Help with lean bulking diet

[MNkid03]

So I'm trying to put on some size while staying fairly lean. I'm 5' 9" and 170 pounds my long term goal would be to hit about 185 but for now I'm shooting for 175 by July-ish. I'm currently taking in about 3000 calories a day all lean meats, good carbs and healthy fats. For the most part a clean diet with maybe an added cheat meal a week.

The problem i'm having is consistently eating that much day in and day out. Don't get me wrong i love food and love to eat.but it's my digestive system that has trouble with all the food i eat and if I'm having trouble now i could imagine it will only get worse as i progress and add calories to my diet.

I was just wondering if anyone else has this problem or has any advice that will help me add the calories i need and continue to grow?

 

[carpee]

figure out how much fiber and protein you need (minimum effective amount) and get that daily...but don't add extra protein and fiber if you're having a hard time getting all the cals. these things keep you feeling fuller.
get tons of healthy fats.

you could make a portion of your calories into a blended shake and drink it, when unable to chew/eat.

you could also look into AP, Prime, or anabeta....these separately, or in combination, always make my ability to eat go through the roof.

 

[xigotmailx]

We're roughly around the same size right now, 175 at 5'10" and my maintenance is at 2000 cals. It doesn't seem like you are having trouble putting on the weight, just taking it in right?

What I do is premake all of my meals, usually for the entire week and just force myself to eat them all. Weighing it all so its 100% consistent. I've found this to be so easy and the results have been tremendous.

What is your meal timing like? If you can answer that question and your not doing IF, forget about it. Eat whenever you want during the day and night, even before bed if you need to. Simple as calories in vs. calories out, and since you're trying to bulk up slow and clean, find your maintenance cals and up by 200-400 to keep the fat gain at a minimum

 

[MNkid03]

figure out how much fiber and protein you need (minimum effective amount) and get that daily...but don't add extra protein and fiber if you're having a hard time getting all the cals. these things keep you feeling fuller.
get tons of healthy fats.

you could make a portion of your calories into a blended shake and drink it, when unable to chew/eat.

you could also look into AP, Prime, or anabeta....these separately, or in combination, always make my ability to eat go through the roof.

That's the trouble I'm having. Every place I look at is different as far as figuring out all my macros I need. And i have been adding more protein shakes to my diet in substitute for atleast one of my meals to make it easier to get more calories. I'm currently using myfitnesspal app and according to that I'm getting 43 grams of fiber a day which is more than the recommended amount by ISSN or whoever. Not sure if that's a good thing or nt

 

[MNkid03]

We're roughly around the same size right now, 175 at 5'10" and my maintenance is at 2000 cals. It doesn't seem like you are having trouble putting on the weight, just taking it in right?

What I do is premake all of my meals, usually for the entire week and just force myself to eat them all. Weighing it all so its 100% consistent. I've found this to be so easy and the results have been tremendous.

What is your meal timing like? If you can answer that question and your not doing IF, forget about it. Eat whenever you want during the day and night, even before bed if you need to. Simple as calories in vs. calories out, and since you're trying to bulk up slow and clean, find your maintenance cals and up by 200-400 to keep the fat gain at a minimum

Right now i'm currently using myfitnesspal to help plan out my meals ahead of time and i do like you and bulk cook on sunday. As far as meal timing goes I eat about 8 times a day, since that is just how it works out with my work schedule. I eat about every 2 hours putting in about 350 calories or so each meal besides my breakfast and post workout meals which are significantly larger. Each meal consists of carbs, protein and some fats. I've read countless articles on the internet, books, and magazines trying to perfect my diet but like I said my stomach just has trouble digesting it all.

As far as finding my maintenance cals I struggle with that too since every place you look says differently. It can range from 2000-2800 depending upon where I look so I just took a number in the middle and added 500 to it. As far as macros go to that also ranges. Right now i'm getting about 250 grams of protein, 80 grams of fats, and around 350+ carbs.

 

[xigotmailx]

Right now i'm currently using myfitnesspal to help plan out my meals ahead of time and i do like you and bulk cook on sunday. As far as meal timing goes I eat about 8 times a day, since that is just how it works out with my work schedule. I eat about every 2 hours putting in about 350 calories or so each meal besides my breakfast and post workout meals which are significantly larger. Each meal consists of carbs, protein and some fats. I've read countless articles on the internet, books, and magazines trying to perfect my diet but like I said my stomach just has trouble digesting it all.

As far as finding my maintenance cals I struggle with that too since every place you look says differently. It can range from 2000-2800 depending upon where I look so I just took a number in the middle and added 500 to it. As far as macros go to that also ranges. Right now i'm getting about 250 grams of protein, 80 grams of fats, and around 350+ carbs.

To find your maintenance, just watch the scale, as you gain no weight, that is your maintenance. Screw the calculators, they just give you a ballpark area. For my weight, I'm far under what they say is maintenance, but I've kept my weight constant at 2k, so that's where i'm at. For my diet, I do IF, just because I can force myself to eat larger meals at the cost of feeling bloated/sluggish/tired but hell, my training is out of the way so what do I care Your macros are good for sure, and just eat however you want. Just don't worry about time frame if your eating throughout the day. From wake to sleep, it's just as long as you get in all the cals, break it up into 10 meals if you want.

Also, check into Anabeta....you will become a bottomless pit for eating. Another thing is you may started with cals too high and your metabolism hasn't caught up, maybe lower a bit and get it up to par or just truck through it

 

[ITW]

Didn't read the above posts so sorry if I'm being redundant. Caloric surplus on training days (how much is on you, I prefer 10-20% low and slow), maintenance on rest days. Don't over-complicate macros. Get your BW/g at least of protein and fill in the rest with what works best for you in general. Really is that simple honestly

 

[MNkid03]

Yeah i might end up lowering my calorie intake for awhile to see what happens. My guess is maybe my body currently can't handle as much as I'm putting in and is just wasting a lot of it

 

[xigotmailx]

Yeah i might end up lowering my calorie intake for awhile to see what happens. My guess is maybe my body currently can't handle as much as I'm putting in and is just wasting a lot of it

That would be my guess, after a while being at maintenance I noticed as my bodyfat dropped and lbm increased I've been hungrier and hungrier everyday. At your stats, not sure where the bodyfat is at, but I'd guess you should aim for 2.2-2.5k right now and see how that works.

How has the scale been treating you while trying to eat at 3k? Do you know your bodyfat?

 

[MNkid03]

Not sure of what my body fat is, i don't have any way of testing that. If it means anything you can see abs but they definitely don't pop. I've been eating 3k a day now for about 3 months i've gained 3 pounds. For the little progress i've seen it hasn't been worth all the bloating, feeling tired, sluggish, and sick and all the digestive issues. I know there's got to be a better approach I'm just stumped and overwhelmed with all the stuff I have read

 

[Tomahawk88]

Not sure of what my body fat is, i don't have any way of testing that. If it means anything you can see abs but they definitely don't pop. I've been eating 3k a day now for about 3 months i've gained 3 pounds. For the little progress i've seen it hasn't been worth all the bloating, feeling tired, sluggish, and sick and all the digestive issues. I know there's got to be a better approach I'm just stumped and overwhelmed with all the stuff I have read

What carbs are you eating?

 

[MNkid03]

What carbs are you eating?

Whole grain breads and pasta, lots of oatmeal and rice somwhere between 380-400g a day