First time BULKERS apply here ;)

[CajunSpecial]

I'm ready to join the rest of you. My summer beach vacation is now over so I'm going into a full bulk. Since this is my first bulk, I've been doing as much reading and learning as I can. I'm starting slow as I've always been an under-eater so yesterday I raised my calories to 1900. I logged everything in and at the end of the day, my carbs were way too low so today I'm working on increasing that. It's going to take some getting used to but I'm committed. Not sure how high my calories will need to go but I will slowly increase them over the next week or two.

[thepowerwithin]

The bodymedia is probably off. I think the accuracy is around +- 15%.

Seriously? What a hunk of junk.

[stephanielynn76]

Whazzzzzzup ladies!!?! I was on the cutting train for a quite a while and I'll soon be joining you again for official bulk #2. I am currently maintaining at 5-6lbs above my stage weight. I'm thinking I'll stay put for a few more weeks until the kids start school and my schedule is more predictable. I'm more nervous about how I'm going to take gaining the weight this time around. Last time I started bulking at an extremely lean willowy 122lbs. This time I'll start around 130lbs. It's feasible that I'll get up to 145 or more by this end of this thing and that kinda scares me. I know I shouldn't pay so much attention to that scale number but let's be honest... we all do don't we! LOL

[Sarah97]

Steph I'm happy you're joining in! I was borderline obsessed with your progress and your contest prep lol..so I'm excited to have you here

I haven't been posting much because we have had a lot going on (moving, potty training, galbladder issues, fun times), but I'm still going strong aside from the medical problems I was having. I have 2-3 months left..haven't decided. I hope everyone is doing well!

[stephanielynn76]

Steph I'm happy you're joining in! I was borderline obsessed with your progress and your contest prep lol..so I'm excited to have you here

I haven't been posting much because we have had a lot going on (moving, potty training, galbladder issues, fun times), but I'm still going strong aside from the medical problems I was having. I have 2-3 months left..haven't decided. I hope everyone is doing well!

hahaha that's awesome! I'm glad to be back! Yes, the bulking thread was always so much more fun than the cutting thread... probably because the people in here aren't cranky from friggen starving their a$$es off. LOL.

Hang in there Sarah and check in when you can

[locolala]

Whazzzzzzup ladies!!?! I was on the cutting train for a quite a while and I'll soon be joining you again for official bulk #2. I am currently maintaining at 5-6lbs above my stage weight. I'm thinking I'll stay put for a few more weeks until the kids start school and my schedule is more predictable. I'm more nervous about how I'm going to take gaining the weight this time around. Last time I started bulking at an extremely lean willowy 122lbs. This time I'll start around 130lbs. It's feasible that I'll get up to 145 or more by this end of this thing and that kinda scares me. I know I shouldn't pay so much attention to that scale number but let's be honest... we all do don't we! LOL

you didn't answer my pm

[stephanielynn76]

you didn't answer my pm

omgosh I didn't??? When did you send it? I just emptied my PM box the other day because it was too full Resend it please

[freebirdmac]

Seriously? What a hunk of junk.

If it's consistent, then it's fine. It should only be used for trends, not absolute numbers. It has helped quite a few women on these forums realize they were under eating. So that's good.

[thepowerwithin]

If it's consistent, then it's fine. It should only be used for trends, not absolute numbers. It has helped quite a few women on these forums realize they were under eating. So that's good.

I definitely agree, very helpful in that situation.

I also see the reverse of that, where women stay stuck regarding fat loss because they gauge their deficit by what the thingy says. For me, wearing one for more then a week would be crossing the line. It will probably never happen. I think my family would plan an intervention .

[freebirdmac]

I definitely agree, very helpful in that situation.

I also see the reverse of that, where women stay stuck regarding fat loss because they gauge their deficit by what the thingy says. For me, wearing one for more then a week would be crossing the line. It will probably never happen. I think my family would plan an intervention .

Yep. And if they post here that they aren't losing based on what the thing says, we straighten them out

I wore one 24/7 for a week. It was probably 100 calories off. The night time sleep info was interesting. Sure picked up on my night sweat episodes

[finey]

Hi to all I think at least 2lbs of that 4lbs weight gain must be water my hormones are imbalanced so I am going to the doctor next week to get that in order. I am still lifting and eating but it is hard with all the blood loss everyday I feel weak and tired so hopefully the doctor can fix me. Man I want to squat 100lbs then hopefully 250lbs so bad and curl at least 25lbs then move to 35lbs. I can see that bulking is a slow process ..I just hope that the more I increase my weights the more bigger my muscles will get. I'm new to this and it has only been a week of bulking and exercise but I cant stop looking and flexing hoping that somehow magically my quads , biceps, back will be huge. If I told you guys the weights that I was pushing before and what I'm doing now you might laugh lol.

[tahinilove]

Great to see more bulkers!

Yeah I'm going to forgo the bodymedia now.

Managed to deadlift 65kg/143lbs-PB. So happy! Bought some liquid chalk which has really helped with my grip!

[DaniGrrl]

Hey, bulkers! I have an update from Andrerox that she asked me to post. I was lurking around here yesterday and mentioned to her that a lot of you were asking for her.

Here's her update:



I don't know when I last posted. I'm sorry I haven't. Haven't been on computer at all - not the most comfortable position - but am interested in you all and I bet there are a lot of new people to follow as well. Feel free to give updates thru danielle or pm her for my contact info. Really interested in hearing about your bulks and lives.

Okay, so I think I had had my right side radiofrequency ablation before I stopped coming to the site. If not, I can back up, so just let me know. But so first side, fine. More pain afterwards, which is normal. Supposed to be a lot worse for 3 weeks. 10 days later I had RA to the left side, and that's when all hell broke loose. As soon as the sedation wore off, my head dropped and I was unable to lift it (found one case of dropped head syndrome following RA but it turns out dropped head syndrome isn't what I have at all). I also got intense pain and nausea. A few days later I got parkinsons' tremors-like spasms and then they turned into looking more like epileptic seizures.

I am on ********, flexeril and zofran, and still am getting worse, not better.

It's really bad. Can lift my head only centimeters. It's chin-to-chest and leans to the right side. I am in such pain, have major spasms, headaches, and nausea. I wear a collar at work. I can't get it under my chin but it at least brings me up a little so I can do my job. But took today off. Thru the 9 fractured vertebrae, bulging disc, broken rib, all the scans (ct scan and 2 mri's) and treatments (multiple trigger point injections, an epidural, facet injections, and radiofrequency x 2), I had only missed 3 days of work. Today makes 4. Am sort of throwing in the towel and might quit. Know it would make me more depressed but am already hopeless and can't deal.

W/ the scans, I have had so much difficulty b/c I can't lay even 2/3 of the way down and spasm) and nothing shows. I have been to different docs (inc second opinions at a pain center at a leading hospital), and suddenly, after 4 weeks, I get the same diagnosis 3 days in a row by different doctors (2 at my main place, 1 at second opinion).

A "unique" form of spasmodic torticollis.

Hasn't totally hit me yet. Have periods of breaking down, but know once it really hits I'll fall to pieces.

There is no cure, just some easing of the symptoms. I cannot deal. Probably won't lift again, and you know that ruins me. My entire raisin d'etre. That alone is enough to kill me, but the pain, spasms, and not lifting head are what kill me currently. And the bleak future. One of the first lines of attack is botox. Would release the constant contraction of my muscles and the perpetual spasming in the front and back left and right sides of my neck. But I don't know if it would help w/ the major spasms or help me lift my head. And wouldn't help w/ the pain. But I saw the neuro at my first place yest and he won't do botox. Neck has been thru a lot (fractured c6-c7, facet injections, radiofrequency to both sides) so he won't go near it. Maybe botox down the line. Found a dystonia clinic at the big hospital and want to try to get in. No clue why the head of the pain center/head of anesthesiology and neurologist there didn't refer me to them. So now trying to get a referral.

That's the update.

Miss you guys.
..

[DaniGrrl]

Me, I've been cutting since beginning of July. I'm only down two pounds so far, feel less bloaty, but that's about it for now. I dropped my calories pretty gradually and am at 1800-1900 right now which I was maintaining at before I started bulking so I'm sure the two pounds I lost is only water at this point. I'm debating hanging at these calories for another week before dropping calories again. I've decided to put off competing until at least next spring, so there's no pressing concerns to start seriously cutting. I have too much going on personally to add the stress of competition in. So I will be back to bulking probably by the end up September. So far dropping calories hasn't been too bad - stress has been affecting my appetite anyway so I'm not ready to chew my arm off LOL

I miss bulking and all of you but have been lurking and keeping up with all of your progress

[thepowerwithin]

I suspected the situation with Andrerox (Randy ?) was bad. Such pain and heartache!

God help me from ever complaining about insignificant sh!t ever again.

Thanks for the update Dani.

[DaniGrrl]

I suspected the situation with Andrerox (Randy ?) was bad. Such pain and heartache!

God help me from ever complaining about insignificant sh!t ever again.

Thanks for the update Dani.

No problem! I feel awful for her and just wish I lived closer to help her out some. I'll keep everyone updated

[locolala]

someone pls aware me on Andrerox? what's her situation?

[ms_mac]

I suspected the situation with Andrerox (Randy ?) was bad. Such pain and heartache!

God help me from ever complaining about insignificant sh!t ever again.

Thanks for the update Dani.

Yeah I was afraid it was not going to be good news. I feel horrible for her. Dani please tell her we are thinking of her and hoping things get better for her..

[dreahere]

Yeah I was afraid it was not going to be good news. I feel horrible for her. Dani please tell her we are thinking of her and hoping things get better for her..

^^^Ditto. My god, that poor girl has been through so much

[hesn92]

I am attempting my first one. I lost about 20 pounds from January to maybe April and then maintained. Now I am trying to bulk... I got down to 138lbs or so and now I'm up again to 141. I think I'm going to do this until I reach 145-150lb and then go into a deficit again. I eat about 300 over maintenance.

ETA: Sorry guys! I feel like I'm interrupting a more serious conversation...

[tahinilove]

Never spoke to andrerox but my heart goes out to her! Makes us realise how lucky we are!

[Sarah97]

Good Lord I feel so bad for her I hope she knows she's in all of our thoughts. I hope some kind of miracle happens for her and she gets some relief. She sure does deserve it.

[DaniGrrl]

I'll definitely tell her you guys were asking for her. I'm sure that will lift her spirits a little. And I'll keep everyone here updated as much as I can. I'm so amazed she is able to even take any of this medical info in and absorb things with all the pain she's in.

[happyplace]

Hi, I'm completely new here. A very quick background: was overweight (145 lbs), then developed anorexia (93 lbs), gained back some, now sitting at 5'1, 22% fat and 108 lbs but still kind of bony in places. I build muscle VERY easily for a woman and decided that instead of trying to recomp which is going s-l-o-w-l-y I might as well take advantage of where I'm at and my genetics, and go for a bulk. I maintain on 2200 (don't ask how...) so I'll be aiming for 2500ish. Somehow my body seems to love being this weight no matter how much or little I eat so I expect I might have a hard time gaining on that. Plus of course as I gain, my calorie requirements will increase, and once school restarts in September I'll have a higher TDEE. So I don't realistically expect to gain fast at all on 2500.

My current workout schedule is:
Monday - 45 mins lifting, 15 mins sprinting, 15 mins cycling
Tuesday - 30 mins HIIT, 15 mins cycling
Wednesday - 45 mins lifting, 15 mins sprinting, 15 mins cycling
Thursday - 30 mins hill running, 15 mins cycling
Friday - 45 mins lifting, 15 mins sprinting, 15 mins cycling
Saturday - 60-120 mins running (doing a charity 1/2 marathon unfortunately...)
Sunday - off
(I know it's a lot of cardio but the cycling is just how I get to and from school, Saturday run is purely for my heart and lungs and bc I have a charity 1/2 marathon, and the sprinting is bc I have potential as a runner - have cut down massively recently and may cut even further depending on progress. Also intending to do a Tough Mudder in 2013.)

Nutritionally this is my approximate plan:
Breakfast: Overnight oats w/ chia, banana, PB (400)
Post-workout: Yoghurt, cereal, fruit (400)
Lunch: Approx 150 cals each of carb + protein, plus fat and veg (500)
Snack: Sandwich/cereal bar/whatever comes to hand (400)
Dinner: Same as lunch (500)
Snack: Froyo/fruit/dark chocolate/PB etc (300)

So I am thinking if I aim to gain 1/3lb per week, I should hit 115 by mid-January which works out great, as I'll have a good 4 months to cut before anything resembling summer hits the UK. Plus it means I can be bulking over Xmas/New year/birthday. Perfect


Please, can you all tell me if I am even close to getting this right? I am so new to all this. Psychologically it scares the fuk outta me so at least I want to know if I am on track with my plan and goals. I don't feel like I am small/lean enough to bulk. Pointers/criticism/EVERYTHING is so welcome. Thanks in advance.

[megdaig]

Hi, I'm completely new here. A very quick background: was overweight (145 lbs), then developed anorexia (93 lbs), gained back some, now sitting at 5'1, 22% fat and 108 lbs but still kind of bony in places. I build muscle VERY easily for a woman and decided that instead of trying to recomp which is going s-l-o-w-l-y I might as well take advantage of where I'm at and my genetics, and go for a bulk. I maintain on 2200 (don't ask how...) so I'll be aiming for 2500ish. Somehow my body seems to love being this weight no matter how much or little I eat so I expect I might have a hard time gaining on that. Plus of course as I gain, my calorie requirements will increase, and once school restarts in September I'll have a higher TDEE. So I don't realistically expect to gain fast at all on 2500.

My current workout schedule is:
Monday - 45 mins lifting, 15 mins sprinting, 15 mins cycling
Tuesday - 30 mins HIIT, 15 mins cycling
Wednesday - 45 mins lifting, 15 mins sprinting, 15 mins cycling
Thursday - 30 mins hill running, 15 mins cycling
Friday - 45 mins lifting, 15 mins sprinting, 15 mins cycling
Saturday - 60-120 mins running (doing a charity 1/2 marathon unfortunately...)
Sunday - off
(I know it's a lot of cardio but the cycling is just how I get to and from school, Saturday run is purely for my heart and lungs and bc I have a charity 1/2 marathon, and the sprinting is bc I have potential as a runner - have cut down massively recently and may cut even further depending on progress. Also intending to do a Tough Mudder in 2013.)

Nutritionally this is my approximate plan:
Breakfast: Overnight oats w/ chia, banana, PB (400)
Post-workout: Yoghurt, cereal, fruit (400)
Lunch: Approx 150 cals each of carb + protein, plus fat and veg (500)
Snack: Sandwich/cereal bar/whatever comes to hand (400)
Dinner: Same as lunch (500)
Snack: Froyo/fruit/dark chocolate/PB etc (300)

So I am thinking if I aim to gain 1/3lb per week, I should hit 115 by mid-January which works out great, as I'll have a good 4 months to cut before anything resembling summer hits the UK. Plus it means I can be bulking over Xmas/New year/birthday. Perfect


Please, can you all tell me if I am even close to getting this right? I am so new to all this. Psychologically it scares the fuk outta me so at least I want to know if I am on track with my plan and goals. I don't feel like I am small/lean enough to bulk. Pointers/criticism/EVERYTHING is so welcome. Thanks in advance.

If you've had a hard time gaining weight it could be possible that you were still undereating regardless of how much you thought you were eating. Unless we weigh and measure everything, our guestimating can be very poor. Hell, I weighed out some ice cream last night which was one serving (1/2 c. or 85 grams or something like that)...and it was MUCH smaller than I thought...usually I'd fix 3x the amount I ended up weighing out. What I'm saying is...we tend to underestimate on foods we enjoy and overestimate on the not so fun ones...

I'd suggest you weigh and measure ALL of your foods...even the nibbles for a while and get an idea for what your daily intake usually is.

Your diet looks really low on protein. Try and make certain that you're getting at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

And yes, the cardio does look excessive. You may need to eat more than 2500 to gain. But this is where tracking your diet will help. If you aren't gaining...increase the calories.

[happyplace]

If you've had a hard time gaining weight it could be possible that you were still undereating regardless of how much you thought you were eating. Unless we weigh and measure everything, our guestimating can be very poor. Hell, I weighed out some ice cream last night which was one serving (1/2 c. or 85 grams or something like that)...and it was MUCH smaller than I thought...usually I'd fix 3x the amount I ended up weighing out. What I'm saying is...we tend to underestimate on foods we enjoy and overestimate on the not so fun ones...

I'd suggest you weigh and measure ALL of your foods...even the nibbles for a while and get an idea for what your daily intake usually is.

Your diet looks really low on protein. Try and make certain that you're getting at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

And yes, the cardio does look excessive. You may need to eat more than 2500 to gain. But this is where tracking your diet will help. If you aren't gaining...increase the calories.

I tracked myself at 2200+ for 5 months, but part of my recovery from anorexia has been to quit obsessive counting. For me, it's not compatible with recovery at least right now. Believe me though I have a tendency to eat more than I think rather than less, because I get hungry as hell on 2200. You're right that tracking would be the smartest and easiest way but I have to balance the psychological aspects and I know that while I can happily chow down 3000 cals just out of hunger, seeing the numbers can eff with my silly little post-anorexic head.

I get enough protein for sure... 150 cals of shrimp at lunch, 150 cals of chicken at dinner, a salmon sandwich or protein bar in the afternoon and 1 cup of yoghurt after my workout is standard plus other bits here and there (like another 12g in my breakfast, milk throughout the day, evening snack usually packs another 10-15g). On a good day I'll get near 150g. That said, I am open to suggestions as to how I can get more protein in if you can help?

Your point of 'if you aren't gaining, increase calories' is probably how I'll gauge my intake. All the calorie counting in the world isn't worth as much as that statement! I guess I'll start on 2500 and just see what happens. Thanks

[anykotya]

And what about your training on bulk? Please, share your programms

[megdaig]

I get enough protein for sure... 150 cals of shrimp at lunch, 150 cals of chicken at dinner, a salmon sandwich or protein bar in the afternoon and 1 cup of yoghurt after my workout is standard plus other bits here and there (like another 12g in my breakfast, milk throughout the day, evening snack usually packs another 10-15g). On a good day I'll get near 150g. That said, I am open to suggestions as to how I can get more protein in if you can help?

Good Stuff^^^

Your point of 'if you aren't gaining, increase calories' is probably how I'll gauge my intake. All the calorie counting in the world isn't worth as much as that statement! I guess I'll start on 2500 and just see what happens. Thanks

^^ And exactly this. A lot of the ladies here don't track at all. They'll do a reassessment for about 2 weeks just for a sanity check. This is exactly how you should go about it.

You'll get a bump on the scale from the water gain after increasing cals/carbs/sodium. So just monitor progress over a few weeks and if you are really gaining..increase another 100 cals...

Good luck!

[happyplace]

I just have another question. My scale says I am about 22% fat right now. I was hoping that since I am relatively new to lifting, I can make some n00b gains and limit how much fat I put on. I would like to aim for 115 lbs and stay below 25% fat. Does that sound plausible? My diet is very clean and I hope to gain about 1 lb every 3 weeks. Technically shouldn't it be possible for my fat % to stay the same (technically...) if I bulk really slow, since I could gain more muscle than fat?

Sorry if this is a bit dumb but I'm totally clueless really, except that I know I need to lift big and eat big.

[WariorGoddess]

Need help getting back on to the Bulk-wagon I've been cutting since, idunno, April (?), lost ~8lbs. So now I'm b/w 112-115lbs. A part of me wants to maintain this weight but an even bigger parts wants more MUSCLE I've been getting the "...your too thin comments" but at the same time while at the gym gettin the "....you should compete for a comp." comments.

Awww what to do what to do? I think it's soon time to bulk but once again am having a difficult time mind-f@#*ing myself in to it! Why oh why did I buy new clothes last week...sz. 1-3.

Time to take out the calculator and re-calculate maintenance and bulking cals.....