heeth

Hey how is everyone? I am 20 years old. I just recovered from a torn rotator cuff, and i lost a lot of my size and strength. This time around, I am going to start training very hard, but I need help with a good bulking diet. I am thinking of bulking for an entire year.

Currently:
5'5''
185lbs
17%Bf

I am thinking i need about 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per a pound? What should my carbs and fats be like? I know I should eat every two hours. I want to take this very seriously and am going to commit 100 percent. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Built

Protein at 1.5 g per pound lean mass is lots. Fat at least half a gram per pound lean mass. Carbs are whatever fits your calories.

What calories are you running? I'd say watch it with the gains - you're not particularly lean now and I'd hate to see you get very fat because you gained too fast.

heeth

the only reason im this fat is because of my hurt shoulder. before i hurt it i was doing a four day split, the same routine i showed you before you fixed it. I was about 11% bf then, and i was taking in 2,000ish cals

nadirmg

were you cutting back then? 2000 isn't very many calories...

w/o log
5'5" - currently bulking - 145lb on 5/16
weight goal I: 150 :: bench goal II:170 :: squat goal II: 250 :: weighted chin goal IV: +35 x 5 x 5

eVoluti0n

Keep your fat intake between 10-20%.

I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter.

IainDaniel

Why?

That is low.

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

Michael Jordan

Built

A better approach is to keep fats to no lower than 0.5g per pound LBM. That way it is independent of the calories - which fluctuate - and ensures you get sufficient fats to support your lean mass - at ANY calorie level.

heeth

yeah i was cutting back then. I was cutting back then i was trying to get down to 8 % bf. Ok so for my bulk say i eat 3,500 calories a day. I should eat about 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per a pound of lean mass and .5 grams of fat per a lean pound. What would my calorie intake look like from carbs? Like how many grams of carbs should I eat a day? I know ill gain some weight, but I would like to stay under 21%bf while bulking. Do you think its possible? Again, thnaks everyone for all the help

Built

Well, this could work:

"233g of protein, 78g of fat, and 468g of carbohydrate,
3,500 calories in total."


Or this:
"233g of protein, 140g of fat, and 329g of carbohydrate,
3,500 calories in total."

Or this...
"292g of protein, 130g of fat, and 292g of carbohydrate,
3,500 calories in total."

How long do you intend to bulk?

heeth

I would like to bulk for a while. I was thinking as much as a year. My goal in the long run is to be 190 lbs at 10% bf. Im usually 160-165 arounde 10%bf.

Built

It all comes down to how fast you gain weight.

Let's assume 1.5 lbs lean mass gain per month, on average.

Month______LBM_____Weight_at_17%____Weight_at_21%_ _Weight_at_10%

April _____154.0___186______________195____________171
May________155.5___187______________197___________ _173
June_______157.0___189______________199___________ _174
July_______158.5___191______________201___________ _176
August_____160.0___193______________203___________ _178
September__161.5___195______________204___________ _179
October____163.0___196______________206___________ _181
November___164.5___198______________208___________ _183
December___166.0___200______________210___________ _184
January____167.5___202______________212___________ _186
February___169.0___204______________214___________ _188
March _____170.5___205______________216____________189
April _____172.0___207______________218____________191



Weight gain is NOT linear, I am not suggesting you will gain like this. I am only offering you a ballpark idea of the LBM you can expect to gain if you keep eating and training well, and a maximum weight to hit so you don't turn into a complete blimp while you do it! Keep in mind, partitioning gets worse and worse the higher your bodyfat is...

heeth

do you think this is an unreasonable goal? Im dedicated 100 percent to reaching that "golden" number of 190lbs. I bought protein, multivitamins, i still need to get the creatine and i have a digital food scale and an account with fitday to help track my progress. Im also going to start an online journal on this forum to keep myself motivated and get advice from other members. You really have been a great help. Wish me luck!

Built

Notice that you will need to continue to overeat and continue to gain weight over the next year in order to get to somewhere in the 210-lb range. We shall HOPE you will have reached something near the lean mass you desire by this point if you keep lifting heavy and keep overeating. Note that at 218 lbs, if in fact you do have 172 lbs of lean mass, you will have to drop almost 30 lbs to get to 10% - and THAT assumes you cut properly and don't lose lean mass. Play for that to take you about 30 weeks - losing no more than a pound of bodyfat per week.

So, if you bulk until April 1st, then cut for 30 weeks to get down to 190, you should get within at least shooting range of your physique goals before Christmas of 2009.

At least in theory.

heeth

sounds like a long time but im up for it! who cares if im fat for a year? haha, again thanks for all the help. I started the journal and ill be recording all my workouts in it, my diet, ect. It would be great if you checked in on it from time to time to help me! You have been a great help. I dont know how to thank you enough. When its time for me to cut again, ill have it researched and a day to day diet plan down perfectly. I'll review it with some people on this message board and get some good advice hopefully AGAIN THANKS!!!!

nadirmg

just be careful not to overeat too much. the human body is only capable of making so much human muscle within a certain period of time and you'll run into the law of diminishing returns.

i just learned this reading in an article by christian thibaudeau that the human body can gain fat through two ways. 1) fat cells store fat molecules 2) the human body makes more fat cells to store more fat.

sadly the human body cannot get rid of the new fat cells.
so just be careful about overeating too much.

w/o log
5'5" - currently bulking - 145lb on 5/16
weight goal I: 150 :: bench goal II:170 :: squat goal II: 250 :: weighted chin goal IV: +35 x 5 x 5

heeth

i will im going to post a couple sample days and chart me weight gain vs my strength gains and my measurements so i should get an accurate feel for if im gaining muscle or if im gaining fat or more of one or the other. Lets hope I do this right. haha

heeth

what should be a sample meal plan for one day of this? im using fitday to calculate everything and i just want an idea of what i should be consuming.

Built

It doesn't really matter all that much.

Pick the foods you like, adjust the protein and the fat to hit the minimums you want, and add in whatever else you like to total the calories. The percentages don't matter, neither do the relative amounts of protein carb and fat so long as you don't go over on your calories.

Some guidelines I like to throw in are things like

• Get in 10g fish oil daily
• For the first 0.5g/lb worth of fat, split it up evenly amongst poly, mono and saturated fat. If you go higher than this on the fat, lean on monos. You'll see where this fits in on fitday so you don't need to think too hard.
• Get in at least 25g fibre daily
• Try to eat a few servings of green leafies and a few pieces of fruit daily
• eat simple food, unprocessed when possible, raw nuts, natural fats, whole grains etc.

The rest really comes down to you. I don't do meal plans for myself or for anyone else. I just plan out the day, eat whatever I want whenever I want to, and when it's gone, it's gone. That being said, I make sure I'm well fed around the workout window.

heeth

ok thanks that makes sense thanks!