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
Depends how long the bulk is. I'd say 1/2 an lb a week is a fair amount.

Also depends if one is using AAS or not. If not, then less than 1/2lb is unlikely(unless the bulk is very slow)
 
Depends upon how much lean mass you are gaining.



CROWLER
 
Would it help to go by bodyfat percentages here? Like what's the highest BF you guys will get to before you cut, and what's the lowest you want before you start bulking again?
 
I don't tolerate more than 1 lb fat per 3.5 lbs LBM but I bulk slowly (1.5 lb LBM per 2 weeks) and no AAS, PH's.
 
I tend to bloat up to 11-13% and then just hold that indefinitely while putting on between .5 and 1.0 LBM per week. For whatever that's worth.
 
I guess it also depends on how much you wanna cut later!
Click to expand...

Remember that when you're pounding down the cals when you're bulking!! I bulked up for like 3 years straight, and maxed out at 240lbs and about 18%BF. I was pretty strong, and I felt like absolute ****. Ive been cutting since March of this year, and now Im down nearly 20lbs and am at 11%BF. Trying to get down to 8% and stay there.

Ill tell you this: dont get too fat, because cutting is a royal PITA:)

BV
 
The heavier you are the stronger you will be. The stronger you are the more muscle you will get. The ddownside is bf%.. I am currently 35-40 pounds off contest weight..estimated...This is a good bulk weight for me. Anymore for me is worthless. any less I start to lose strengeth or it does not come as fast.
 
BigVrunga said:
That's not really true - you can maintain your weight and make dramatic improvements in strength by training your CNS.
Click to expand...
yes I should have phrased that differently. Anymore than 40 lbs. over contest weight for me is worthless weight. But I stayed pretty lean for years and my gains were good but not nearly as good as when I am 40 lbs. heavier. When I was 20 lbs. over contest weight.
 
The Doberman said:
How much fat gain is acceptable to you when bulking up?
Click to expand...
Depends on how much fat you are starting with :)

If you're >15%, IMO, you shouldn't gain any fat.

12.5% < FAT < 15% I'd say no more than 4lbs total.

10% < FAT < 12.5% I'd say no more than 6.

Sub 10% No more than 8.

I just don't see the reason so many people put on so much fat.

I did it, and it did nothin wonderful for me...I'll never gain so much fat again while bulking. To me, bulking will forever mean: getting as high as 12% BF in the quest for muscle :)

I've been out of the game for a whole, but I"m honestly going to focus on getting to around 10% before I worry too much bout "bulking".

No point in being a fat bodybuilder.
 
I would say its more dependent on fat percentage and how big you are to begin than actual fat lbs.

If you are 180 and bulking up to 202 and go from 6% bf to 12% bf you basically have added 13lbs of fat.

If you are 240 and bulking up to 270 and go from 6% bf to 12% bf you basically added 18lbs of fat.

Percentages are obviously the same, but the bf lbs vary. I go for the percentage bulk and let the weight top were it tops.
 
Body type plays the biggest factor in this role. If you are an ectomorph then consuming large amounts are fats *(from healthy sources) would be your best bet. Now if you are an endomorph watch your fat intake and focus on high to medium carbo intake and be cautious w/ G.I. of your sources you choose from. Bottom line experience plays a great factor. Always keep a journal of what you ate and use it as a reference to see what foods gave you the best gains w/ out causing you to gain much fat. Lastly, from personal experience when in surplus of calories from a personal perspective I ve always appeared as if smoother and heavier but that was contributed by water retention not fat gain.
 
it's all personal preference as to what you look like in the mirror... i don't mind getting a tiny bit chubby... I have been bulking since mid december and i've put on a good 25 pounds(170-195) and plan on doing 1 more month of bulking hoping to get up to 200+ and then cut down til i can see my abs or something... I've never actually seen my abs so that will be interesting. I've put on a bit of fat to the point where it's noticeable my stomach has grown and my lovehandles but no where else.
 
It all depends on where I start at. I think anything over about 15% is too much and is not healthy. I usually start a bulker at about 8% and shoot for not getting much over 12-13%. It's not good for the body to gain/lose large amounts of fat.
 
I think that if alot of guys who have a hard time growing tried bulking up without worrying about how much fat they gain(to a point), they would be suprised by the results. Getting too fat isn't good of course, but you have to have a surplus of calories to gain muscle. I think it's useful to put on some fat when bulking. Then again, I'm married so I don't have to worry about pickin up hotties on the weekend, so I don't care if I get fat:sad: .
 
I use the same method a couple of people mentioned above. I would like to keep my abs relatively visable. But once i decide that i dont want to get any bigger, i usually stay around the same amount of calories ingested for the rest of my bulk, unless i would start losing weight of course.
 
ah it's a vicious seesaw of dysmorphia and anorexia nervosa...

Well, not really..

But I suppose the abs are a factor with me. And yes I completely agree with Jarhead.. if I didn't care, my bulks would be phenomenal.. but at least I know this.. that's the first step. :D
 
Ubiquitous said:
ah it's a vicious seesaw of dysmorphia and anorexia nervosa...

Well, not really..

But I suppose the abs are a factor with me. And yes I completely agree with Jarhead.. if I didn't care, my bulks would be phenomenal.. but at least I know this.. that's the first step. :D
Click to expand...

But on the plus side, you got a killer set of abs!:D
 
Really being an ecto is good and bad. Yes we ecto's reqiure more fat's but It has to come from healthy oils (by the way safflower oil is my favorite of all) EPA=DHA LA LA LA etc...
I'f i wanted a lean bulk or whatever. Again do not be mistaken w/ the body's natural hormonal response especially w/good supplements. It may seem as your getting fatter when the truth is your holding extra water becuase of the anabolic response to fat's. The ultimate hardest fat to mess with is sat. Fat in milk, cottage cheese, and whole natural orgainc fortified w/ omega's!
 
Those of you that have voted 10lbs+ are out of your minds :fool2:
I'd say no more than 10lbs, by that point it would be obvious to me I've went overboard on diet.
 
BigVrunga said:
Remember that when you're pounding down the cals when you're bulking!! I bulked up for like 3 years straight, and maxed out at 240lbs and about 18%BF. I was pretty strong, and I felt like absolute ****. Ive been cutting since March of this year, and now Im down nearly 20lbs and am at 11%BF. Trying to get down to 8% and stay there.

Ill tell you this: dont get too fat, because cutting is a royal PITA:)

BV
Click to expand...

listen to vrunga!!!! i'm in the same boat now... total pain in the ass! i'm 5' 5" 180 and 17% BF at the moment... just started cutting in august... once i see my abs.... i'll be a very happy person...
cheers,
darkpoet3113
 
darkpoet3113 said:
listen to vrunga!!!! i'm in the same boat now... total pain in the ass! i'm 5' 5" 180 and 17% BF at the moment... just started cutting in august... once i see my abs.... i'll be a very happy person...
cheers,
darkpoet3113
Click to expand...

I don't know if we types will EVER be truly happy with ourselves. :D

We could always be bigger, or leaner, or more vascular etc. etc.
 
This coming winter I plan on starting a bulk/cut program in which I will implement 6 bulking weeks followed by 3 cutting weeks. I few people who compete implement this technique and it works extremely well for them, now granted the mass gains come a little slower than if you were straight bulking but the advantage is that you don't put on as much fat.
 
4-7 pounds for me but it also depends on genetics to a great extent. My best friend who i have known since elementary, has always had low low bf. when he was at wazzu and running track he got his bodyfat measured by hydrostatic weighing and it was around 5%. when he lifts to gain size and strength his bf never goes above around 7%, the only thing that goes up are his measurements..... his arms are around 18 inches and he has never used anything... he has been like that from day one of training in junior high.
 
Kick your friend in the balls from me, lol.

And as far as exceptable fat gain the way i'm going to do it from now on is have a cut off for the maximum amount of bodyfat i'm willing to gain. So my goal right now is to get down to 5% bf then when i bulk, i'll stop bulking when i'm at around 12-14%bf.
 
I finished my cutting cycle and went from 210 to a lean 185..Now I'm back at 200 and plan to hit 240 by march or april! I'm using Weight gainers as meal replacements =D hahah
 
Cutting for me is far harder than bulking so, I try to bulk as lean as possible. I just try to eat alot of clean protein and carbs.
 
My best and worst bulker came with a lot of fat gain. Especially when using androgens, I have noticed a tendency to get more of both muscle and fat with the wetter compounds. It is a tradeoff.

10lbs of fat isn't that tough to lose, so I'd be fine with gaining at least that. I have done much worse for myself than 10 lbs fat gain, haha. I think 5 weeks is more than enough time to lose 10lbs fat. For a long bulker that isn't bad at all.
 
I have just started bulking last week and this is my first bulking cycle. I am going to try it for two months and see where it takes me. I am 27 yo, 205 with 18% bf. I am very worried about my BF getting much higher. I am eating at a 44/42/14 ratio of protein/carbs/fat and about 3700 cals a day. I am using the ALRI Evolution Stack. What should I watch out for so I don't increase my BF % to much. After a week of eating all these calories I am feeling bloated and fatter around my midsection, is this normal? Also, should I have dieted down to a lower BF % before trying to bulk? I do have some trouble when I try to loose fat.
 
HDeuce7 said:
I have just started bulking last week and this is my first bulking cycle. I am going to try it for two months and see where it takes me. I am 27 yo, 205 with 18% bf. I am very worried about my BF getting much higher. I am eating at a 44/42/14 ratio of protein/carbs/fat and about 3700 cals a day. I am using the ALRI Evolution Stack. What should I watch out for so I don't increase my BF % to much. After a week of eating all these calories I am feeling bloated and fatter around my midsection, is this normal? Also, should I have dieted down to a lower BF % before trying to bulk? I do have some trouble when I try to loose fat.
Click to expand...

Well 18% bf is close to "bulked" already. You might want to rethink this and drop some bf and maintain muscle first. If you add another 7% bf, a quarter of your body will be fat, which is not good. Keep your diet clean ( although 3700 isn't terribly high so shouldn't make for a huge amount of excess cals.) You could also continue and just keep an eye one bf and add cardio as needed. Think more in terms of adding true muscle and not bulk. As far as the bloating, yeah that's normal. The extra food will strectch the midsection, and I imagine there is water retention from the extra sodium in the extra food.
 
Pounds? How about PERCENTAGES!

A poll for how many pounds of fat is interesting, I suppose - but a poll asking what is your acceptable high body fat percentage is probably more on point.

There are men on this board who are 155 or so, and men who are over twice that...

So here are a few possible polls:

1) what is your desired bf% for competition?
2) what is your upper limit for bf% when adding mass?
3) what is your typical off-season bf%?

I'll start these in a new thread if you guys want me to....
 
BigVrunga said:
Remember that when you're pounding down the cals when you're bulking!! I bulked up for like 3 years straight, and maxed out at 240lbs and about 18%BF. I was pretty strong, and I felt like absolute ****. Ive been cutting since March of this year, and now Im down nearly 20lbs and am at 11%BF. Trying to get down to 8% and stay there.

Ill tell you this: dont get too fat, because cutting is a royal PITA:)

BV
Click to expand...

QFT. There is no point in gaining heaps of fat. Remember if you eat cleaner foods like Oats, Eggs, Chicken, Brown Rice, and etc. All the good rich complex carbed good protein foods. You should be fine, but also watch what time you eat the carbs and how much you eat it in one sitting. Try adding cardio 2-3 times a week that also helps to keep the fat gains down.
 
i see my abs like once a year. but its nice while it lasts. its kinda like going to visit your grandma in FL. well not really....
 
i usually add 30lbs of fat. i like to cut so i dont care. this year i went from 205 and now i'm at 255. however i started a pheramax cylce 10 weeks ago and did a 4 weeker and went from 239 to 255 and kept it all. i'm mantaining 255 and gunna start my cut in 1 1/2 weeks probly down to 225.......i hope
 
pheraflex said:
i usually add 30lbs of fat. i like to cut so i dont care. this year i went from 205 and now i'm at 255. however i started a pheramax cylce 10 weeks ago and did a 4 weeker and went from 239 to 255 and kept it all. i'm mantaining 255 and gunna start my cut in 1 1/2 weeks probly down to 225.......i hope
Click to expand...

hell yeah
 
i prefer to bulk up as clean as possible. i structured my diet this winter season such that i ate around 8 times per day, but within a 40 40 20 nutrient split that gave me just the right amount of carbs, protein and fat with each meal. i didnt really gain much fat, bc i did cardio once or twice a week.

im a senior in high school. i played football this yr and lost a lot of muscle mass during the season, then quickly gained it back and more when i started lifting hardcore again. i gained 10 solid pounds of muscle mass over a couple months, going from 185 to 195, which has since escalated to 200 +. my bf % is low. the only hindrance i have to vascularity is some water weight from creatine supplementation.
 
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.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top