Am I eating too much during bulking?

[elijah]

Do the math bucko

Look, as impressive as your ability to cuss is, it won't get you around the way a human body works.
3500 Kcals in = 1lb of fat, that is the MOST efficient it gets
Storage as muscle takes longer, and at most drug free you'll store 2 lb of muscle MAYBE3 if your test levels are off the charts for humans.

If you hadn't trained, and no creatine, and maybe if you'd been eating very low protien and creatine containing meals, Ie a vegetarian this is how it would work out.

3 lb of muscle (prolly more like 2 if your lucky) a week muscle
thats 15 lbs
maybe 8 lb of water due to creatine, again on the high side assuming you had low atp levels to begin with.
That leaves about 5 lbs of fat.
A total real gain of body mass of 20 lbs (again VERY high chance you didn't get 15 lb of muscle in the deal)
that means for each pound under ideal conditions you need 3500 EXTRA kcals over your bmr
3500 * 20 = 70000 k cals total
over 5 weeks
70000 / 35 days (5 * 7) = 2000 extra kcals a day
If your metabolism was slowed because of the way you were eating/training 5000 would be about right for those kind of gains. Again more likely the gain would be 10 muscle, 10 fat, 8 water.

The only reason I'm even saying a thing is for two reasosn, maybe 3

1. You asked about its health. If your gaining half fat, your gonna want to diet off that fat, 10 lb of fat for 10 lb of muscle is an extreme swing eat less go 10 lb muscle 2 or 3 lb fat, its MUCH healthier for your heart and body to only have to loose 3 lb of fat. Extreme up/down changes in weight is bad.

2. All these gains aren't gonna keep coming your body will even out, and prolly start saving more fat since your body will be used to training. So I don't wanna see you get discouraged later, and the creatine gains won't happen again unless you stop taking it, and loose that water weight first.

3. I wanted you to understand the hows and whys of adding body weight since you asked if you were eating to much. for your size, and said you didn't know much about dieting.

Sorry if I sounded harsh but there are alot of people who come here and post bs just to sound cool which I thought/think you fall into.

If you want some serious help figuring out how/when/what to eat pm me or post here your stats bf %, weight, goals, money you can spend on food, if you can eat 6 times a day, and I'll be more than happy to help you

 

[blood_drinker]

Although it is obvious you gained water (creatine + normal water weight gained while bulking) you seem happy with your results - thats all that matters.
Congrats bro

 

[Jon.W.]

Fair enough elijah, you obviously know your stuff, tho I definitely didnt come here to show off, I know my role! I must have put on more fat than I imagined, I have been getting very frustrated over how much bf I have seeing as I am only allowing myself another 2 weeks max of cutting. I would appreciate ur help, but I am going to use my diet for 2-3weeks when I start bulking again because i put on so much bodymass, I am not being stubborn I just love it too much . But after that I want to start a good healthy diet that will give me MAXIMUM lbm gains with minimum fat gains. I am not sure how to find out my bf % , I cant be bothered to go to a doctor.
Currently I am about 183 pounds, I aspire to be about 250 pounds, lean, a long way in the future. I find it impossible to eat 6 meals a day, but I could give it a try depending on whether its worth it.
I have a few q's:1. Will a low carb diet affect stamina while training, because my training has gone to shit since I stopped bulking?
2. Will cardio on an empty stomach in the morning result in muscle loss?
I would appreciate some help cus I dont know much really.

 

[elijah]

Eat whatcha want man
Bodybuilders worry about staying lean, powerlifters just want the muscle so fats a good sign they are growing there most, its all personal taste, and what you want from it. I'd suggest cutting back to 4300 cals see what that does for you. There is a very fine line of muscle/fat addition. Like I said from here on out drug free your looking at max of 2lb a week muscle, and even that is kinda high, so more than that is just adding useless fat you'll have to cut off later. Which means more time on restricted diet, more muscle loss, more time eating clean, more time NOT putting on muscle. Thats why finding the muscle/fat line is so important if you wanna most effecitvely be a body builder style guy. Which it sounds like you want, a nice cut look not just strength.

A good way to figure how much to eat is this
66 + (6.22 x Weight (lbs.)] + [12.7 x Height (inches)] - (6.8 x Age)
For you that means
66+(6.22*183)+(12.7*72(figuring 6 foot tall))-(6.8*12)

Then you multiply by 1.3 to 1.8 depending on your activity level, I'll quess your fairly active and use 1.6
That comes to 3194 bmr.
Thats how many calories you use a day, couting lifting heavy 4 or 5 times a week.
To add 2 lb a week your gonna need 7000 extra cals (3500*2)
Divide that over a week and you get 1000 cals/day
Add the too and to find the cals you need a day is 4194.
If your really active maybe more but thats why I'd say cut back, if only for a week and see what kind of results you get.

2. Low carb. Yep you'll feel kinda sluggish
If your gonna do keto, do the ckd or tkd, not a long 30 day keto stint or you'll loose muscle and kill your metabolism.

3. Yep empty stomach cardio will loose some muscle, not much but to avoid it try drinking a low carb/low fat protien shake before the cardio if your dieting. If your bulking don't it probably won't cost you much muscle.
Actually if your bulking ignore cardio all together

Also if you can't eat 6 times a day try for 5. The more you spread the meals out, the more likely your body is to not store the cals as muscle (I'll get indepth if you want me to later as to why) the more times you eat the better. Remember more meals means smaller meals ie
4200 cals/day

3 meals = 1400 cals/ meal
6 meals = 700 cals/meal
6 meals + snack at bed = 650 cals/meal + 300 b4 bed

 

[Jon.W.]

thanks elijah, what kind of foods are suitable for a diet where I would gain 2lb of muscle a week? (considering I live in england so i might not have the same range of food). Is it a good idea to avoid meals with lots of carbs and fat?

 

[elijah]

Depends on your metabolism, which sounds pretty good, so just eat
But if that doesn't work, or you wanna eat as clean as posssible here ya go.
My typical bulking usually centers around protien intake.
Usually about 1.3 grams/ lb of lean body mass.
Then I do about 70% of the rest of the calories as complex carbs, and 30% fats, usually healthy
But I've found getting to picky while gain weight is pointless as long as you don't go to extremes.
Eat lots of oatmeal, chicken, rice, veggies, tuna, protien shakes.

Some people find not mixing carbs and fats at the same meal helps stay away from body fat, but your metabolism sounds about like mine. As long as I'm around 4000+ cals a day and pletny of protien, the rest doesn't matter much. Eat enough carbs so your energy is high.
Post work out is the only meal I get really anal about.

I'm guessing you have access to lots of seafood there, so do that salmon is GREAT for you, lots of healthy fats in it.