Bodyfat % while bulking

[charger69]

I am 50 yo and compete in bodybuilding. Just started 3 years ago. I am very strict with my diet and I have trouble staying below 12% bf while bulking. I do not enjoy eating and my bulking diet is the worst diet because i force myself to eat. I cannot get it dialed in. I have also decreased my cardio because i think that it was effecting the growth of the quads. I would up my cardio to try and minimize the fat build up ( i ran over 750 miles last year). I can continue this way and it works but i am trying to stay 10-12%. I guess i need to fool around with the carb/protein ratio.
Any advice or just keep trial and error?

[Bio-Active]

What does your daily food intake look like?

[charger69]

10 egg whites
2 corn tortillas
1/2 cup oatmeal
10 almonds
6 strawberries
#2
250 gms chicken breast
1 cup of rice
150 gms sweet potatoe
Apple
1/3 avocado
#3
250 gms red meat
1 cup spinach
150 gms sweet potato
Banana
#4
1/2 cup brocoli
1 potato
Orange
1 cup rice
10 almonds
#5
200 gms salmon
1 cup pasta
Potato
1/2 cup brocoli
#6
250 gms chicken breast
1/3 avocado
1 cup rice

[Sehdee]

what exactly are you asking ? How to keep bodyfat down while adding some muscle mass ? what are your stats and activity level ? You count your macros /calories ?

[charger69]

what exactly are you asking ? How to keep bodyfat down while adding some muscle mass ? what are your stats and activity level ? You count your macros /calories ?

I want to bulk and keep bodyfat between 10-12%. I am probably old school because i am used to about 15% when bulking. 5'11" and 195. Count macros. The above is about 40/30/30. 3600 cal. Going to adjust to 40/40/20 and drop to 3000. I just do not want to minimize the muscle gain. NOTE: cannot cycle right now but still bulking.

[Sehdee]

alright brother .. Just calculated what you need on a little piece of paper. Now , assuming you are around 10-14 percent body fat and you lift an hour a day or every other day then your total daily caloric expenditure should come to around 3,295 calories to 3,500 calories. Now are you saying that you're bulking currently at 3600 or is that your maintenance ? For bulking most people would tell you to bump up your calories to 500 from your maintenance. If you want to lean bulk i would add around 300 calories to your maintenance cals, and some people eat 300 to 500 calories more on their workout days and they stick to their maintenance cals on off days . Hit me up with more details to see if i can help you out more

[charger69]

alright brother .. Just calculated what you need on a little piece of paper. Now , assuming you are around 10-14 percent body fat and you lift an hour a day or every other day then your total daily caloric expenditure should come to around 3,295 calories to 3,500 calories. Now are you saying that you're bulking currently at 3600 or is that your maintenance ? For bulking most people would tell you to bump up your calories to 500 from your maintenance. If you want to lean bulk i would add around 300 calories to your maintenance cals, and some people eat 300 to 500 calories more on their workout days and they stick to their maintenance cals on off days . Hit me up with more details to see if i can help you out more

Thanks! I am guess I am right on for the calories, but I am going to change up my macros. Damn, 3600 calories is alot of food. Forcing myself to eat. I am also going to up the cardio because i am getting fat ( in my eyes).just trial and error, but each year I know a little more. Maybe by the time I'm 65 I'll have it figured out.
It is hard to change when you know what you have done works, but I want to be better each year.

[hellomycognomen]

IMO protein macros usually remain the same and what is more commonly adjusted are carbs and fats. During "bulk" a simple 100cal increase per day IMO should be more than sufficient. There is no need to kill yourself with additional "cardio" time. Muscle growth is very slow even with optimal scenarios, excess bulk calories will only lead to what you dont want, higher bf%