Scared to Bulk!

[DynamoDuo]

I'm 21 years old, 3 years ago i was a fatty who weighed 210lbs, i cut back to my current weight of 173lbs, i am apprehensive of letting all my hard work go by eating surplus calories...

Any advice you can give me to put my hesitancy to bulk behind me?

[MulattoRance]

I'm 21 years old, 3 years ago i was a fatty who weighed 210lbs, i cut back to my current weight of 173lbs, i am apprehensive of letting all my hard work go by eating surplus calories...

Any advice you can give me to put my hesitancy to bulk behind me?

If you only increase your calories by 10% of your maintenance, you'll minimize fat gains. Don't worry - you're scared partly because you're still in cut mentality, and partly because you see so many bodybuilders get unnecessarily fat because they know nothing about tracking macros. You WILL gain SOME fat, there's really no way around that, but it will be minimal if you are studious about your macros.

Feel free to work your way up to the surplus too, if you've just recently cut. Make sure you've maintained for a few weeks to give your metabolism and hormone levels some time to recover from the cut, and then ease your way into a lean bulk. Lift heavy, focus on progressive tension overload, get plenty of sleep, and stick to your macros/calories, and you will gain a MINIMAL amount of fat.

[DynamoDuo]

This puts me at ease a bit, in my mind i'm telling myself that the bulk is just a building block to get a muscular physique, but then again i am in the cut mentality and i need to know 100% that my bulk is correct and not putting on unnecessary fat.

[MulattoRance]

This puts me at ease a bit, in my mind i'm telling myself that the bulk is just a building block to get a muscular physique, but then again i am in the cut mentality and i need to know 100% that my bulk is correct and not putting on unnecessary fat.

I feel you, I'm at the end of a cut myself, and it can be tough switching goals, but just remember that you're NOT going to just start packing on fat, especially if you take it slowly and carefully. You are (I'm guessing) not a competitive bodybuilder, so you have all the time in the world to ease your way into the bulk.

As I said, make sure that you've had a couple of weeks at maintenance since you finished your cut, for your body to get its hormone levels back to normal. Calculate a 10-20% increase in calories. Completely disregard your weight gain the first week, as water weight will throw off your accuracy. But then watch for the next two weeks, and see what happens. If, at the end of those 3 weeks, you are gaining faster than you want, reduce calories. If yo'ure not gaining enough, bump them up. If you're going on an extremely lean bulk, it will be even harder to track your progress, and you'll have to start looking at month to month, rather than week to week. I like to weigh myself every day, but then calculate an AVERAGE for each week, and watch the TREND of the averages.

And remember that if you really become unhappy with your body fat levels at any point, you always have the option to stop and cut again, but on a nice lean bulk, if you're aiming for about 0.25-0.5 lbs a week, 2 lbs per month MAX, you shouldn't have to for at least a good 6 months or so, if that. Good luck!

[DynamoDuo]

Thanks for the help bro definitely a lot of help, i will post up to date photos every few weeks, to monitor progress.

[borislavtonev]

You could try cycling calories, having a 300-400 surplus on training days and eat slightly below maintenance on rest/cardio(?) days. Might help you psychologically to stick to your plan as well.

[determined4000]

You could try cycling calories, having a 300-400 surplus on training days and eat slightly below maintenance on rest/cardio(?) days. Might help you psychologically to stick to your plan as well.

not needed or beneficial
just eat a steady surplus and remember you cant get a 6 pack overnight, and you dont get fat overnight either

[NABlakley]

Eat at small surplus if you are afraid of fat gain. But ill say this, if you can get past that mental barrier it will greatly benefit you. You obviously know how to lose weight, if you get to big just cut it back down brotha.

[NCB1980]

Never be afraid, just eat clean and track all macros. GL