newbie here...few ?'s

[Atherjen]

Hey gurls! I have been lurking around here for a while now and just got around to signing up! I really liking this board. You may have seen me over at 1morerep, RC, M&F Hers, FitnessBoards, MuscleMorpheus and Matt'sBBing forum. I'm around, some more so than other though.

Anyways I was wondering if you could help me out here.
Currently I am 5'8 137lbs and 12%bf. I have cut down all the fat that I want but am now looking to add a bit more size. Especially to my upper half. my training is no problem, its my diet. I am a very strict clean eater. I was wondering what a good level of calories for bulking would be? Right now I am consuming between 2050-2250 cals/day. I get 1.5g protein per lb of body weight. For my ratios, my protein is always on the higher end. 40-45%. My fat is 20-25%(all healthy fats) and carbs 35-40%.. Should I increase my carbs a bit more during a bulking stage?

I do cardio 6 times a week for 30-45 mins, 3 sessions being interval ones. Should I cut back to bulk?

One more question, I'm going to begin taking creatine as well. 5g a day in my postworkout shake. I drink a gallon of water a day right now and am aware that I need to drink LOTS of water while on creatine, more than a gallon?

Hope to hear back from you. Thanx in advance

 

[BrickGirl]

Since you have been training for a while, Don't start all kinds of things at once, slowly change one thing at a time and see how it affects you. Such as, start the creatine this week and wait and see how it goes, 1 gallon is enough for the creatine, I think everyone should drink that amount daily another thing to look at, 6 times a week of cardio, how long have you been doing that? I do that for about 4-6 weeks before a contest, and that is all, so if you have been doing it for a while, cut it out completly and see how that affects your body, but don't do it at the same time you do something else, you need to learn how it effects your body, just play around a little

 

[Atherjen]

Thanx gurls!
I started with the creatine today. Next week I will cut out the cardio and stick to just my weight training.
Is my calorie intake too low to build muscle? Or will the decrease in cardio make up for that?
Spatts- I have seen you bulking/cutting diets. Is that what you refer to as carb cycling?

 

[Atherjen]

Spatts- would the calorie and ratio levels of your diet cycling be safe for me to follow at my stats? or too high/low? They protein seems fairly high as well.. I usualy get between 210-260g/day. I know that everyones body and stats differ, So i just want to be sure. I don't want to add ALOT of fat while bulking up. Although a bit I can handle and will diet off after.
I was under the impression that I need equal amounts of carbs/proteins to grow. 2g/lb each. ?!?!!?
ahh I'm so new to this bulking phase.

 

[Atherjen]

Probably not. Go by your AMR.

could you be a lil more specfic.. I'm not gettin it. So your diet would not be sufficient for my stats?