bulkin and fat loss

[kev123]

hi i have been readin people sayin that if your on a bulking diet you wont loss any fat but just because your bulking does not mean you are gonna eat shit food so surely if you are eatin the right foods you will still loose fat

[Bigdog99]

you can still lose fat while bulking...it just isn't as easy while cutting. All about the diet and what you want to do.

[FireGuy]

The term bulking is usually defined in bodybuilding circles as adding as a lot of bodyweight knowing that it will be a combination of muscle and fat. If you are truly "bulking" eating way over your TDEE you will put on bodyfat. Not something I would recommend except in very rare cases.

[gbrice75]

^ ^ this.

If what you really mean is adding lean mass while slowly reducing bodyfat, that is possible. You will never lose bodyfat while bulking if it's in the context that FG pointed out above, in fact you'll add some.

[musclestack]

Fireguy-Can you please explain why you wouldn't recommend a straight bulk? At least I think that's what you're saying from reading your post....correct me if I'm wrong. What do you do to put on LBM without gaining fat? Just stay a bit over TDEE?? Keep cardio intense?

Thanks!

[FireGuy]

^^It's really a pretty simple concept. If you are gaining fat you are eating too many calories for your energy expenditure. You can gain muscle without putting on bodyfat, all you need to do is be precise with your calorie intake. It doesnt take a huge abundance of calories to create an anabolic environment. Your body is only capable of adding so much muscle in any time frame. Overeating will not result in bigger or faster gains.

[musclestack]

Understood. Can I ask, how many calories over TDEE do you eat whilst trying to gain?

[FireGuy]

First of all it's important to remember TDEE is at best a rough guestimate. I would venture to say even people with the most consistent daily routines have several hundred calorie fluctuations in daily calorie expenditures. If you believe you can dial this in to where you are truly eating a certain number of calories above this on a daily basis you would be mistaken. The best thing you can do is get regular body comps done to see if you are putting on muscle, fat or a combination of both and adjust your diet from there. Better yet, if you dont want to be that meticulous just set a predefined ceiling of how much bodyfat you are willing to carry and once you start yo approach that drop calories or add in more cardio. In my opininion there is zero benefit to ever going over 15% bodyfat and I would go as far as to say you can add just as much muscle staying in the 10-13% range as you could with any bulk cycle. Not to mention when and if you decide to get leaner from there it wont take as long and you wont risk losing the muscle you gained by having to do a long super restricted diet.

[musclestack]

Very informative Fire! Having read that, I believe I actually need to reduce my dietary fat; I feel like I've put on a noticeable amount of fat in the past couple weeks, and members here had told me my fat cals were a bit high anyway when posting my diet.

[gbrice75]

First of all it's important to remember TDEE is at best a rough guestimate. I would venture to say even people with the most consistent daily routines have several hundred calorie fluctuations in daily calorie expenditures. If you believe you can dial this in to where you are truly eating a certain number of calories above this on a daily basis you would be mistaken. The best thing you can do is get regular body comps done to see if you are putting on muscle, fat or a combination of both and adjust your diet from there. Better yet, if you dont want to be that meticulous just set a predefined ceiling of how much bodyfat you are willing to carry and once you start yo approach that drop calories or add in more cardio. In my opininion there is zero benefit to ever going over 15% bodyfat and I would go as far as to say you can add just as much muscle staying in the 10-13% range as you could with any bulk cycle. Not to mention when and if you decide to get leaner from there it wont take as long and you wont risk losing the muscle you gained by having to do a long super restricted diet.

GREAT info, easily explained and informative. Personally, I would like to try the bold approach above. I need to get calipers and learn how to use them properly.