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How much fat gain is acceptable to you when bulking up?

How much fat gain is acceptable to you when bulking up?

  • 2 pounds or less

    Votes: 40 12.0%

  • 2-4 pounds

    Votes: 68 20.5%

  • 4-7 pounds

    Votes: 92 27.7%

  • 7-10 pounds

    Votes: 59 17.8%

  • 10 pounds or more

    Votes: 73 22.0%
  • Total voters
    332
Hello everyone!!!

I'm gonna piggy-back on this forum as it seems to be getting some good attention!

I went from 176 to 160 in the past 2.5 months. Doing the LOW carb diet... i eat complex carbs (oatmeal) in the morning with a protein shake. I try to eat every 3 hours (jumpstart metabolism), whether it be a low carb protein shake or a chix breast. Immediately after workout i tend to drink a "ABB Mass Recovery" Shake.. it has 60 grams of SIMPLE carbs (insulin spike) and about 36 grams of protein.

I work out 5 days a week... I am VERY serious and dedicated.. but my weight keeps dropping! Thats great and all b/c i have my abs back! AND I WANNA KEEP THEM!

Question is... is there any way i can bulk BACK up to 175 but WITH my abs?! LOL Obviously tweaking my diet is the key... but i DON"T want to "bulk" then "cut" back! I like my abs... and its summertime! LOL

I know SOME fat gain is likely.... is the ONLY way to minimize this to eat "clean"? And eat A LOT?!

Also.. i tend to "fear" carbs.... I kno how important they are.. but i tend to be especially sensitive to weight gain via carbs. I try to cycle carb intake... more on "heavy" workout days... and less on non-workout days. I NEVER consume more than 150 grams a day. I see some people here consuming 400+ grams!? And STILL look ripped!!!?

Is that due to anabolic use?

Anyways.. thanks folks! Appreciate your time!

Oh and i put a fat gain of around 4-7 lbs as "acceptible"... But as others mentioned... it might be more about B/F percentage..... and ALSO...there are people who are 150 lbs here... and others who are 250 lbs here.. "acceptible" fat gain is gonna be different...
 
I agree, this poll is flawed. People are of all different sizes/shapes. I think the more appropriate question would be how much bodyfat percentage increase is acceptable.
 
Wait, ABB's Mass Recovery is simple carbs? You sure about that? It only has 6 grams of sugar and I've seen an article about why they do that in light of "new evidence" that you don't need that many "simple sugars" to restore glyceogen post-workout. Personally I'm not sold so I drink some Gatorade along with the ABB Mass Recovery after I get done lifting.
 
Hmm... Interesting...

I'm pretty sure the carbs in the Mass Recovery are NOT in ANY way "complex" carbs. I would assume, they are VERY much similar to those of Gatorade.

By consuming 60 grams of carbs from "Mass Recovery" AND a Gatorade.... your pushing almost 100 carbs (all of which are relatively high on the GI)... AND about 36 grams of simple sugars.

Thats one HELL of an insulin spike! LOL

As i mentioned earlier.. i am a bit "fearfull" of carbs... so the 60 in the Mass Recovery will do. Have you noticed any bloating or a reduction in appearance of abs... (from the sugar)?
 
What is your source for Mass Recovery being high-glycemic? I'm aware that there are some high-glycemic/simple carbs that aren't sugar, but NOWHERE on a bottle of ABB Mass Recovery does it mention the glycemic profile of the carbs. Instead, it just says "60 grams total carbs" and mentions there are only "6 grams of sugar."

I've always heard that you need at least a 2:1 ratio of simple/high-glycemic carbs to protein after a workout. As far as I know, the only high-glycemic/simple carbs in ABB's Mass Recovery are those 6 grams of sugar.

I could be wrong, but that's the impression I get. Until I see a reliable source stating just how much of the carbs are simple or complex, I'm only relying on the actual 6 grams of sugar to be simple carbs.
 
Check this article:

Invalid Link Removed

"
And because many of today's bodybuilders try feverishly to avoid simple sugars, and instead replace post-workout carbohydrate recovery with longer chain polysaccharides, Mass Recovery is formulated with only 6g of the fructose-derived monosaccharides. This may go against the textbook mentality that teaches loads of sugar are necessary for AN EFFECTIVE INSULIN RESPONSE, however new literature shows otherwise. For example, WHEN CARBOHYDRATES ARE CONSUMED IN THE PRESENCE OF PROTEIN, GLYCOGEN RECOVERY IS ACTUALLY IMPROVED BEYOND THAT OF CARBOHYDRATES ALONE. Even when provided in equivocal doses. Additionally, BCAAS, BY THEMSELVES, HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO AID MUSCLE GLYCOGEN RECOVERY WHEN CONSUMED IMMEDIATELY POST-WORKOUT. Therefore, why include the extra sugar if it isn't absolutely necessary."


Correct me if I'm wrong, but if memory serves "longer chain polysaccharides" ARE complex/low-glycemic carbs. I haven't read up on this "new information" the article claims, so for now I'm sticking with extra Gatorade to help with my insulin spike.


I'm a little bit of a hard gainer anyway. I'm 170 now (down from 230 when I started working out, and I probably put on about 15 lbs of muscle in that time) and definition is coming fast. I isolate my HIIT days from my lift days and eat accordingly. If anything it seems like I need to eat even more, so the carbs aren't that big of a deal for me.
 
VERY VERY VERY interesting!!!

I must say... i may have been duped! LOL

Looks like i am gonna be adding something to my postworkout drink! As i DON'T prefer gatorade... should i add "simple" carbs... or a sugar for the insulin spike?

THOUGHTS?

Keep in mind... i am doing the "low carb" thing.. the MAIN times i eat carbs are in the morning and POST workout. I have vegies with a couple meals... but not after 8 pm... THoughts?
 
Personally I cycle my carbs ... 100-130 on HIIT days and 200-300 on lifting days. If you're trying to gain muscle, it's better to cycle your carbs. You need those extra carbs to help digest the protein on lift days, and cycling them shocks the body more which leads to better results for muscle gain AND fat loss.


Anyway, today my gym was out of ABB Mass Recovery so I just got some Gatorade and Isopure. If you're not into Gatorade, I hope you're okay with Powerade, OJ, or maybe milk. Maybe you could try ABB's Blue Thunder instead of Mass Recovery, even. It has like 22 grams of simple sugars and the overall carbs are lower than the Mass Recovery.
 
I think it really depends on the time frames. If all you care about is mass in a short period of time, the BF shouldn't be your primary concern. Getting the calories and protein should be the #1 concern, and the #2 concern being not giving yourself a heart attack in the process! On my list of things I watch, but is not terribly important is keep the fat intake to a tollerable level. IE, below pure krispy creme, and above pure egg and tuna diet.

In other words... I don't shy away from a NY strip when I'm bulking, nor a big friegen hamburger, but I'll stay the fries and the soda and drink water.

I guess I'm pretty lucky in the fact that eating like a horse, and not going all supp and crazy on the low fat stuff, I put on around 10 lbs for every 2 percent body fat. IE 40 lbs, 8 percent body fat. But I think it really has to do with your physiology more than anything. I just CAN'T motivate to bulk sucking down pure supps, low fat foods, and diet looking stuff. Maybe I'm weak willed, but if I see anything that resembles my cutting diet I get depressed! But I LOVE food. I just try to make sure everything has a large proportion of protein to carbs.

I'm by no means a professional body builder, so I don't really NEED to cut to extreme vascularity. If I hit 7-8 percent body fat cutting, that's PLENTY good.

Of course along with EVERY post in this thread, "Your mileage may vary!!!"

Some people eat like pigs and never gain a lbs, others pig out and go fat forward into bulking like a train. Others, like me, can't seem to do either, but just live with what I've got.

But then again, I wouldn't be interested in posting here if I was ever 'satisfied'. There's always got to be a better way :)
 
Is it just me or Doesn't it really matter how much you weigh to begin w/ to vote the Poll.....I mean obviously if you 150lbs ,a 10lb increase of fat is alot different than if your 250lbs....And what if your 100lbs...well....I guess you'd just need to throw the towel in and call it quits on that one;)
 
badbart said:
I voted 10 pounds or more, the only time I make gains is when I'm eating like a pig and getting fatter, bigger and stronger. I've tried clean bulking, cardio etc. to stay some what lean, but nothing worked, my gains were very small. Now I dirty bulk and I'm finally getting stronger and bigger but fat also follows. I figure I'll get 10 pounds above the weight I want to be at and cut, I can drop weight very easy I'm a hard gainer.
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Thats pretty good advice...
 
When I first started cutting I started cutting at about 25% at my peak bulk. It kinda got outta hand and that's why I'm still cutting after 14 weeks...:head:
 
This really should be a 2 part poll or something... The first factor should be body type, and the second part should be what bf% imo.

I'm bulking now, in the past 1.5 month I dropped 15 lbs of fat and put on 5 lbs of muscle, then started the bulk I'm on. I'm getting WAAAY more vascular (might be the epi hehe ;)) but thats the way it always is and the only place I am visibly not as lean while cutting is my midsection, and this is obviously from pigging out and water retention. As long as I get 280g protein / day, I eat whatever else I want, mcdonald's, arby's, pizza, etc. But I also swim once a week, and run ~3 miles 3 times per week, sometimes jumprope or HIIT. It's not just about "getting big" with me; any moron can get big, I would only consider myself 'too big' if I started to lose athleticism / coordination due to being too fat... By next April I plan on having my 1.5 mile run time below 9:30, my bench above 315 for reps, and my bf% down to at least 10%... I'm at 14.5% currently so bring on the whoppers!!!
 
Magickk said:
This really should be a 2 part poll or something... The first factor should be body type, and the second part should be what bf% imo.

I'm bulking now, in the past 1.5 month I dropped 15 lbs of fat and put on 5 lbs of muscle, then started the bulk I'm on. I'm getting WAAAY more vascular (might be the epi hehe ;)) but thats the way it always is and the only place I am visibly not as lean while cutting is my midsection, and this is obviously from pigging out and water retention. As long as I get 280g protein / day, I eat whatever else I want, mcdonald's, arby's, pizza, etc. But I also swim once a week, and run ~3 miles 3 times per week, sometimes jumprope or HIIT. It's not just about "getting big" with me; any moron can get big, I would only consider myself 'too big' if I started to lose athleticism / coordination due to being too fat... By next April I plan on having my 1.5 mile run time below 9:30, my bench above 315 for reps, and my bf% down to at least 10%... I'm at 14.5% currently so bring on the whoppers!!!
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Wendy's and Whataburger are better :) But any place that fresh grind's their beef on site is the best! There's a little family run burger joint down the street that grinds their own beef daily. Best darned 1/2 -> 3/4 pound burgers 5 bucks can buy.
 
Magickk said:
This really should be a 2 part poll or something... The first factor should be body type, and the second part should be what bf% imo.

I'm bulking now, in the past 1.5 month I dropped 15 lbs of fat and put on 5 lbs of muscle, then started the bulk I'm on. I'm getting WAAAY more vascular (might be the epi hehe ;)) but thats the way it always is and the only place I am visibly not as lean while cutting is my midsection, and this is obviously from pigging out and water retention. As long as I get 280g protein / day, I eat whatever else I want, mcdonald's, arby's, pizza, etc. But I also swim once a week, and run ~3 miles 3 times per week, sometimes jumprope or HIIT. It's not just about "getting big" with me; any moron can get big, I would only consider myself 'too big' if I started to lose athleticism / coordination due to being too fat... By next April I plan on having my 1.5 mile run time below 9:30, my bench above 315 for reps, and my bf% down to at least 10%... I'm at 14.5% currently so bring on the whoppers!!!
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wait, you have dropped 15 lbs of fat and gained 5 lbs of muscle in the last 1.5 months?!?!

are you super human>
 
eat clean and fat gain will be very little.most people gorge themselfes on way too many carbs.fats need more role in bulking phase.
 
fyi-- my goal was to gain 50pds then start to cut up.. u think its possible to gain 50pds with 10pd of fat gain??
 
I'm glad this came up. I'm doing my first serious bulk diet right now. I'm out in Iraq right now eating MRE's which has got me worried about how much fat I'm getting. Maybe someone can help. I've been keeping a log and I've split my diet into 9 meals throughout the day, getting between 3500 - 4000 cals, 300 - 400 prot., and 80 - 120 fat. Honestly I've been concerned about the fat, but I lift 6 days a week and do cardio everyday switching between running and jump rope. What do you guys think?
 
Pork Grind

Where are in Iraq that you are eating MREs for every meal? I've been here three times in four years and never been somewhere that you only get MREs.
 
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