, at least, from a BBing standpoint. PLing is a whole other beast, but I am no PLer, and have not trained or eaten that way for many years, so I won't claim to be an authority on that subject.

Where I differ from most peeps on this board is types of foods you need though. I tend to follow an IIFYM diet. As long as you're getting in your macros, you're going to get pretty much what the body needs from a micro nutrient view, but the diet is much more flexible, and I am not one that prescribes to the notion that gains will be any less quality.

That's for another thread though. Just focus on setting up your macros/calories based on your goals, and you can figure out that others stuff later. Typically, for a bulking diet, you can start off with a 40/40/20 (p/c/f) split among your total calories. From there, make adjustments, perhaps increase protein more, or carb cycle etc. Lots of techniques and tweaking you can do from there, but I don't recommend dropping protein much below that number.

A lot of us in PL have really abandoned the whole it's ok to be a giant lard ass thing. At least in raw PL. We don't get much at all out of being fat. This is why the 198lb weight class is now the most competitive. It's kinda nice to see to be honest.

As for the OP I like to keep my macros at 30/60/10 for protein Cho and fat. I like have plenty of energy and full muscles at the gym. It helps me do a lot of extra volume so that when I am gaining weight the training is so strenuous that my body uses all that protein (i hope, don't have urinalysis to prove it lol) and I stay leaner longer.