Bulking advice...

[penelopeblayney]

I have been weight training for almost 2 years now. I have always had a clean very healthy diet high in fruit and veg but only ate 3 times a day.

I now want more muscle as I want to get on stage!

So i started eating a bulking diet - Macros of Carbs 370, prot 140 fats 45 cals 2400. (I am 5'9, now weigh 62.40kg. at start of bulk I was 62.60 quickly went to 63.08)
I struggled to get it all in but quickly gained weight and added extra cals etc according to my weight. first 3 weeks i gained weight - upped cals etc accordingly.

Now I am losing weight! I am hungry quite often but I certainly am eating enough according to my weight.. I am now on carbs 390, prot 180 fats 60, cals 2900. approx.
Still hungry but I do look leaner..

I am also feeling very pretty run down which is unlike me. my main foods consist of steak, chicken, salmon, gold standard whey, oats, brown rice, sweet potato, cous cous, legumes (lots), bananas, tangerines... lacking on brocolli and carrots. I am strict and I keep a very accurate food diary.

I train heavy 6 times a week, have 1 rest day and doing cardio twice a week. 1 muscle group per day i.e arms, legs twice a week split quads and hammys/glutes, chest etc.

Any info will help me. And I will hugely appreciate it!

Thanks so much

Penny!

[chamelious]

If you're losing weight, you're not eating enough cals.

I find it VERY hard to believe you're losing weight and eating 2900 cals. I'm bulking on less than you and i weigh 20kg more than you, are you 100% sure you're accurately weighing and tracking all your foods?

[Humanoidlaws]

If you're losing weight, you're not eating enough cals.

I find it VERY hard to believe you're losing weight and eating 2900 cals. I'm bulking on less than you and i weigh 20kg more than you, are you 100% sure you're accurately weighing and tracking all your foods?

This,something is wrong if you're losing weight on 2900 cals a day. List everything you eat in a day and you may find that you're miscalculating.

[megdaig]

Are you putting all your foods on a digital scale? If not you can be off by as much as 30%. Eyeballing and measuring cups/spoons suck royally.

Eat more food until you are steadily gaining...that's all it really takes. Try more calorie dense foods like nuts, but butters, and oils. Use fattier proteins like beef.

[Sarahe215]

Eat more food until you are steadily gaining...that's all it really takes. Try more calorie dense foods like nuts, but butters, and oils. Use fattier proteins like beef.

^^ this.

[nacersusaf]

Are you putting all your foods on a digital scale? If not you can be off by as much as 30%. Eyeballing and measuring cups/spoons suck royally.

This is absolutely the biggest issue I have with my clients; whether they are trying to bulk or cut, so many of them are way off on their calories simply because they eyeball things, use cups and spoons to measure, or eat things right out of the container.

It can be SUCH a pain in the rear for some, but its much less frustrating to find out later on down the road that you aren't meeting your goals because you're drastically under/over eating.

Aside from the actual method of measuring, be cautious about some of those online food diaries. Which do you use? I use MyFitnessPal and find that a lot of the time it takes quite a bit of checking and double checking to find a food entry that has the RIGHT macros and calories listed. Most of the entries are created by other users, and I have seen some INSANE numbers (Seriously? 150 calories for a cup of strawberries?? Go home user, you're drunk.)

If you haven't done so already, I would recommend checking out Nutrition Data (www.nutritiondata.com) and looking up the USDA values for the foods you regularly eat, write down the info (or save it in a document somewhere) for each food per 100g, and then use a digital food scale to measure your foods.

It might take a bit more time initially, but once you save those numbers in your food diary it becomes faster and easier to use each time.

[kimm4]

If you're losing weight, you're not eating enough cals.

I find it VERY hard to believe you're losing weight and eating 2900 cals. I'm bulking on less than you and i weigh 20kg more than you, are you 100% sure you're accurately weighing and tracking all your foods?

This.^^

There's an error in your tracking methods.

[penelopeblayney]

Hey guys,
Thanks a lot for you help...

Ok, so this is what I do. I have made my own (long process) table of foods which I eat regularly on a daily basis information is from the packets which I use and online - nutritional factors for certain things like bananas etc.
I weigh everything with digital scales and accurately. I do however weigh my chicken before it is cooked... when 30-40% of chicken is water so this confuses me.

My calorie intake is 2700 - 2900 and I am always hitting my macros! sometimes I am over on the macros but more is better then less on a bulk.

I eat 6x a day 2.5 hours in between.

I can only believe the reason I began to lose weight was due to my metabolism speeding up very quickly. And as it is new to me maybe my body is getting used to it??

I eat very clean, I eat a lot of chicken and beef. I cook in either olive oil or coconut oil.

Any major tips I need like... Could I have done a 'refeed' without knowing? by this I mean - never used to eat many carbs-no white potato, no rice,no bread, no pasta... I just ate LOTS of salads and veggies and meat! If so this means I would of triggered an increase in the leptin hormone causing my metabolism to speed up..
Shall I eat more of the same meals a day? I tend to have 3 of the same meals i.e chicken sweet potato and legumes, then I have oats with protein and paw paw, a shake and a banana, and steak with rice. (thats an average day for me). I drink heaps of water and green tea.

My food diary is by hand... using my own table. which is filled out all day every day since I started.

About 'feeling hungry' - I think its more of bordem when at work sometimes looking at the clock for the next feed! And I am always hungry quickly after my shake and banana meal as this is after training...

Thanks guys for all of the replies.

[rockangel]

I dont understand why you are eating 5 or 6 times a day at 2.5 hours a part... thats pretty useless, and you are bulking, if you are hungry then EAT!!
make your meals bigger, instead of eating 5 or 6 small meals, eat 3 or 4 bigger meals, that will help you to get full and stay full
And for got's sake you dont have to "eat clean"... if you are having problems getting in food and feeling full...up the fats and add calorie dense food. Eating clean isnt going to make you gain less fat than eating a little "dirty" will...