clean bulking (confused), should I change something?

[nrick]

alright, I'm 15 days into my first clean bulk and I noticed that in my first half month weigh in I surprisingly lost 11~ lb of weight.. So rather than say I've been bulking, it seems I've been cutting? And as I am not quite as learned in this (yet), this situation has left me a bit befuddled.

specifics and other bits:

5' 11'', started: 178 --> 167 lbs
- I drink roughly a gallon to a gallon and a half of liquids per day (mostly being water ofc)
- routinely I eat consume around roughly 2700g calories/150-180g protein/130-140g fat (sadly I am not able to reduce this number as all the fat comes from the foods to meet my macros)
- I get around 7 hours of interrupted sleep (have to go to restroom 3 sometimes even 5 times through out a night, you can imagine the urge to stay in bed when it is time I should be leaving it.)
- exercise: routinely jog 20 mins a day in morning; workout every other day (1hr~ duration)
- appearance wise I don't look different from before, overall physique (may be placeabo of the mind but) I do feel I am getting stronger.

I'm thinking this may be normal, but to be on the safe side should I change something? Also, pardon my ignorance and lack of knowledge, since I my weight has change should I recalculate my consumption of macros, ie. beforehand other members/MFP mentioned that for my weight and goals I should be consuming 2700cal, now though I am not so sure..

Apologies and my appreciation for insight given.

[gbullock32]

EDIT- Misread something.

Eat more; not gaining means under-eating.

[nrick]

Don't track calories at 15, just eat to hunger and eat enough to grow; if you're losing weight it's because you are under eating. Eat more, lift, rest, and enjoy being young.

haha, I wish I was 15 again (don't we all, fix up many of life's mistakes) joking aside, I believe you may have misread. I'm 15 days into my clean bulk.. I'm 26 so I think I have to be mindful of the crap I shovel down my body.

[nrick]

EDIT- Misread something.

Eat more; not gaining means under-eating.

alright, I'll see if I make any progress by increasing the cal consumption of the initial by 10%, so 2700 to 3000. thank you for your advice.

[Michealx]

There are no such thing as clean food. All nutrition is created equal. Just hit your macros and be ok with incorporating some junk food into your diet. Studies shows that eating clean does not make you gain less fat.

[Mrpb]

alright, I'm 15 days into my first clean bulk and I noticed that in my first half month weigh in I surprisingly lost 11~ lb of weight.. So rather than say I've been bulking, it seems I've been cutting? And as I am not quite as learned in this (yet), this situation has left me a bit befuddled.

Yes you were cutting. Increase calories until you gain ~1-2 pounds per month.

- I drink roughly a gallon to a gallon and a half of liquids per day (mostly being water ofc)

Way more than you need.

- routinely I eat consume around roughly 2700g calories/150-180g protein/130-140g fat (sadly I am not able to reduce this number as all the fat comes from the foods to meet my macros)

You don't need to reduce the fat.

- I get around 7 hours of interrupted sleep (have to go to restroom 3 sometimes even 5 times through out a night, you can imagine the urge to stay in bed when it is time I should be leaving it.)

Good.

- exercise: routinely jog 20 mins a day in morning; workout every other day (1hr~ duration)

What program?

[nrick]

There are no such thing as clean food. All nutrition is created equal. Just hit your macros and be ok with incorporating some junk food into your diet. Studies shows that eating clean does not make you gain less fat.

When I am not clean eating I easily fall prey to the cravings and temptation of my tongue ie I go from the phrase eat to live to live to eat and that's not what I want. Studies show eating clean doesn't make you less fat, but there's plenty of studies that show what happens when you do the opposite I'm sure.

ahh but don't worry about that because I do incorporate junk food (because knowing myself I'd probably crack somewhere along the way otherwise) into my diet but that's only during my cheat meal day (a double cheese burger every 2-3 days while doing grocery shopping) the reason for clean eating is mainly because I have more control over how and what I eat.

Yes you were cutting. Increase calories until you gain ~1-2 pounds per month.


Way more than you need.


You don't need to reduce the fat.


Good.


What program?

ahh, I meant to write I get around that much total through food and from drinking, I drink about 3-4 liters of water a day on normal basis, rest of liquids come from the foods I eat/drink (milk, oatmeal, ect.)

www bodybuilding com/fun/the-ultimate-full-body-dumbbell-workout.html initially did this, but it was taxing to the body (most likely due to my lack of strength).. so I changed to this

www bodybuilding com/fun/rudy6.htm mainly for which I planned on following for the first month or so or until I get some more strength to do the previous work out.

ehh strangely I am unable to post links so I removed the dots.

[gbullock32]

When I am not clean eating I easily fall prey to the cravings and temptation of my tongue ie I go from the phrase eat to live to live to eat and that's not what I want. Studies show eating clean doesn't make you less fat, but there's plenty of studies that show what happens when you do the opposite I'm sure.

ahh but don't worry about that because I do incorporate junk food (because knowing myself I'd probably crack somewhere along the way otherwise) into my diet but that's only during my cheat meal day (a double cheese burger every 2-3 days while doing grocery shopping) the reason for clean eating is mainly because I have more control over how and what I eat.



ahh, I meant to write I get around that much total through food and from drinking, I drink about 3-4 liters of water a day on normal basis, rest of liquids come from the foods I eat/drink (milk, oatmeal, ect.)

www bodybuilding com/fun/the-ultimate-full-body-dumbbell-workout.html initially did this, but it was taxing to the body (most likely due to my lack of strength).. so I changed to this

www bodybuilding com/fun/rudy6.htm mainly for which I planned on following for the first month or so or until I get some more strength to do the previous work out.

ehh strangely I am unable to post links so I removed the dots.

There are far better routines to follow; try one of these instead.

TRAINING

Start with a solid beginner routine, these are designed to get the most for you; they are designed by professionals and use progressive overload. Read through them and pick the one you like most, follow it as it is written.

Why You Should Not Make Your Own Routine
How To Perform Basic Lifts

Routines
Starting Strength
BabyLover's Starting Strength
AllPro's Beginner Routine
StrongLifts 5x5
IceCream Fitness 5x5
Fierce 5
Coolcicada's Push Pull Legs

Calisthenics routines

Spoiler!

Push Day:
- Pushups: 5x15
- Chest Dips: 4x12
- Triceps Extensions: 3x20
- Bench Dips: 3x15
- HSPU: 5x5
- Hindu Pushups: 3x12

Pull Day:
- Pull-ups: 5x8
- Inverted Rows: 3x12
- Back bridges: 4x10
- One-arm Assisted Chin-ups: 4x5
- One-arm Inverted Rows: 3x8
- Chins Isometric Holds: 3xFailure

Legs Day:
- Suqats: 5x20
- Jumping Squats: 4x15
- Lunges: 3x30
- Sprints: 4x20sec
- Box Jumps: 3x10
- Hanging Leg Raises: 3xfailure

Or-

Upper Day:
- Pullups: 5x6
- One-arm Inverted Rows: 3x8
- Inverted Rows: 3x18
- Back bridges: 4x10
- Pushups: 4x12
- Dips: 3x15
- HSPU: 3x5
- Decline Crunches: 4x12
- Russian Decline Twist: 3x12

Lower Day:
- Jumping Squats: 8x12
- Pistol Squats: 4x10
- Step Ups: 3x10
- GHR: 3x12
- Sprints: 5x15sec
- Calf Raises: 10x10 "Burnout"
- Hanging Leg Raises: 4x12
- Planks: 3x1min

Or if it must be a dumbbell only routine, look up Fierce 5 Dumbbell Routine.

[nrick]

snip

Sadly my situation is such that my gym only has isolation machines, the dumbbells and the open mountain environment to work with. Thank you for those links and routines, I will see what I can do with them.

EDIT: Gave what you posted a skim through, I think I'll give the F5 Dumbell routine a go come tomorrow. Thanks again.

[PSBallard]

- I drink roughly a gallon to a gallon and a half of liquids per day (mostly being water ofc)

Drinking that much water is great for you - H2O helps with digestion and the shuttling of nutrients through your body.

- routinely I eat consume around roughly 2700g calories/150-180g protein/130-140g fat (sadly I am not able to reduce this number as all the fat comes from the foods to meet my macros)

Continue to up calories until your weekly avg weight (weigh yourself every morning after using the bathroom then AVG at same time each week) is increasing 0.5-1.0 lb a week.

- I get around 7 hours of interrupted sleep (have to go to restroom 3 sometimes even 5 times through out a night, you can imagine the urge to stay in bed when it is time I should be leaving it.)

Try to finish your water intake about 2-3 hours before you go to sleep, this will help you get a solid 7 hours of sleep instead or waking up to use the restroom throughout the night.

- exercise: routinely jog 20 mins a day in morning; workout every other day (1hr~ duration)

Reduce the amount of cardio you are doing - I would keep some cardio (2 sessions or so) in the program as it helps with blood flow and recovery. However, by reducing the amount of cardio you are doing you will lower your TDEE so you wont have to add more and more calories.

[Mrpb]

Studies show eating clean doesn't make you less fat, but there's plenty of studies that show what happens when you do the opposite I'm sure.

Eating clean has no special benefits. Your body doesn't care whether you label a food as clean or dirty, it cares about getting sufficient macro, micro and phytonutrients, for example.

ahh, I meant to write I get around that much total through food and from drinking, I drink about 3-4 liters of water a day on normal basis, rest of liquids come from the foods I eat/drink (milk, oatmeal, ect.)

You're drinking way more than necessary. It doesn't have benefits unless you're extremely dehydrated. You could just drink to thirst.

www bodybuilding com/fun/the-ultimate-full-body-dumbbell-workout.html initially did this, but it was taxing to the body (most likely due to my lack of strength).. so I changed to this

www bodybuilding com/fun/rudy6.htm mainly for which I planned on following for the first month or so or until I get some more strength to do the previous work out.

ehh strangely I am unable to post links so I removed the dots.

I suggest getting on a better program like Fierce 5 Novice routine.

Drinking that much water is great for you - H2O helps with digestion and the shuttling of nutrients through your body.

Do you have scientific evidence that backs up such claims? If not, I would disregard these ideas.

[nrick]

Eating clean has no special benefits. Your body doesn't care whether you label a food as clean or dirty, it cares about getting sufficient macro, micro and phytonutrients, for example.

Yes I understand what you're getting at, but what I meant is I personally can't tell nor eyeball the nutritional values from eating dirty (eating out, fastfood, streetside vendors,etc), which is why I've been abstaining from doing as much as possible. So the benefit (for me anyways) is that I know exactly how much x I am consuming when I'm eating clean, whereas I won't be able to if I ate dirty.

You're drinking way more than necessary. It doesn't have benefits unless you're extremely dehydrated. You could just drink to thirst.

Well that's the thing, I drink about a mouthful of water every hour or whenever I get thirsty and before I know it I find myself drinking around a gallon of water by the end of the day

I suggest getting on a better program like Fierce 5 Novice routine.

Currently doing F5 Dumbbell Routine, and I'm feeling the DOMs

Do you have scientific evidence that backs up such claims? If not, I would disregard these ideas.

@mrpb replies in bold

@PSBallard reduce the cardio..? I guess I can give it a try..

Currently I've increased calorie consumption to 3k while keeping everything roughly the same, hopefully everything goes accordingly. I'll work on reducing the water consumption..

as usual, thanks for the input (regardless, it helps me and I truly appreciate it)

[Johnson107]

Definitely increase calories - particularly your carbohydrate intake.