Good advice on here from the veterans. I want to bulk because I have gotten down to 15 percent body fat so my body is more primed this time to add muscle with less fat due to improved insulin sensitivity that comes with having lower body fat. I do not want to gain much fat on my bulk so I am going to take everyone’s suggestions and start out with just a 250 calorie surplus and adjust each week if appropriate. Last time I bulked I made the mistake of just relying on calorie math so I had a 1000 calorie surplus and gained too much fat. I was also like 18 percent body fat last time I did it so I had poorer insulin sensitivity and really had no business to be bulking at that high of body fat.
dont forget your maintenance phases brother. I think this is one of the key components to long term body composition changes as also the one most people get wrong (I did for many years).
following a bulk or cut you should have a period of 3 months or so where you just maintain your new position. It’s to allow the body to adapt to and accept the lower BF percentage (or higher lean mass) as the new normal (to coin a topical phase).
bulking or cutting takes the body away from where it naturally wants to be, it tries fucking hard not to change (various mechanisms at play). Having forced it to a new position if you suddenly switch to extra cals (or straight into a cut off a bulk) your body will immediately take advantage to return to where it wants by storing fat (or dropping lean mass). Maintenance phases avoid that happening.
you’ll find this referred to as the concept of ‘set points’
I absolutely get that most of us normally want a goal to aim at, maintenance is boring as **** compared to getting leaner or gaining muscle but understanding and introducing maintenance phases improved my progress by a ridiculous amount