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I guess I'll throw my hat in the ring with this post as well. We all have to admit, bodybuilding is an expensive past time when you factor in the different things you spend money on. I'm dieting right now for a contest and it costs me $100/week on solid food alone, not including supps, gym membership, and all the other stuff we like to forget about. Needless to say I understand when your coming from.
Brief Background: I'm 25 now, and when I was a senior in Highschool I wrestled @ 119lbs. My nature "offseason weight" was 135lbs so we were in the same boat. I looked in the mirror and said I'm going to do something about this, and genetics aren't going to hold me back. I'm just stubborn in that regard I suppose. While in college I researched everything on bodybuilding diet regimne, routines, etc. Naturally I went from 135-180lbs over the course of 5 years which is a hell of an accomplishment and was around 10% BF. I competed in Natural shows at the time, but wasn't happy and decided I was maxed out and needed to become an "assisted" athlete. In the course of a year I went from 180lbs-210 and kept the same BF level. That's the allure of supplements I suppose, but it's for naught if you don't have a strong base.
Back to your post: How to bulk on a budget. My suggestions are this-I have an Excel Spreadsheet I made for this, but you can find them online. You need to figure out what your Maintenance calories are based on your Height, Age Weight, Activity level and bodytype. To bulk you need to increase the Maintenance amount by 10-20% and that total is then broken down by a percentage basis. I think more than 1g/lb of protein in the body is a complete waste of your money as it isn't absorbed at a level beyond that. Do the research, positive nitrogen balance for trained athletes occurs at .8g/lb. So at 130 lbs you need a 130 g of protein per day and limit this to one protein shake. Shakes are fast absorbing and should only be used PWO as they won't provide positive nitrogen balance as long as a solid protein source will. So lets say 40 g Protein in your PWO shake coupled with twice that amount in Carbs 40g Dextrose/Maltodextrin. You have 90g of protein left for the other 5 meals you should be eating in a day. That breaks down to 18g/meal. That would be one can of Tuna which you can buy for $.50 in the States. Other cheap sources of protein are eggs, and chicken breast. Let them become your friend and they will treat you well. In regards to carbs their pretty cheap when bought in bulk as well. Never eat packs of Oatmeal it's all sugar, get the big tub. Brown rice is a nice choice as well, and my personal favorite are Yams. You should be eating 2-4g of carb/lb so call it 3g/lb 130X3=390 take out the post work out carb your down to 310 over your 5 meals which is 62g of carb per meal. Onto the fats, Fats don't make you fat excess calories do. So from good fats Almonds, Peanut Butter, Olive Oil, Flax Seed Oil, Coconut Oil you should get ATLEAST .5g fat/lb I like .75g/lb. For you that would equate to 97.5 g in the day. Don't eat the fats in your pre or post workout meal rather spread them out over your other 3 meals, which would be a little more than 32 grams per meal.
So to sum this up: Buy in Bulk from a place like Sams club, Chicken, Tuna, Eggs, Tub Oats, Yams, Brown Rice, Peanut Butter, Olive Oil, Almonds.
Your calories to bulk would be roughly 877.5 cal from fat + 520 cal from Protein + 1560 from mostly complex carbs= grand total of 2957.5. This figure increases when your bodyweight increases it's not a fixed number. This outline should give you a good idea of how to plan ahead, and bulk on your limited budget.
Hope this helps
Brief Background: I'm 25 now, and when I was a senior in Highschool I wrestled @ 119lbs. My nature "offseason weight" was 135lbs so we were in the same boat. I looked in the mirror and said I'm going to do something about this, and genetics aren't going to hold me back. I'm just stubborn in that regard I suppose. While in college I researched everything on bodybuilding diet regimne, routines, etc. Naturally I went from 135-180lbs over the course of 5 years which is a hell of an accomplishment and was around 10% BF. I competed in Natural shows at the time, but wasn't happy and decided I was maxed out and needed to become an "assisted" athlete. In the course of a year I went from 180lbs-210 and kept the same BF level. That's the allure of supplements I suppose, but it's for naught if you don't have a strong base.
Back to your post: How to bulk on a budget. My suggestions are this-I have an Excel Spreadsheet I made for this, but you can find them online. You need to figure out what your Maintenance calories are based on your Height, Age Weight, Activity level and bodytype. To bulk you need to increase the Maintenance amount by 10-20% and that total is then broken down by a percentage basis. I think more than 1g/lb of protein in the body is a complete waste of your money as it isn't absorbed at a level beyond that. Do the research, positive nitrogen balance for trained athletes occurs at .8g/lb. So at 130 lbs you need a 130 g of protein per day and limit this to one protein shake. Shakes are fast absorbing and should only be used PWO as they won't provide positive nitrogen balance as long as a solid protein source will. So lets say 40 g Protein in your PWO shake coupled with twice that amount in Carbs 40g Dextrose/Maltodextrin. You have 90g of protein left for the other 5 meals you should be eating in a day. That breaks down to 18g/meal. That would be one can of Tuna which you can buy for $.50 in the States. Other cheap sources of protein are eggs, and chicken breast. Let them become your friend and they will treat you well. In regards to carbs their pretty cheap when bought in bulk as well. Never eat packs of Oatmeal it's all sugar, get the big tub. Brown rice is a nice choice as well, and my personal favorite are Yams. You should be eating 2-4g of carb/lb so call it 3g/lb 130X3=390 take out the post work out carb your down to 310 over your 5 meals which is 62g of carb per meal. Onto the fats, Fats don't make you fat excess calories do. So from good fats Almonds, Peanut Butter, Olive Oil, Flax Seed Oil, Coconut Oil you should get ATLEAST .5g fat/lb I like .75g/lb. For you that would equate to 97.5 g in the day. Don't eat the fats in your pre or post workout meal rather spread them out over your other 3 meals, which would be a little more than 32 grams per meal.
So to sum this up: Buy in Bulk from a place like Sams club, Chicken, Tuna, Eggs, Tub Oats, Yams, Brown Rice, Peanut Butter, Olive Oil, Almonds.
Your calories to bulk would be roughly 877.5 cal from fat + 520 cal from Protein + 1560 from mostly complex carbs= grand total of 2957.5. This figure increases when your bodyweight increases it's not a fixed number. This outline should give you a good idea of how to plan ahead, and bulk on your limited budget.
Hope this helps
