First time BULKERS apply here ;)

[andrerox80]

I think some of the perks of bulking are coming true for me. As I've shared, after my first bulk, I dropped half of the weight I gained, stopping when I felt comfortable with mirror and clothes, which is 130 lbs. Never in my life have I felt comfortable at 130 lbs. Perk number one.

I have been mostly eating at what I thought was my maintenance of 1,800-1,900 with a few days of gluttony thrown in (half of pie one day) (3 slices of cake another) (chocolate covered peanut butter balls all day long on yet another day) since reaching 130 lbs, which has been 5-6 weeks....maybe more. I am still dropping weight every so slowly. Zero cardio. For the past 2 weeks, I've been at 127-128 lbs. Maybe, just maybe this bulk has upped my maintenance. Perk number 2? Time will tell. So interesting!

awesome!!

[Tikibeast]

I think some of the perks of bulking are coming true for me. As I've shared, after my first bulk, I dropped half of the weight I gained, stopping when I felt comfortable with mirror and clothes, which is 130 lbs. Never in my life have I felt comfortable at 130 lbs. Perk number one.

I have been mostly eating at what I thought was my maintenance of 1,800-1,900 with a few days of gluttony thrown in (half of pie one day) (3 slices of cake another) (chocolate covered peanut butter balls all day long on yet another day) since reaching 130 lbs, which has been 5-6 weeks....maybe more. I am still dropping weight every so slowly. Zero cardio. For the past 2 weeks, I've been at 127-128 lbs. Maybe, just maybe this bulk has upped my maintenance. Perk number 2? Time will tell. So interesting!

You forgot perk #3, looking and feeling outstanding!

[thepowerwithin]

You forgot perk #3, looking and feeling outstanding!

How could I forget?!? So very true!

[Tikibeast]

How could I forget?!? So very true!

Hell that's why I do it, I don't care about anything other than the fact that I wake up genuinely more satisfied with life than I was previously.

[toodlepip]

already tried pt. it's not even abt being able to increase strength from a strength perspective. i could if i were able to hold more than 12.5 lb db's w/o all the crackling. it's not that i'm too weak (have become for some things, but not that low for others) but that my back won't let me. pt's haven't helped. am trying to be patient and really am grateful to be back to lifting at all but really wanna get back to the bulk. feel like my motivation has waned and my physique goals have to totally change.

I really feel for you. It's so hard to be patient. Hang in there. 'Health' is much more than just physical, work on the aspects that you can - the rest will come.

TPW - that's brilliant. I love that you are loving who you are now, not defined by a number but a general sense of well-being and feeling - nice.

[toodlepip]

Just thought I'd add a good quote in from Martin Berkan's new post today:

Being able to eat sensibly, count calories, lift weights and track your progress, is merely scratching the surface. To come full circle and reach "fitness zen" - a state where you feel content, balanced and in control of your body and mind - you must seek to understand yourself on a deeper level. Knowing the workings of your mind is just as important as understanding the workings of your body, in order to get them to cooperate properly.

http://www.leangains.com/2011/12/ten...-horizons.html

[thepowerwithin]

Just thought I'd add a good quote in from Martin Berkan's new post today:

Being able to eat sensibly, count calories, lift weights and track your progress, is merely scratching the surface. To come full circle and reach "fitness zen" - a state where you feel content, balanced and in control of your body and mind - you must seek to understand yourself on a deeper level. Knowing the workings of your mind is just as important as understanding the workings of your body, in order to get them to cooperate properly.

http://www.leangains.com/2011/12/ten...-horizons.html

Coming from someone who has struggled and felt trapped by my own limiting thinking, beliefs and ideas, I love this. I am a work in progress in this regard, but man oh man what a difference it makes when you work on your person as a whole.

Thanks for sharing!

BTW, have you read any of those books in that article? I think The End to Overeating sounds right up my alley to hopefully end my half-pie days .

[agambow]

I think some of the perks of bulking are coming true for me. As I've shared, after my first bulk, I dropped half of the weight I gained, stopping when I felt comfortable with mirror and clothes, which is 130 lbs. Never in my life have I felt comfortable at 130 lbs. Perk number one.

I have been mostly eating at what I thought was my maintenance of 1,800-1,900 with a few days of gluttony thrown in (half of pie one day) (3 slices of cake another) (chocolate covered peanut butter balls all day long on yet another day) since reaching 130 lbs, which has been 5-6 weeks....maybe more. I am still dropping weight every so slowly. Zero cardio. For the past 2 weeks, I've been at 127-128 lbs. Maybe, just maybe this bulk has upped my maintenance. Perk number 2? Time will tell. So interesting!

This is awesome and motivating, thank you for sharing!

[toodlepip]

Coming from someone who has struggled and felt trapped by my own limiting thinking, beliefs and ideas, I love this. I am a work in progress in this regard, but man oh man what a difference it makes when you work on your person as a whole.

Thanks for sharing!

BTW, have you read any of those books in that article? I think The End to Overeating sounds right up my alley to hopefully end my half-pie days .

I skimmed The End of Overeating earlier in the year but am going to take out of the library again - as well as the Brawn book. The Mindless Eating book is FASCINATING...very interesting studies and experiments about how we have created an environment for ourselves conducive to constant overeating, from plate size to the size of a dish we set on the table...it all makes a difference....a really fun and informative read.

I've also read SS, but the earlier edition and have that one on my Christmas amazon list...and I heard good things about the Zebra book in a recent podcast so that'll be a library request as well...

now to find the time to do all the reading...

[NIKKIM13]

just bumped up to 1900-2000 calories a day. I feel sooo fat and bloated! I was maintaining on 1800 so now with the extra cals I've been retaining water and gaining weight on the scale. Hopefully it will even out soon. What do you guys do on days that you feel/look fat??

[dreahere]

I skimmed The End of Overeating earlier in the year but am going to take out of the library again - as well as the Brawn book.

Thanks for posting about this. When I read the excerpt about the Snickers bar, I was hooked, because damn, I knew there had to be a scientific reason those things are so delicious Gonna download it onto my kindle tonight.

What do you guys do on days that you feel/look fat??

Yoga pants.

[nicholina]

Just thought I'd add a good quote in from Martin Berkan's new post today:

Being able to eat sensibly, count calories, lift weights and track your progress, is merely scratching the surface. To come full circle and reach "fitness zen" - a state where you feel content, balanced and in control of your body and mind - you must seek to understand yourself on a deeper level. Knowing the workings of your mind is just as important as understanding the workings of your body, in order to get them to cooperate properly.

Love this quote.
Update on me. I started with a personal trainer and I love it. He is extremely knowledgeable and is teaching me a lot of new exercises that focus on stability, balance, and functional movements. He made me cut my cardio is half as well. So far, Im ok with that...its going to help me reach my goals. Im feeling super motivated.

[andrerox80]

I skimmed The End of Overeating earlier in the year but am going to take out of the library again - as well as the Brawn book. The Mindless Eating book is FASCINATING...very interesting studies and experiments about how we have created an environment for ourselves conducive to constant overeating, from plate size to the size of a dish we set on the table...it all makes a difference....a really fun and informative read.

I've also read SS, but the earlier edition and have that one on my Christmas amazon list...and I heard good things about the Zebra book in a recent podcast so that'll be a library request as well...

now to find the time to do all the reading...

post any interesting findings, musings, conclusions, insights. they look interesting. saved the link (thanks) to go back and see if i'll get one. but not right now. i keep printing articles and not even reading them.

--

i am back to long workouts. read: too long. b/c i am doing fake stuff. no compound exercises, light weights, higher reps. so i just feel like it's more okay, which i know is just a rationalization b/c my head needs the volume since i'm lacking intensity.

and i think i really need to scrap all goals, inc physique ones. just not realistic anymore. know i am gonna recover more, but not more enough (nice eng, i know). kind of feel like i'll never be able to lift heavy or go back to bulking again.

but today's workout did put me in a good mood so trying to just savior that. am also eating more b/c of it. even though i won't be gaining muscle from those weights, i can pretend i am enough to increase cals. just a little.

[freebirdmac]

I think some of the perks of bulking are coming true for me. As I've shared, after my first bulk, I dropped half of the weight I gained, stopping when I felt comfortable with mirror and clothes, which is 130 lbs. Never in my life have I felt comfortable at 130 lbs. Perk number one.

I have been mostly eating at what I thought was my maintenance of 1,800-1,900 with a few days of gluttony thrown in (half of pie one day) (3 slices of cake another) (chocolate covered peanut butter balls all day long on yet another day) since reaching 130 lbs, which has been 5-6 weeks....maybe more. I am still dropping weight every so slowly. Zero cardio. For the past 2 weeks, I've been at 127-128 lbs. Maybe, just maybe this bulk has upped my maintenance. Perk number 2? Time will tell. So interesting!

Yep. Bulking is the best way to stoke a metabolism.

[nicholina]

i am back to long workouts. read: too long. b/c i am doing fake stuff. no compound exercises, light weights, higher reps. so i just feel like it's more okay, which i know is just a rationalization b/c my head needs the volume since i'm lacking intensity.

and i think i really need to scrap all goals, inc physique ones. just not realistic anymore. know i am gonna recover more, but not more enough (nice eng, i know). kind of feel like i'll never be able to lift heavy or go back to bulking again.

but today's workout did put me in a good mood so trying to just savior that. am also eating more b/c of it. even though i won't be gaining muscle from those weights, i can pretend i am enough to increase cals. just a little.

May I ask why physical therapy didnt work? I know youre problem isnt weakness...it sounds more like lack of function and pain, which is what physical therapy addresses. And I know you said you tried yoga once and hated it, but maybe give it another shot or try a different kind. There are tons of different kinds of yoga and some offer more of a strenuous work out than others. I guess my point is it might be good to be open to other options than JUST lifting at this point.
Maybe just refocus your goals to match what your currently going through. You can always go back to lifting heavy later if you focus now on recovering from your injury. I just think you shouldnt give up/waste time doing things that arent benefiting you just because you cant lift. Dont scrap your goals, refocus.

[andrerox80]

it's not even lack of function either. it's the damn crackling that's the main thing. pain doesn't allow me to do some stuff, but of the things i can do, i can't go over 12.5 lbs w/o makor crackling. but weakness is part of it b/c i've lost strength, but i could otherwise build that up and have for things i can. my gym only has one yoga class i can attend. i did find a yoga studio, and that place has different kinds, but it's not convenient and i didn't check the times of the classes. not likely to happen. pt just tested my range of motion, basically, and that's fine. and what he told me to do wasn't helpful. i had bad pt experiences post colon surgeries too, so maybe i just have really low expectations and go in w/ a bad attitude. just felt like it was a waste of time, so not something i want to continue to do (not to mention the $). sorry, don't mean to be so depressing and defeatest, but i am depressed. but i do appreciate your suggestions and support, and maybe one day i'll figure out a way to work the yoga studio in. don't have the money to consider it right now anyway.

am so glad you're so motivated. how often are you seeing the trainer? how many cals are you eating? how and how often are you assessing progress? are you still in the care of a doc?

May I ask why physical therapy didnt work? I know youre problem isnt weakness...it sounds more like lack of function and pain, which is what physical therapy addresses. And I know you said you tried yoga once and hated it, but maybe give it another shot or try a different kind. There are tons of different kinds of yoga and some offer more of a strenuous work out than others. I guess my point is it might be good to be open to other options than JUST lifting at this point.
Maybe just refocus your goals to match what your currently going through. You can always go back to lifting heavy later if you focus now on recovering from your injury. I just think you shouldnt give up/waste time doing things that arent benefiting you just because you cant lift. Dont scrap your goals, refocus.

[nicholina]

it's not even lack of function either. it's the damn crackling that's the main thing. pain doesn't allow me to do some stuff, but of the things i can do, i can't go over 12.5 lbs w/o makor crackling. but weakness is part of it b/c i've lost strength, but i could otherwise build that up and have for things i can. my gym only has one yoga class i can attend. i did find a yoga studio, and that place has different kinds, but it's not convenient and i didn't check the times of the classes. not likely to happen. pt just tested my range of motion, basically, and that's fine. and what he told me to do wasn't helpful. i had bad pt experiences post colon surgeries too, so maybe i just have really low expectations and go in w/ a bad attitude. just felt like it was a waste of time, so not something i want to continue to do (not to mention the $). sorry, don't mean to be so depressing and defeatest, but i am depressed. but i do appreciate your suggestions and support, and maybe one day i'll figure out a way to work the yoga studio in. don't have the money to consider it right now anyway.

am so glad you're so motivated. how often are you seeing the trainer? how many cals are you eating? how and how often are you assessing progress? are you still in the care of a doc?

You seem to know what works best for you...it is hard to motivate yourself when youre depressed though. No need to apologize for that. Just keep working toward a solution. Youll find one.

As for me, I see him about 3 times a week and he tells me what to do on the other days. Im really happy with it so far. He has a masters in kinesiology (sp?) and focuses on building strength/muscle, while increasing flexibility and balance. No machines. Its great.
I weigh myself once a week. This week I was up 1 pound and have been at 1600-1700 calories so I think things are going well...Ill keep it there for another week to see if I continue to gain. I dont see a doctor regularly, just when I go for usual check ups.

I do feel a weird participating here without a pic....its a bit impersonal, but I dont want to post pics until ive made progress. So I apologize for that.

[dreahere]

My final first bulk before-and-afters are here, guys:

http://musclemilkisnotaeuphemism.blo...s-edition.html

[toodlepip]

My final first bulk before-and-afters are here, guys:

http://musclemilkisnotaeuphemism.blo...s-edition.html

Great job - nice lean bulk - you can't see the six pounds at all. I agree you look leaner after bulking! Your arms & lats show nice growth - well done.

[andrerox80]

As for me, I see him about 3 times a week and he tells me what to do on the other days. Im really happy with it so far. He has a masters in kinesiology (sp?) and focuses on building strength/muscle, while increasing flexibility and balance. No machines. Its great.
I weigh myself once a week. This week I was up 1 pound and have been at 1600-1700 calories so I think things are going well...Ill keep it there for another week to see if I continue to gain. I dont see a doctor regularly, just when I go for usual check ups.

I do feel a weird participating here without a pic....its a bit impersonal, but I dont want to post pics until ive made progress. So I apologize for that.

no worries abt the picture. whenever you feel comfortable, put one up. i hear you abt wanting to make progress and gain muscle and add on weight before wanting to do it, esp when if you post in other sections, people could make it all abt your ed, even if thata's irrelevant. how many days a week are you working out? seems like the 3 training sessions / week w/ your trainer should be enough. not sure why you'd need more. do you have a rate of weight gain goal? i'm just glad you're doing this and am pulling for you. you have a good mindset.

My final first bulk before-and-afters are here, guys:

http://musclemilkisnotaeuphemism.blo...s-edition.html

for some reason i didn't realize this was your first bulk. so how are you feeling? you said you're eating whatever for a couple weeks (good timing, holidays) and then starting a bulk again in late july? for how long or are you just gonna play it by ear? what do you think you've taken away the most from your bulk and cut sessions? wondering b/c it'll be helpful for me and others.

--

i gained 1.8 and am surprisingly fine w/ it. would have been fine w/ it when bulking, but w/o lifting heavy or being at as much of a surplus, i would have thought i'd freak out. nope. it was like i just saw the number and moved on. no emotions. so that's good. i'm off tmw too and might weight myself again, which i don't normally do, but last night and this am were weird, so just wanna see if it's real. again, it's fine if it is, and chances are i won't even re-weigh.

question, so i can't use more than 12.5 lb db's, even for things i totally have enough strength for. for other things i had to start lower and am slowly moving up, but 12.5 will be my cap for a while. is it possible to gain any muscle whatsoever or is it solely abt trying to retain it? figure the latter, but just checking, esp w/ the weight gain. i mean, i know it's not muscle, but...

also can't decide abt going back on creatine. know people take when cutting or bulking, and know it won't build muscle, but i dunno. i was more filled out (in a good way), but that could have been affected by lifting heavier. any point to going back to it or should i wait or just not?

also wondering that since i am not lifting to build size (just b/c i can't), can i do fb more frequently? wanna lift more often, am not doing anything that hurts me, and then i could make ea routine shorter.

[thepowerwithin]

My final first bulk before-and-afters are here, guys:

http://musclemilkisnotaeuphemism.blo...s-edition.html

I think you've made some good gains. You arms look awesome...strong, nice and full, lats are prominent, and your abdominal area looks leaner. Good job!

[dreahere]

Great job - nice lean bulk - you can't see the six pounds at all. I agree you look leaner after bulking! Your arms & lats show nice growth - well done.

I think you've made some good gains. You arms look awesome...strong, nice and full, lats are prominent, and your abdominal area looks leaner. Good job!

Thank you, thank you! I didn't want to mention what I thought because maybe I was hallucinating and I wanted to wait to see if anyone else commented on it, but I was looking at my back going, OMFG, it finally *grew*!!! LOL With my documented case of Lat Deficiency Syndrome, nothing could make me more pleased.

So I will give props to BGB and recommend it to anyone looking for an upper/lower. It's very flexible, I've had a lot of fun with it, I've made really good strength gains, and if it can make MY pathetic lats grow, imagine what it could do for a normal person

[dreahere]

for some reason i didn't realize this was your first bulk. so how are you feeling? you said you're eating whatever for a couple weeks (good timing, holidays) and then starting a bulk again in late july? for how long or are you just gonna play it by ear? what do you think you've taken away the most from your bulk and cut sessions? wondering b/c it'll be helpful for me and others.

I'm feeling really really happy that I did it. It's not as if I didn't believe that when you gain muscle you'll weigh more but look thinner--I did believe it--but seeing it happen in my own body is/was so reinforcing. I'm coming at this from probably a different perspective than a lot of you all, because I certainly wasn't underweight or very lean to begin with and because, face it, I'm closer to 70 than I am 25 [it's kinda horrifying to write that out, but it's true], but there are parts of my body that I was resigned to never looking good again that I can look at now with...satisfaction? That's probably what I've taken away: that it works! Have faith in the process!

Yeah, I'm probably going to diet for all/most of January and see how much goo comes off, then start bulking again, at that really really glacially slow rate that works for me. When I hit around 125-ish again, I'll reevaluate.

[stephanielynn76]

My final first bulk before-and-afters are here, guys:

http://musclemilkisnotaeuphemism.blo...s-edition.html

I agree with everyone else! You do in fact look leaner and tighter post bulk! Yay for bulking!!! You go girl!

[agambow]

I love seeing everyone's progress, its very motivating keep it up!

Question... so over the past 3 months I have slowly increased my calories to about 1800-1900 daily after eating under 1200 for about 6-7 months. Over the past few weeks I have definitely felt more hungry and was wondering if this may be because my body is now getting used to more calories and my maintenance is increasing and metabolism is become more efficient (if this even makes sense)? When I calculated my cals/macros, my maintenance was around 1750. I am considering upping my cals, any thoughts would be great, thanks!

[stephanielynn76]

i gained 1.8 and am surprisingly fine w/ it. would have been fine w/ it when bulking, but w/o lifting heavy or being at as much of a surplus, i would have thought i'd freak out. nope. it was like i just saw the number and moved on. no emotions. so that's good. i'm off tmw too and might weight myself again, which i don't normally do, but last night and this am were weird, so just wanna see if it's real. again, it's fine if it is, and chances are i won't even re-weigh.

question, so i can't use more than 12.5 lb db's, even for things i totally have enough strength for. for other things i had to start lower and am slowly moving up, but 12.5 will be my cap for a while. is it possible to gain any muscle whatsoever or is it solely abt trying to retain it? figure the latter, but just checking, esp w/ the weight gain. i mean, i know it's not muscle, but...

also can't decide abt going back on creatine. know people take when cutting or bulking, and know it won't build muscle, but i dunno. i was more filled out (in a good way), but that could have been affected by lifting heavier. any point to going back to it or should i wait or just not?

also wondering that since i am not lifting to build size (just b/c i can't), can i do fb more frequently? wanna lift more often, am not doing anything that hurts me, and then i could make ea routine shorter.

Congrats on the gain and not freaking out... that's progress!! I'm no expert when it comes to all of this but I'd say with your current limitations your goal should be more to maintain strength as best you can. I would think it would be hard to build very much when you aren't able to overload the muscle... however anyone can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. As far as taking the creatine... not sure if it will help but it certainly can't hurt. If you felt fuller using it perhaps experiment with using it again... just don't let the potential fluid retention weight gain get to you. I'd say you'd be ok to do more of a full-body routine given the lifting restrictions. If you can't increase weight then maybe increasing volume (working each muscle group more often) would be the best alternative. You shouldn't need as much recovery time between workouts so I'd say go for it!

[stephanielynn76]

I think some of the perks of bulking are coming true for me. As I've shared, after my first bulk, I dropped half of the weight I gained, stopping when I felt comfortable with mirror and clothes, which is 130 lbs. Never in my life have I felt comfortable at 130 lbs. Perk number one.

I have been mostly eating at what I thought was my maintenance of 1,800-1,900 with a few days of gluttony thrown in (half of pie one day) (3 slices of cake another) (chocolate covered peanut butter balls all day long on yet another day) since reaching 130 lbs, which has been 5-6 weeks....maybe more. I am still dropping weight every so slowly. Zero cardio. For the past 2 weeks, I've been at 127-128 lbs. Maybe, just maybe this bulk has upped my maintenance. Perk number 2? Time will tell. So interesting!

Woot woot!!!! That is fantastic! I'm so fascinated by this and I'm quite curious as to what it will be like for me when I go to cut. Last time I cut on about 1600 net calories. I'd be willing to bet I can cut on more at this point. Part of me is scared to cut... for one because I am not looking forward to the inevitable hunger pains and also because I'm afraid there won't be as much muscle under there as I'd like there to be. That's kinda what happened last time I got lean. I hope it's different this time.
So... I'm not sure how much longer I should bulk. I started the second week of August so I'm 19.5 weeks in and up at least 10.5lbs (could be more, haven't weighed in a while). I always intended to go through December and start in January but my gym friends say that's too early to start cutting and that I should wait until early/mid February. I'm hoping to compete in early July and I want to give myself time to lose it veeeeeeerrrryyyy slowly so I minimize muscle loss. Despite the weight gain I'm feeling good. I outgrew some of my skinny clothes but I'm ok with that. I'm still fairly lean for having been on a bulk so I'm not sweating the extra weight at this point. I must, however, admit that my "clean" bulk has gotten quite "dirty" since the holidays. From Thanksgiving to a trip to Vegas then a myriad of Christmas parties... I've really been going wild with the diet. After Vegas I said "screw it" with the calorie counting and just quit tracking altogether... and the truth is... I don't feel a single bit of guilt about it. I had tracked every single bite up until then since January of this year so I deserve a few weeks off from the obsession. I will start tracking religiously again in January. One perk of eating those excess calories (besides getting to indulge myself) is that my lifts seemed to have improved in the last couple of weeks... so it's all good

[andrerox80]

Congrats on the gain and not freaking out... that's progress!! I'm no expert when it comes to all of this but I'd say with your current limitations your goal should be more to maintain strength as best you can. I would think it would be hard to build very much when you aren't able to overload the muscle... however anyone can feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. As far as taking the creatine... not sure if it will help but it certainly can't hurt. If you felt fuller using it perhaps experiment with using it again... just don't let the potential fluid retention weight gain get to you. I'd say you'd be ok to do more of a full-body routine given the lifting restrictions. If you can't increase weight then maybe increasing volume (working each muscle group more often) would be the best alternative. You shouldn't need as much recovery time between workouts so I'd say go for it!

yeah, that's what i've been thinking. that i can do fb workouts more often, just try to maintain my weight (i re-weighed today. knew yest was off) and preserve as much possible as possible, increase strength again w/in my given limitations, and have more volume. still undecided abt the creatine. i have one open but will see if i have one that's closed too - i.e., if i already have a bunch, i'll go back to it, but maybe not if i'd have to order more.

So... I'm not sure how much longer I should bulk. I started the second week of August so I'm 19.5 weeks in and up at least 10.5lbs (could be more, haven't weighed in a while). I always intended to go through December and start in January but my gym friends say that's too early to start cutting and that I should wait until early/mid February. I'm hoping to compete in early July and I want to give myself time to lose it veeeeeeerrrryyyy slowly so I minimize muscle loss. Despite the weight gain I'm feeling good. I outgrew some of my skinny clothes but I'm ok with that. I'm still fairly lean for having been on a bulk so I'm not sweating the extra weight at this point. I must, however, admit that my "clean" bulk has gotten quite "dirty" since the holidays. From Thanksgiving to a trip to Vegas then a myriad of Christmas parties... I've really been going wild with the diet. After Vegas I said "screw it" with the calorie counting and just quit tracking altogether... and the truth is... I don't feel a single bit of guilt about it. I had tracked every single bite up until then since January of this year so I deserve a few weeks off from the obsession. I will start tracking religiously again in January. One perk of eating those excess calories (besides getting to indulge myself) is that my lifts seemed to have improved in the last couple of weeks... so it's all good

i'm so glad you're feeling good and not feeling guilty abt anything, esp when there's no need to. you can eat what you want whenever (work anything in), but when you're bulking and there's more room to have "bad" stuff and still get plenty of micronutrient-dense foods, why not? so that's awesome. sounds like you're enjoying yourself and cutting yourself some slack. and, yeah, increased cals usually mean better workouts and strength gains, so huge plus there. it's just the perfect time for this. all the good holiday food, lots of parties, your vegas trip. as for when you should end your bulk, i don't know the answer. why did you decide on when you did and why do your gym friends say what they're saying? do they know abt competitions and what's necessary there? maybe you should ask someone like kimm4 since she knows competitions and could probably advise you on when to end your bulk and start your cut or do whatever it is to your diet that you should do w/ the goal of competing in july.

[nicholina]

no worries abt the picture. whenever you feel comfortable, put one up. i hear you abt wanting to make progress and gain muscle and add on weight before wanting to do it, esp when if you post in other sections, people could make it all abt your ed, even if thata's irrelevant. how many days a week are you working out? seems like the 3 training sessions / week w/ your trainer should be enough. not sure why you'd need more. do you have a rate of weight gain goal? i'm just glad you're doing this and am pulling for you. you have a good mindset.

Yes, and well, Im also hesitant to post in any other section because Im afraid of getting ripped on...which would likely happen from what ive seen. I was even afraid to post here at first.
I train every other day. On off days I can do 15 minutes of cardio. Which is half of what I was doing before I started training....i did 30 minutes every other day before I started. I know it should probably be zero but, well, its hard. He also told me to take a rest day each week. I did on monday....it wasnt comfortable. I told myself I could do a double work out the next day if it was that bad...but ended up not feeling the need to. But thats how I got through the day. Im thinking 0.5-1.0 lb/week is reasonable. I want to do it slowly. What do you all recommend/shoot for when bulking as far as how much to gain each week?
Thanks for the support. I feel like I have a lot of people pushing for me and that makes it easier.

[stephanielynn76]

i'm so glad you're feeling good and not feeling guilty abt anything, esp when there's no need to. you can eat what you want whenever (work anything in), but when you're bulking and there's more room to have "bad" stuff and still get plenty of micronutrient-dense foods, why not? so that's awesome. sounds like you're enjoying yourself and cutting yourself some slack. and, yeah, increased cals usually mean better workouts and strength gains, so huge plus there. it's just the perfect time for this. all the good holiday food, lots of parties, your vegas trip. as for when you should end your bulk, i don't know the answer. why did you decide on when you did and why do your gym friends say what they're saying? do they know abt competitions and what's necessary there? maybe you should ask someone like kimm4 since she knows competitions and could probably advise you on when to end your bulk and start your cut or do whatever it is to your diet that you should do w/ the goal of competing in july.

Yes the "gym friends" that I'm referring to are competitors who know about bulking/cutting for competitions. Apparently timing is everything according to them. If you wait too late to cut you could still have too much body fat when you hit the stage OR you will find yourself having to eat at a large deficit to drop the weight quickly towards the end. That's never good because extreme dieting often means sacrificing muscle and sometimes strength in the gym. If you cut too early you risk losing muscle from being in a deficit for too long. The trick is to try and steadily lose the weight in such a way that you trim off the fat with only minimal muscle loss. I am supposed to be meeting with a local figure/bikini competitor soon to get her advice. She recently placed 4th in bikini in a national competition... she's amazing and she knows her stuff. I'm hoping she can see me in person and give me her opinion. I'm not concerned about being able to get lean... I've btdt and it was actually pretty easy for me. However, last time I did it... I ate way too little.... I did way too much cardio... lost the weight way too fast... and the end result was a thinner me without as much muscle as I had hoped. I am certain I had significant muscle loss doing that. This time I want to cut slower... less cardio... smaller deficit... over a longer period of time. I just don't have any idea how long that should be!

And a word about cutting... I started taking Jacked3d a few weeks ago. This stuff would be the BOMB for cutting but it's not working well for my bulk because it's killing my appetite. It gives me the best pump in the gym and my lifts have made so much progress while using it... but I just don't feel like eating. Yes I've been enjoying the parties and extra snacking on the weekends when I don't take the stuff... but during the week and at my regular meals I've been having to force the food down. It's funny, however, how that even though I'm not hungry... I still want cookies/cake/chocolate!!!