Failing in bulk (want to catch myself but don't know how)

[PremierGirl]

This is my split *sets 6-10 reps*

Shoulders-12 sets
Back-12 sets/Biceps - 9 sets
Chest-12 sets/triceps-9 sets
Skip a day (usually dedicate to abs 9-12 sets)
Repeat

I'm 16 {My new goal is to compete by senior year, that's 2 years}
128 lbs
5"6

I started a bulk some time back, and yesterday while I was sitting on the comp my brother made a comment on how I was getting fat in my stomach and that I don't know anything about nutrition and stuff and my mom couple days earlier had told me that I have a big stomach for all the exercise I do(cuz she wanted me to think it was the egg yolks so that I stop eating it).
And it's true, my waist is 32.5 and I have gained a lot of fat .
Also I don't seem to have gotten any noticeable muscle which was the point of my bulk
as you can see my avatar picture(Jan.11) and the picture below which I took couple minutes ago

Ok so .
According to my stats
I made it my goal to eat 2400- 2500 calories a day
45C35P20F
The only thing Im not sure if it was good about my diet was that I ate up to 4 servings of kashi heart to heart throught the day and Kashi golean crunch post workout and breakfast. (cereal good?)
Aside from that everything was like the basics (oatmeal ,chicken almonds....etc)
THis might have been a problem too but during weekends if I go out, I'll have a cheat meal with a pretty big desert, but like I said only if i go out.
Can anybody give me advice?
Should I attempt a cut or no?
What should I do?
I need another persons perspective please!!!!

Oh also I eat the same amount everyday whether I workout or not..
even on days that I do conditioning for flag football which is kind of intense I still eat the same amount... is that okay?

Oh heres the picture I took today and my Avatar is the pic taken a month ago.

edit ; oh and the reason I dont do legs is because we usually do lunges ,burpees, squat thrusts and stuff in falg football everyday

[terracotta]

You're eating too many calories for your height/weight and activity level and gaining too much fat. I'd lower to 2200 calories.

Your split also isn't so good, try something like an upper/lower split. There are a bunch on my site if you are interested - www.hotnfit.com . I'm not sure why you aren't exercising legs too.

[PremierGirl]

thanks for the link , I liked it but I can't do legs during flag football....
but are you sure , 2200 bulking for me??

[freebirdmac]

Rule number 1: If you are gaining a lot of fat (subjective) your cals are too high. So yes, lower them a bit as terracotta suggested. You also should improve your macros. Get your protein number up. As for workouts, you are doing way too many sets. You should only be doing 3-4 sets per exercise and 3-4 exercises per body part. You're overworking your muscles. You probably would also do better having 2 rest days between your two days of upper body work.

[terracotta]

thanks for the link , I liked it but I can't do legs during flag football....
but are you sure , 2200 bulking for me??

Ok it's fine if you can't do legs. Yes, if you are gaining too much fat in the midsection, you are eating too much, drop to 2200 and see how it goes.

Also I'd do something like:
Day 1 - Back/Chest
Day 3 - Shoulders/Arms
Day 5 - back/chest
Day 7 - shoulders/Arms
repeat

[PremierGirl]

Ok it's fine if you can't do legs. Yes, if you are gaining too much fat in the midsection, you are eating too much, drop to 2200 and see how it goes.

Also I'd do something like:
Day 1 - Back/Chest
Day 3 - Shoulders/Arms
Day 5 - back/chest
Day 7 - shoulders/Arms
repeat

hmm I like it thanks for the reccomendation

how many sets for arms?

[PremierGirl]

Ok I just altered my diet. Any recccomendations/feedback..



Breakfast 6:10 A.M - 4 oz chicken/ 1 serving-kashi Heart to heart

Pre-workout- 7:40 AM- 2 oz chicken

Post workout- Protein Shake/ Kashi go lean crunch / 1 piece ww pita bread

11 AM- Kashi Heart to heart/ 1 piece ww pita bread/ 4 oz chicken

2 PM - Half serving almonds

Pre-Flag football 3PM- 3 oz chicken

Post Flag football 6PM- Kashi Heart to heart/ Protein shake w/ half serving low fat milk

8 PM- 2 servings oatmeal/ half serving almonds/2 oz chicken

10 PM - half serving almonds

And right before sleeping - 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg

comes out to

43P/35C/22F


250 g protein
200 g carbs
54 g fat

[cfaith]

Seems like alot of cereal, what kind of milk are you using--fat free, 2%?

[PremierGirl]

you think so? is that bad?

I use 1% low fat

[terracotta]

Ok it's fine if you can't do legs. Yes, if you are gaining too much fat in the midsection, you are eating too much, drop to 2200 and see how it goes.

Also I'd do something like:
Day 1 - Back/Chest
Day 3 - Shoulders/Arms
Day 5 - back/chest
Day 7 - shoulders/Arms
repeat

Ok, I'd suggest
Back - 3 exercises, 3 sets
Chest - 3 exercises, 3 sets
Shoulders - 2-3 exercises, 3 sets
Biceps - 2 exercises, 3 sets
Triceps - 2 exercises, 3 sets

You can put 10 minutes abs after each workout.


Ok I just altered my diet. Any recccomendations/feedback..



Breakfast 6:10 A.M - 4 oz chicken/ 1 serving-kashi Heart to heart

Pre-workout- 7:40 AM- 2 oz chicken

Post workout- Protein Shake/ Kashi go lean crunch / 1 piece ww pita bread

11 AM- Kashi Heart to heart/ 1 piece ww pita bread/ 4 oz chicken

2 PM - Half serving almonds

Pre-Flag football 3PM- 3 oz chicken

Post Flag football 6PM- Kashi Heart to heart/ Protein shake w/ half serving low fat milk

8 PM- 2 servings oatmeal/ half serving almonds/2 oz chicken

10 PM - half serving almonds

And right before sleeping - 4 egg whites and 1 whole egg

comes out to

43P/35C/22F


250 g protein
200 g carbs
54 g fat

You shouldn't be relying so much on that Kashi cereal for a protein source. Get a large percentage of protein from meat/dairy powder.

I'd do your macros either 40c/40p/20f or 50/30/20, at 2200 calories, so either

220 g protein, 220 carbs, 49 g fat

or

275 g carbs, 165 g protein, 49 g fat

Of course, no need to be exact, but I'd go close to there, I personally prefer 50/30/20 when not dieting.

[imperfectly_lou]

I would get rid of some of the cereal and replace it with less processed carbs such as oats, sweet potato, brown rice etc. You're also getting little to no vegetables which are very important. Try to add in some broccoli, spinach, kale or similar.

[PremierGirl]

Ok, I'd suggest
Back - 3 exercises, 3 sets
Chest - 3 exercises, 3 sets
Shoulders - 2-3 exercises, 3 sets
Biceps - 2 exercises, 3 sets
Triceps - 2 exercises, 3 sets

You can put 10 minutes abs after each workout.



You shouldn't be relying so much on that Kashi cereal for a protein source. Get a large percentage of protein from meat/dairy powder.

I'd do your macros either 40c/40p/20f or 50/30/20, at 2200 calories, so either

220 g protein, 220 carbs, 49 g fat

or

275 g carbs, 165 g protein, 49 g fat

Of course, no need to be exact, but I'd go close to there, I personally prefer 50/30/20 when not dieting.

Thanks a lot for all your help... actually the cereal has little protein it's usually my carb source.


also thank you lou, I'll try to replace some of the cereal with veggies then

[cfaith]

you think so? is that bad?

I use 1% low fat


Yes--like the other girls suggested chose whole natural foods over processed (sweet potatoes or oatmeal for carbs and lean meats for protein). If you love the cereal then cut it down to one serving a day (make sure to go by serving size on the side of the box). I really like the 50/30/20 ratio that Terracotta recommended.

[PremierGirl]

What now?

Today I go to my main gym in which I havn't been in like a month because I started lifting in school. Before I went by their scale because every scale says something differant.Publix says 127, the school gym says 128 and my main gym said 126. Well anyways last time I was there, like a month ago I weight 126. Today I go and it says I weight 124??? SO I've lost 2 pounds?

What should I do?
Now that I've lowered my calories even more, wouldn't I start losing even more weight?(which I dont want)

Im starting to think those cheat meals got the best of me.

[freebirdmac]

Go by your waist measurement, not just the scale. Keep in mind that bloating and monthly hormonal changes can mess with your measurement. But over weeks you should see a trend.

Track your diet on a site like fitday so you know what you're consuming. You've just made some adjustments and could be reacting to lesser carbs, which can lead to water loss. But give any diet plan about 3 weeks before judging it. Especially if you also change your workout routine. I've found the first two weeks of a new workout routine results in more calories burned than the next 4 weeks.

[PremierGirl]

thanks a lot! cleared my doubts

[twinnett]

In my opinion....you're 16 and I don't think you should be too focused on numbers and dieting right now...work out, stay active and eat healthy and most importantly, study hard and have fun!!

[kimm4]

This is my split *sets 6-10 reps*

Shoulders-12 sets
Back-12 sets/Biceps - 9 sets
Chest-12 sets/triceps-9 sets
Skip a day (usually dedicate to abs 9-12 sets)
Repeat

I'm 16 {My new goal is to compete by senior year, that's 2 years}
128 lbs
5"6

I started a bulk some time back, and yesterday while I was sitting on the comp my brother made a comment on how I was getting fat in my stomach and that I don't know anything about nutrition and stuff and my mom couple days earlier had told me that I have a big stomach for all the exercise I do(cuz she wanted me to think it was the egg yolks so that I stop eating it).
And it's true, my waist is 32.5 and I have gained a lot of fat .
Also I don't seem to have gotten any noticeable muscle which was the point of my bulk
as you can see my avatar picture(Jan.11) and the picture below which I took couple minutes ago

Ok so .
According to my stats
I made it my goal to eat 2400- 2500 calories a day
45C35P20F
The only thing Im not sure if it was good about my diet was that I ate up to 4 servings of kashi heart to heart throught the day and Kashi golean crunch post workout and breakfast. (cereal good?)
Aside from that everything was like the basics (oatmeal ,chicken almonds....etc)
THis might have been a problem too but during weekends if I go out, I'll have a cheat meal with a pretty big desert, but like I said only if i go out.
Can anybody give me advice?
Should I attempt a cut or no?
What should I do?
I need another persons perspective please!!!!

Oh also I eat the same amount everyday whether I workout or not..
even on days that I do conditioning for flag football which is kind of intense I still eat the same amount... is that okay?

Oh heres the picture I took today and my Avatar is the pic taken a month ago.

edit ; oh and the reason I dont do legs is because we usually do lunges ,burpees, squat thrusts and stuff in falg football everyday

Actually 2400 calories is 500 above her maintenance, but it looks like your macro breakdown was off balance. I would go down to 2200 like suggested and switch your macro breakdown to 45p/30c/25f...I think you were taking in too many carbs and this can be a problem.

Do this for a good 3 weeks and see how it works. Looking at your pic and you don't really look like you added too much fat at all.

Good luck!

[sherdi]

I agree with Twinnett....you are only 16 and shouldn't need to stick to such a rigid diet. As long as you make sure you eat healthy food and stay active that is okay. Calculating macros, calories, etc at your age, IMO, is not a healthy practice.