Diet to bulk

[mikeyl]

Stats: Long time lurker

37
6'3
197 Lbs
12% BF

Used to be a fairly hardcore lifter... never touched anything.

Long story short, got married had a a couple kids and stopped working out... Weight maintained at around 220 but my fat went over 20% and just became soft. Would get slight motivation for 2-3 months at a time once a year but never made it part of life.

Spent last 4 months (November 27th-now) getting myself back in shape, dropped from 20+% body fat ant 217-220 down to 197. I had a week vacation and a few less than stellar workout weeks but never over ate.

My estimated body fat is around 11-12% right now and I did it without cardio, just strict diet and lifting 4-5 times a week at 40-50 minutes per session. 2 on 1 of, Chest-tri, Legs, back-bi, Shoulders, abs forearms... Calfs 2-3 times a week. My workout have focused on heavy progressions with some supersets


I eat 6 times a day and it has not been ideal, focused more on macros trying to get between 300 and 350 calories per meal. Most meals i have been focused on getting 35 g protein, 30g carb, 5-10g fat. Eating oats, brown rice, yams, and barilla plus pasta as my carbs. Chicken, lean beef, tuna and probably too much whey for the protein. Also some ff cottage cheese. Fat has come form flax and Olive oil.

For supplements outside of whey, it has been really just multi-vitamins.. last 2 weeks i have added Creatine and Beta Alinine (scifit).

Issue is i am 6'3 and 197... have not been this light since my junior year in highschool... when i was lifitng hard core i weighed in at 240 with 12% bf. I guess that is what happens when you cut with no muscle underneath.
(I have no ass or wheels, 24 inch thighs and 16 inch calves-- damn genetics , so that is where some of the weight should be)

I want to look to add some pounds back on but still do not have the abs quite where i want them. little paunch still when sitting/not flexing and still a bit on handlebars.

How do i effectively transition from this level of cut to slight weight gain without getting to be a fat ass.... I really have a goal of having my abs pop, and no love handles.

Will cardio aid in this transition? Or is it just trial and error, and a gradual increase in calories....

I have been lurking a long time and i know how knowledgeable this board is... if anyone can give me a few pointers and help me avoid some mistakes would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

[mikeyl]

nothing? though at least i would get a little help. Pic over last 3 months in avi

[38jumper38]

You looks great, did all that just with diet its a phenomenal, the cardio in the morning at empty stomach will cut more fat, but its necessary, also a 30 minutes cardio after work out its good. What you need to do is increase your call to around 500 per meal, also the carbs and protein. If you can keep the fat low you will have a clean diet, slow bulk but maintain your bf% low. You will add some more lbs.

[Sgt. Hartman]

You seem be getting your cals from good food sources but IMO you're not eating enough. According to what you state above, you're only taking in 1800 - 2100 cal per day and its no wonder your LBM has suffered, especially if you're doing cardio on top of that. According to your stats you should be eating 2600 cal with no cardio just to maintain your current LBM.

The conservative way to add muscle tissue while minimizing fat gain would be to eat at 200 - 250 cal above your maintenance level. If you see that you're adding more fat than you want then cut cals by 100 or if gains are slow or nonexistent then add 100 cal per day.

Many will probably disagree with this but here it goes anyway. I'm about to have surgery next week and will be out of the gym for about 2 months which will put me and you in the same position of wanting to lose fat while increasing LBM. I plan on eating about 500 above maintenance but doing 1 hour of intense cardio every morning. What I'm hoping this will accomplish is it will allow my muscle to absorb as many nutrients as possible to spur growth during the day while hopefully burning off any additional fat storage with the AM non-fasted cardio. If you do your cardio fasted, at 12% I think you are setting yourself up to burn LBM. I'm gonna have about 40g of protein and am still undecided about carb intake before cardio. I know you can't burn 100% fat as a fuel source for cardio but at 500 over, it shouldn't be a big deal for some of those cals to come from stored muscle glycogen.

Edit..... Forgot to mention muscle memory. I wouldn't be doing this or recommending it if I did'nt believe that the 500 cals would be put to good use due to muscle memory.

[mikeyl]

Thanks guys...no cardio except for shoveling snow:[.

I will try to get to the 2800 calorie per day range... But with cardio, should I add now while trying to gain lbm... Or does that just add another variable, which will be tougher for me to add lean weight?

Just want to make the next moves right and avoid pitfalls ... Big fan of the lessons I have already learned here.

[mikeyl]

The one area I am also not sure about is my Post WO meal... I workout at 9pm and do not want too many carbs or fat... But is just a whey shake enough, without anything to spike insulin to aid in absorption?

Since this is my last meal before as well as my post work out meal, do you have any suggestions... Do not want to waste this critical meal

[Sgt. Hartman]

I would go ahead and start the cardio now. That way even though you're bulking your body stays in the habit of burning fat for energy. Don't do anything too excessive - maybe 30 minutes four days a week of low intensity cardio. That shouldn't affect your gains if any at all.

Working out at 9pm is a tough one. IMO you should at least have the whey shake and carbs PWO as protein is useless without the carbs and I feel that even though it's late in the day your carbs will be put to good use and not stored as fat as long as your workouts are intense. I wouldn't eat any fat at all at this meal though.

Ideally, the best option would be to drink your shake with a fast digesting carb like waxy maize immediately after WO and then have a real food meal an hour later. The problem with this is I'm assuming it's getting close to your bedtime and that adds up to a lot of calories within an hour or two before bed. You'll just have to learn how your body reacts to the different options.

Good luck bro.

[mikeyl]

So i have increased my calories to around 500 per meal getting me to around 3000 calories per day... Hurt my lower back (L5, S1) so i have not added any running, and it limited many of my exercises for a few weeks.

So i am adding a bit of weight, muscle hardness is maintained but i am noticing that i am looking a bit softer (esp. around the abs). I hope to add cardio next week, which will address.

Also, as mentioned earlier I am working out at 9-9:30 at night. My post workout is a whey shake with some simple carbs (mixed with Skim milk, or a banana, or apple). Then right at bed, which is usually 1.5 hours later i am adding 1% fat cottage cheese (about 2/3 cup). I also add creatine in post workout.

Does anyone have any critiques as this is the part of my diet i think is broken?

[gbrice75]

So i have increased my calories to around 500 per meal getting me to around 3000 calories per day... Hurt my lower back (L5, S1) so i have not added any running, and it limited many of my exercises for a few weeks.

So i am adding a bit of weight, muscle hardness is maintained but i am noticing that i am looking a bit softer (esp. around the abs). I hope to add cardio next week, which will address.

Also, as mentioned earlier I am working out at 9-9:30 at night. My post workout is a whey shake with some simple carbs (mixed with Skim milk, or a banana, or apple). Then right at bed, which is usually 1.5 hours later i am adding 1% fat cottage cheese (about 2/3 cup). I also add creatine in post workout.

Does anyone have any critiques as this is the part of my diet i think is broken?

Drop calories until you can do cardio again, and absolutely drop the simple carbs PWO. I wouldn't do them at all, and you're doing them before bed. Not good, no wonder you're storing bodyfat. Change this asap!

[mikeyl]

would waxy maize work post workout-- or should i just try and do a smaller (30 grams) of complex (Sweet potato, oats, etc).

with the interval i have- 9:30 end of work out, 11:30 to bed, what should my end of day calories look like (in a perfect world)..

Should i just focus on one solid post work out meal and skip trying to get 2 in?

Thanks in advance

[mikeyl]

not sure where my other posts went... I have increase my calories and added about 4-5 lbs over the last month but it seems to be all fat..

Tbody spent some time on my shoulder workout to address lacking...
Dumbbell shrugs 3 sets, 15-20 reps
standing calf raises 3 sets, 25 reps
Barbell shrugs 3 sets, 6-8 reps
crunches 3 sets, 51 reps
Military Press 3 sets, 8-12 reps
toe presses on hip sled/leg press machine 3 sets, 25 reps
Upright rows 5 sets, 20-25 reps
Cable crunches 3 sets, 25 reps
Side raise super set with rear 3 sets (15-20 lbs Sides) (5-10 rears)

seemed to work for a bit then not much...

need help on diet and workout... Thinking about going off diet for a month to reset and then go at it again, my body is just not responding right now...

[mikeyl]

these are the previous progress pics from 11/23 to 4/9