Bulking Advice

[cyndiehaan]

I am looking for some advice on how to gain more muscle mass. I am 5'7" and 127 lbs. I currently am in the middle of the Body Beast workout program and am 100% faithful with this and my diet. I consume around 2000 calories a day with around 100g of carbs and at least 170g of protein. I am not using any supplements or protein shakes. I regularly eat half a dozen eggs and 20 oz of chicken daily. My carbs are brown rice and sweet potatoes. I have cut out dairy. My diet has been consistently like this for a few months. Am I being too impatient or is there something more I should be doing?

[oregonchick76]

Are you gaining weight? Need to eat enough to gain 1-2 lbs per month.
Protein is way overboard - you only need max of around 130g. How much fat are you eating?
Not familiar with Body Beast. Is it a hypertrophy routine?
Women can only gain around 1/2 lb of muscle per month, so under the best of circumstances it's still slow.

[cyndiehaan]

Thank you for your response, oregonchick76. I am not sure what to expect for gaining weight. I feel as if I am sure eating too much and am afraid the pounds will really start increasing in a bad way. I religiously track everything, and I have been hanging around 127lbs since I started the program in May. I have spread my meals out to 6 per day with the last being as late as 8:30 in the evening. I eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours starting at 6:30 in the morning. My average daily fat intake is 75g. I think I would classify Body Beast as a resistance training containing a lot of super sets, drop sets, progressive sets. Some of the exercises are heavy weights with a series of 5 reps while others go from lighter weights with 15 reps to heavier weights and 8 reps. I can definitely feel the muscles swell during the workouts. I have been trying to measure myself in the waist, arms, calves, and legs in order to see inches added. It is discouraging to not see any change here as sometimes I feel the definition is getting better. Thank you for your time.

Are you gaining weight? Need to eat enough to gain 1-2 lbs per month.
Protein is way overboard - you only need max of around 130g. How much fat are you eating?
Not familiar with Body Beast. Is it a hypertrophy routine?
Women can only gain around 1/2 lb of muscle per month, so under the best of circumstances it's still slow.

[megdaig]

Are you 127 or 175? If 175 you may not want to bulk anymore.

But I'll assume that's a typo. A good target for weight gain would be around 2 pounds per month.

[cyndiehaan]

That was a typo, thank you megdaig. I have fixed in my response above. Thank you for your response. Just not sure if I am on track for those types of gains.

Are you 127 or 175? If 175 you may not want to bulk anymore.

But I'll assume that's a typo. A good target for weight gain would be around 2 pounds per month.

[oregonchick76]

Thank you for your response, oregonchick76. I am not sure what to expect for gaining weight. I feel as if I am sure eating too much and am afraid the pounds will really start increasing in a bad way. I religiously track everything, and I have been hanging around 127lbs since I started the program in May. I have spread my meals out to 6 per day with the last being as late as 8:30 in the evening. I eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours starting at 6:30 in the morning. My average daily fat intake is 75g. I think I would classify Body Beast as a resistance training containing a lot of super sets, drop sets, progressive sets. Some of the exercises are heavy weights with a series of 5 reps while others go from lighter weights with 15 reps to heavier weights and 8 reps. I can definitely feel the muscles swell during the workouts. I have been trying to measure myself in the waist, arms, calves, and legs in order to see inches added. It is discouraging to not see any change here as sometimes I feel the definition is getting better. Thank you for your time.

No weight gained = no muscle gained. Sorry - you HAVE to eat enough to gain weight. In 3.5 months of 'bulking' or trying to add muscle you should have added around 5-10 lbs. In the first month of bulking alone you'll often see a quick rise of 3-5 lbs of water gain from increased glycogen/water storage in the muscles, and beyond that weight should increase consistently by 1-2 lbs per month.

If your weight is the same you are eating at maintenance. You aren't going to gain muscle eating at maintenance.

[calfmuscle555]

I am looking for some advice on how to gain more muscle mass. I am 5'7" and 127 lbs. I currently am in the middle of the Body Beast workout program and am 100% faithful with this and my diet. I consume around 2000 calories a day with around 100g of carbs and at least 170g of protein. I am not using any supplements or protein shakes. I regularly eat half a dozen eggs and 20 oz of chicken daily. My carbs are brown rice and sweet potatoes. I have cut out dairy. My diet has been consistently like this for a few months. Am I being too impatient or is there something more I should be doing?

i would do a 3-4 month cut then go back to your bulking, bulk for 6-9 months then cut for 3-4 months. to me your bulk is good. i would try to lean out for afew months then go back to bulking.

[Magm131]

Is there any reason why your carb intake is so low? I'm also doing Body Beast and one thing it's taught me that I had wrong for the longest time is that you need quite a bit of carbs to aid in the muscle building process. The recommendations for macros set forth in the book that come with the program are 50% carb, 25% protein, and 25% fat.

[cyndiehaan]

No other reason except other things I have read seem to push the protein higher than carbs. Maybe this is adding to my issues?

Is there any reason why your carb intake is so low? I'm also doing Body Beast and one thing it's taught me that I had wrong for the longest time is that you need quite a bit of carbs to aid in the muscle building process. The recommendations for macros set forth in the book that come with the program are 50% carb, 25% protein, and 25% fat.