When bulking, do you do the seefood diet?

rhino1964 · 11-04-2009, 05:42 AM

Do you throw caution to the winds and eat everything you see? Or do you try to maintain a healthy diet while bulking? Is there a difference in results between the two?

phal · 11-04-2009, 05:44 AM

If you calculate/trial and errored how much you need to gain, typically you eat 300 - 500 calories over maintenance. Eating over that will more likely than not lead to unnecessary fat gain.

I do think some people are like that and just eat, eat eat and train heavy.

tagun · 11-04-2009, 06:19 AM

I see no reason why not eat at least "semi-clean" while bulking. First off that means eating foods that are generally "healthy" because this way you'll stay nice and healthy overall and won't develop a junk food addiction (if that's even possible, but for the sake of the argument let's say it is). The second thing is, when controlling your caloric intake you know exactly what to do (and how much to cut) if you start to gain massive amounts of fat. Thirdly, you won't have to cut drastically when you decided to stop bulking - be smart about your eating now and you won't have to suffer the consequences later.

So I think eating a varied overall balanced and healthy diet while monitoring your caloric intake and of course having some sweets and goodies when you want them (going out, holiday, whatever) works the best. It's a sustainable way of eating (long-term), it keeps you mentally sane and protects you from gaining too much fat.

Of course I understand the urge to pig out every now and again or to have days when you just don't care about calories and want to be as "free" as possible. But to do so every single day for let's say a 5 month bulking period? Why? You'll just become obsessed with eating as much as you can and this way of thinking is definitely not setting you up for the long run.

To each his own, do as you please. But my opinion is that the best way to bulk is to eat over maintenance as much as it's needed for you to gain a desired amount in a particular time frame. That's usually 300-500 calories above maintenance like said and translated into food it means ~3 tablespoons of peanut butter extra per day. Not that much, right? Well besides hitting the gym hard and sleeping a lot it's really all you need.

And one more thing. Yes, there definitely is a difference between the two. I think everyone should strive to maintain a "healthy" (whatever that may mean to a particular individual) diet. You want to maintain your health, right? If you're asking whether there's difference between "dirty" foods and "clean" foods then the answer is not really. At least in most cases and regarding body composition, not health.

daYDreAmErX · 11-04-2009, 06:24 AM

I'm bulking and checking/counting calories 5 days during the week but during the weekend I eat basically what I want. I go out with friends to eat, I watch TV with a pint of B&J and what not, but when Monday comes it's all back to discipline, fruits, veggies, lean protein, etc. even if I'm buling. Working pretty well so far.

7rmr · 11-04-2009, 06:28 AM

Its funny my greatest muscle gains actually came when I was trying to lose weight. The reason for this was that I actually started to pay a lot of attention to everything I ate as well as when I was eating it. SO I think even when bulking its best not to just eat everything in sight because you'll probably stop giving your body the nutrients it needs and start eating crap food that just tastes good.

fade2green514 · 11-04-2009, 06:36 AM

when im bulking, as long as i get all the nutrition i need... i eat whatever i want.

you generally get a lot more freedom on a bulk, but i don't go crazy eating way too much.

tagun · 11-04-2009, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fade2green514

when im bulking, as long as i get all the nutrition i need... i eat whatever i want.

you generally get a lot more freedom on a bulk, but i don't go crazy eating way too much.

That's pretty much my philosophy as well. I eat whatever I want and whenever I want, the only thing I limit myself is HOW much of whatever food I eat + make sure to get all the micronutrients and enough protein most of the days. Simply because I wanna stay somewhat cut even during a bulk, so as to not having a drastic cut cycle in future.

RandyJH · 11-04-2009, 06:58 AM

Well when I bulk I do make more calorie dense food choices, but I do keep a rough eye on how many I have consumed throughout the day. For almost all bodybuilders, exact counting isnt needed, nor is estimating sometimes. Still I reccommend estimating how many calories youve consumved throughout the day.

So basically if you haven't realized by now, we can assume that weight gain is just a matter of caloric intake. So that being said calculate (many ways to do this) how many calories you burn a day, and eat at an amount slightly above that. 300-500 calories over seems to be the excepted amount around here.

So basically as long as you don't go too far over with your calories, eat enough protein, and use common sense, you can really eat whatever you like.

sunngodd · 11-04-2009, 08:36 AM

I stay roughly consistent with calorie intake. I keep intake constant until I top gaining, then bump it up 200 - 250 cals per day or so, and repeat.

3eowulf · 11-04-2009, 10:17 AM

I like to eat clean all the time, is just a matter of personal choice really. If you dont have any eating disorder I dont see why you cant have some "amuse-bouche"

Alyion · 11-04-2009, 10:33 AM

I wouldnt recommend just vaccuming everything up in site with no kinda structure but I try to keep a loose count in my head but don't overly stress too much.

At 260 lbs though you are gonna need a hell of a lot of food though to bulk up so ymmv

MarkVI · 11-04-2009, 11:44 AM

Yeah, pretty much I do but I don't stuff myself is the key IMO. Also, I don't usually keep crap around the house so as "dirty" as it gets is either too much peanut butter or kiddy cereal....

And this bull**** about about 3-500 cals over maintenance misses a big factor -- as you eat more you usually feel like doing more stuff which leads to a higher maintenance and your workouts most likely become more intense etc....

rhino1964 · 11-04-2009, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkVI

Yeah, pretty much I do but I don't stuff myself is the key IMO. Also, I don't usually keep crap around the house so as "dirty" as it gets is either too much peanut butter or kiddy cereal....

And this bull**** about about 3-500 cals over maintenance misses a big factor -- as you eat more you usually feel like doing more stuff which leads to a higher maintenance and your workouts most likely become more intense etc....

Exactly! Did you notice the bodyweight posted by many of our friends on here? I mean, if someone just wants to get in shape and ripped, that's fine, but...

I remember reading that Olympia contender Paul Dillett claimed to eat mostly Big Macs during his early years of training to pack on mass. Not the healthiest route, but you do what you gotta do.

I believe that to get bigger you really have to overload the body with extra food and nutrients, especially if you're training heavy and with balls-to-the-wall intensity.

I'm going to post a vid I found on musculardevelopment.com of Kai Greene eating. I think some people here need to see this.

Personally, I don't eat too many sweets--almost never, in fact. But a typical bulking meal for me is to go to Fazoli's and devour a Ham'n'Swiss Supreme and a Club Italiano. Post-workout, I scramble 6 eggs and eat them on whole wheat bread. I eat a lot of meatloaf too.

I've put on 20 lbs. in the 7 months I've been lifting and I assume most of it is muscle, since my waist hasn't grown and everybody seems to notice big changes going on. But if I didn't eat enough, I'd just be wasting time in the gym, IMHO.

lateralus87 · 11-04-2009, 12:25 PM

A lot of this depends on how easily you gain weight. As an endomorph I can bulk easily at less than 3k calories... so eating clean all the time is easy.

rhino1964 · 11-04-2009, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarkVI

Yeah, pretty much I do but I don't stuff myself is the key IMO. Also, I don't usually keep crap around the house so as "dirty" as it gets is either too much peanut butter or kiddy cereal....

And this bull**** about about 3-500 cals over maintenance misses a big factor -- as you eat more you usually feel like doing more stuff which leads to a higher maintenance and your workouts most likely become more intense etc....

Here's the vid of Kai Greene eating. Of course it was after a contest and the guy was a little famished...

http://mdtv.musculardevelopment.com/...view/1960/164/