Here it is....bulk after the prime

[musclestack]

As some of you already know, I have been on a low carb/calorie diet for the last 6 weeks at 2,600 calories per day in an effort to break a plateau since my gains came to a hault around July. I am following this with a drastic increase in calories in order to try and 'shoot' past this plateau. It's basically an experiment on my part after reading "the prime before cycling", which Marcus300 has a thread on.

A little background first:
I started bulking in February, weighing in at 164 pounds at around 12%bf. From February to June, I managed to put on 23 pounds. I also managed to put on roughly 65 pounds on all my major lifts (squat, deadlift, military press, bench). There has been no AAS involved, and I plan to keep it that way. Of course, not ALL of this weight was muscle, but I am very happy with the results I had during those months.

During my carb/calorie restricted period, I only lost about 4 pounds of water weight and only a couple reps on my lifts, which I'm happy with. Now, it's time to bulk up again and see if I can put on about 5 more pounds of LEAN by the end of January. Below is a diet I have been working on for this bulk. Please feel free to tell me what you think of it.

Stats:
27 years old
5'9"
184 lbs (after water loss)
13-15% body fat (estimating)

Bulk Diet:

meal 1 @ 7:00AM
4 whole eggs
4 egg whites
150 grams oats
1 banana
1 tbsp of honey in oats

meal 2 @ 10:00AM
5 oz. chicken breast
1 oz. nuts

meal 3 @ 1:00PM
7 oz. lean beef
140 grams whole wheat pasta (measured dry)
1/2 can tomato puree

meal 4 @ 5:30PM
7 oz. lean beef
140 grams whole wheat pasta (measured dry)
1/2 can tomato puree

meal 5 @ 7:30PM (PWO)
2 scoops whey protein
150 grams oats
1 banana

meal 6
10 oz. lean beef
1 banana


I will be sure to put macros up for each meal when I get back from training. But total macros are listed below:

Protein: 338 grams
Carbs: 501 grams
Fat: 114 grams
Total calories: 4,382
Split: 31/46/23


1. I know a lot of you will not agree with the pro/fat meal at 10:00AM, but it's a lot easier for me to munch on some peanuts than to have a complex carb with my work schedule during this time. Furthermore, I think I'm getting plenty of complex carbs elsewhere throughout the day to compensate.

2. Some of you may also think that this is too many calories. Please keep in mind that I'm trying to shuttle myself past this plateau, and the main focus is gaining during this time. Although I will monitor body fat, I am not too concerned about it right now. This bulk will be followed by a 3-4 month cut.

3. I know I have a lot of bananas in there lol! It's an easy way to get a few extra carbs, and I'm pretty happy with the amount of complex carbs I have in this diet, so I figured I'd throw them in. I am looking for suggestions for a banana replacement for the last meal though. Any suggestions? And yes, I know, if I start to gain too much body fat, this will be the first thing I drop.

4. The only supplements that I have added to my arsenal besides whey and creatine is Jack3d and BCAA Extend.

Thanks in advance for reading and critiquing! Can't wait to start throwing around some heaver weight!!

[Mr. Small]

Total cals are huge. At 184lbs, your maintanace should be around 2700-2800 a day, so almost 4400 is a large dose. I would like to see the progress on this, as i am in a similar situation, but my maintanance is 2400, so i am comsuming 3000 clean cals.

Good luck and please post your progress.

[t-gunz]

13- or 15% which one is it ?

if its 15% then why bulk

you will just look fat

[gbrice75]

Agree with Mr. Small - you sure you need to be eating 4000+ calories to add LEAN mass? Seems to me you'll add a bit of muscle and a great deal of fat. I'd rethink this one bro.

Also, do you have pics to post up? Let's get a look at what we're working with here.

[Sgt. Hartman]

If you can eat over 4k cals off cycle at 184lbs and not get fat as hell then more power to you bro. I'm gonna have to see it to believe it though, especially at over 500g of carbs. Good luck, really looking forward to watching your progress on this one. .

[musclestack]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I really do appreciate it. When I bulked from Feb to July, I was eating 3,700 cals. Yes, I put on some unwanted weight, but nothing I couldn't burn off in a few weeks' time. I'm going to closely monitor myself, especially the first 2-3 weeks. If I am putting on fat, I will readjust. I really just want to take advantgage of the initial period as a way to "shock" my body with the extra cals after carb cycling and restricting my cals for so long.

In the past, I tried to put a pic on here, but it didn't work for me. Can anyone tell me how to do this?

[musclestack]

Update: 10 days into 'reload'. Weighed in yesterday at 189 lbs. The reps I lost during my carb cycling phase have almost all come back to me, and I even managed to put 10 pounds on my squat. Hoping to blow these numbers out of the water in the immediate weeks to come. No sign of fat gain as of yet, but holding more water.

[auslifta]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I really do appreciate it. When I bulked from Feb to July, I was eating 3,700 cals. Yes, I put on some unwanted weight, but nothing I couldn't burn off in a few weeks' time. I'm going to closely monitor myself, especially the first 2-3 weeks. If I am putting on fat, I will readjust. I really just want to take advantgage of the initial period as a way to "shock" my body with the extra cals after carb cycling and restricting my cals for so long.

In the past, I tried to put a pic on here, but it didn't work for me. Can anyone tell me how to do this?

upload to image shack and use the URL for forums. Click on the pic of a tree and insert.

Agreed it looks a little like too much cals. Maybe cut out honey and lower your oats to 80g and pasta to 100g

[musclestack]

upload to image shack and use the URL for forums. Click on the pic of a tree and insert.

Agreed it looks a little like too much cals. Maybe cut out honey and lower your oats to 80g and pasta to 100g

Thanks Auslifta. I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the advice also. If there is any noticeable fat gain, I'll probably drop all the bananas, the honey, then change my pasta meals to rice to get rid of the pureed tomatoes while keeping all the complex carbs.

[musclestack]

UPDATE: Weighed in Wednesday at 192 pounds. That's 4 pounds heavier than where I left off on my bulk before the carb cycle. AND......I'm happy to report that the plateau is broken!!!!!!!! I am officially stronger in all my lifts than where I left off after being stuck on those weights for months! Minimal fat gain, if any. Gonna keep going with it as long as I keep growing. I have 11 more weeks of bulking before my 16 week cut. Trying to get as much lean on me as possible. I'll keep you guys updated weekly. Cheers!

[MR-FQ320]

The prime before the cycle includes a carb cycling period, you seem to have omitted this part, while it might not be essential, it sure worked for me, just saying like.

[Sgt. Hartman]

^^^^He's omitting the cycle part as well.

[musclestack]

The prime before the cycle includes a carb cycling period, you seem to have omitted this part, while it might not be essential, it sure worked for me, just saying like.

Actually, I just failed to mention it in my initial post. I did, in fact, incorporate a carb refeed every Sunday which consisted of mainly oats and pasta at 350 grams/day. But Sgt. Harman is correct. I chose not to cycle. And it's working great for me so far!