Clean Bulk Nutritional Advice

[ph4y5e]

Hi All,

I am 32 yrs of Age, Coming from an extremly obese background(118kgs in my early 20s) Having worked out on and off for nearly 10 years, I started getting back into it seriously this year,

I did a 12 week cut from 24% bf to 8.4% bf and from 85kgs down to about 74 kgs about 4 months ago....

I have been gaining consistently from then up until now and im about 80-81kgs(Morning Weight after toilet before food)
My Stats are
32yrs
80-81kgs
11.5-12.5%BF
Desk Job

My Macros daily consist of the following
On training Days
Carbs : 200-210g , Fats: 45-55, Protein :280-320 Roughly 2800 Calories A Day

Non Weight Days(Cardio Only)
Carbs : 180-200 : fats 45-55 , Protein 250-280 roughly 2500-2700 calories a Day.

Split into 6-7 meals a day, with at least 3 or 4 being solid and the rest being Shakes with oats, fruits and 0 fat yoghurt.

All my carbs come from complex sources, namely Oats, Brown rice , sweet potatos, Banana,blueberry, Cranberry, Rasberries With Dextrose being my only simple carb Post Workout.

Proteins come from Salmon, Lean Tenderloin and Sirloin(Fat Trimmed off),Chicken(mainly breast meat some thighs every now and then) and of course Egg whites and protein Powders.

I have Casein and 0 fat Greek yoghurt prior to bed.

And I do 20 minutes of HIIT (3 minutes rest 1 minute sprint on a spin bike) 3 times a week on my off days.

I wont list my supplements here as This is mainly a nutrtional question.

As mentioned before I had been gaining steadily up until last week when ALAS one morning i woke to step on the scales and I was 79 KGS!

I guess the question is, Given my history of Obesity, and ease of fat gain, so Should i be increasing Carbs while keeping protein the same, increase both, or adjust them both accordingly to make up about 3000-3100 calories? should i be increasing to continue my lean gains or should i reduce my cardio and keep my calories the same? Im not looking for CRAZY gains, but my goal is to hit 85kgs but be below 15% BF before i start my next cut.

I am afraid of increasing my carb intake for fear of fat gains, early on in my bulking regime, i had increased my carbs a LOT and i saw a LOT OF fat gain, which forced me to stop my bulk and lean out for a few weeks before continuing on my bulk but being waaaay more careful with my carbs and fats....

Any Advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[jerrysiii]

This is a very good question and I'm struggling with the same situation. You're looking to gain lean mass without putting on any (or at least very little) fat. You have protein high at approx 300gms. Now the question is where do you insert the additional calories (fats or carbs)? Also, what role should cardio play in the lean bulk.

You'll likely get many conflicting answers to the question. Here's what I'm doing:

I also have protein high at 340 gms. Many guys will say this is too much, but from experience it is about right for me.

I've been experimenting with the following macros: 35%, 45%, 20% vs 25%, 45%, 30% (carb, pro, fat) -- keeping the same total calories. I also reduce carbs by 75gms on non-training days. I training 5 days per week so only 2 low carb days.

Last week or so has been the higher fat menu. I'm not liking the results so I'm switching back to lower fat and higher carb diet.

I've been gradually raising calories from 2,600 to now 3,300 kcal. I've also gradually reduced cardio from 30 min/day 5 days/week to 15 min/day 5 days/week. I think the sweet spot for me was 20min so I'm going back to that.

Over the last 8 weeks I've gained 5lbs of lean mass and 1lb of fat. I think I've almost have my lean bulk figured out, but it definitely took some trial and error.

I guess my overall suggestion to you would be: 300gm protein, 55gm fat and then adjust carbs as needed. Take some away on non-training days and add more gradually on training days until you're gaining about 0.5lbs/week. Keep cardio as is for now.

 

[EatMoar]

This is a very good question and I'm struggling with the same situation. You're looking to gain lean mass without putting on any (or at least very little) fat. You have protein high at approx 300gms. Now the question is where do you insert the additional calories (fats or carbs)? Also, what role should cardio play in the lean bulk.

You'll likely get many conflicting answers to the question. Here's what I'm doing:

I also have protein high at 340 gms. Many guys will say this is too much, but from experience it is about right for me.

I've been experimenting with the following macros: 35%, 45%, 20% vs 25%, 45%, 30% (carb, pro, fat) -- keeping the same total calories. I also reduce carbs by 75gms on non-training days. I training 5 days per week so only 2 low carb days.

Last week or so has been the higher fat menu. I'm not liking the results so I'm switching back to lower fat and higher carb diet.

I've been gradually raising calories from 2,600 to now 3,300 kcal. I've also gradually reduced cardio from 30 min/day 5 days/week to 15 min/day 5 days/week. I think the sweet spot for me was 20min so I'm going back to that.

Over the last 8 weeks I've gained 5lbs of lean mass and 1lb of fat. I think I've almost have my lean bulk figured out, but it definitely took some trial and error.

I guess my overall suggestion to you would be: 300gm protein, 55gm fat and then adjust carbs as needed. Take some away on non-training days and add more gradually on training days until you're gaining about 0.5lbs/week. Keep cardio as is for now.

It would make sense to keep your fats low and keep to healthy fats. More carbs = more energy which means your lifts will be harder and recovery will be quicker, so adding in the rest of your calories in as carbs would make the most sense here.

 

[Distilled Water]

If you're sensitive to carbs, do a CKD or TKD diet. start at a 50/50 split pro/fat and adjust accordingly. 300gr protein & 200gr fat for a 3k cal diet, initial 10-14 days of no carbs will be hell but after, you'll feel great. I carb up with 500gr on Saturdays. 50gr dextrose (since you already use it) started 30min pre and sipped on intra workout would do you well for energy/pump.

Don't start intra carbs until after the I initial depletion. It's easy to follow, just don't eat anything with carbs haha. It also gives me sanity knowing I can eat & eat a lot on Saturdays.