chadlius88's Journal, 19 March 2014

Do you have the scale that tells if it's muscle or fat gain?  

I do but I don't trust the numbers much. The scale tells me I am 16% body fat, which I have a hard time believing, I think I'm closer to 20%. If you look at my before and after photos I posted in the group forum, I didnt gain any visible fat, but my arms and shoulders are visibly larger, and all of my compound lifts went up in weight significantly during the bulk.  

Yeah. I've cut my cals for the last two days by 100 cals and of course I have a weight drop of two pounds now. :( I'm in a quandary. Anyway. Committed to 2700 until the 23rd. Then I should have enough data (and have seen what the 100 cals has done) that I should be able to make a solid decision on bulk calories. Then I think it will be time to put the scale away and weigh myself once a week. Nah! I'm like, Bill. I backpack my scale everywhere I go. :D 

You just need to convert over to the side where weight gain is seen as a good thing during bulking! 

"Come to the dark side, NM." lol Yeah. I'm trying too hard too soon, and being my first shot at bulk, I could be seeing noob gains too which may mean I'm thwarting muscle growth by not letting it run for a bit. 

I know you'll ignore this, but as my brother-in-law told me, during a bulk you really need to ignore the scale. Your weight is going to fluctuate like crazy, youre going to retain carbs and water, and youre going to gain some fat, its completely unavoidable. You CANNOT build muscle while leaning out at the same time, no matter what you've heard; its just not how the body works. 

That being said, my muscles didnt get bigger during my first 34 lbs. of weight loss, but they changed shape entirely, chest got wider, shoulders became less bony, and my arms took shape. I thought I was gaining a ton of muscle when in fact it was just my body leaning out. On my bulk...In just 12 weeks I saw SIGNIFICANT growth, even though I wasn't lifting any differently, I was just eating 3 times as many carbs and twice as much fat...WAY more food. I just had to trust what my workout partner said, and I'm glad I did. He has put on 35 lbs. of muscles in the past 3 years afterall. 

Hey Chadlius88, what workout/diet plan are you following? 

It varies. I try not to stick to just 1 workout plan for too long, the body gets used to doing the same stuff all the time. I stick to bodybuilding plans, High intensity training (weight training, not cardio), German volume training, pyramid training, and mixes of all 3. Diet-wise I am on a high protein diet which I vary my fat and carb intake based on my goals (weight loss or weight gain). I am basically your every day amatuer bodybuilder.  

I'm just trying to hold it to about 4 pounds a month, though I'm wondering if a slightly dirty bulk would be better for the first gain. idk. Just have to work it out for me. 

Never said to dirty bulk! You don't need to eat a 1/2 lb. cheeseburger and a basket of fries 5 times a day to gain muscle, you just have to eat the calories. Thats the difference between a clean bulk and a dirty bulk; during a clean bulk you eat healthy fats, carbs and proteins to hit your calories. To dirty bulk its the same calories just mostly fats and simple carbs from crappy sources like 80/20 beef and white bulkie rolls with fried white potato on the side. It works, don't get me wrong...but its terrible for you, and you gain fat WAY faster with little additional benefit!  

I do! I do though! Need... want... must have, lol. I will experiment as I see fit. Then I can whine to you! :) 

Haha totally up to you. Either way you'll have my support. 

Awesome. I am following a similar diet/workout as well.  

Chad. See my post in the groups today. You were bang on about the fluctuations. I've made a decision to go a little higher in cals. The trend is clearly visible in my graph. I disagree with what a dirty and clean bulk are, but everybody seems to. to me it's 10% over calories as a target for a clean bulk, though I do agree nutrition is advisable. I define dirty bulk as in excess of 10% over calories. You can follow the link in my journal post today to see the graph. I think if you're insulin sensitive, the starchy stuff isn't that big of an issue. 'Part' of the diet though. 

High fat combined with high carbs is what causes health issues for a lot of folks. The consensus is that you must pick fat or carbs as your primary fuel in order to stay healthy. Our government says high carbs and low fat. My diet says high fat and low carbs. Both are healthy but I find that’s its hard to keep the fat way down when you’re eating a lot of carbs. Cheese burgers and fries, cheese cake, pizza are all high fat and high carb. Maybe this does not matter as much if you exercise like mad though. I am unsure.  

Eh agree to disagree. The dirty name comes from the calorie sources, clean eating is healthy foods, dirty eating is not so much.