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question on bulking and fat.

1235

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,863 ✭✭✭kevpants


    At this point I'd like to remind everyone that I made the l'Oreal analogy and that I am at least this much smarter than the average picnic basket.

    I know the point opponents of "seefood" are trying to make but the fact remains that skinny people don't eat enough and people who think they are making lean gains are in fact making fuck all gains.

    As a controlled study we should take all the people who claim to be making lean gains and all of the fat gainers and put them in a room. The fat gainers would undoubtedly end up beating up the stir friers and possibly taking their money/wives.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,819 ✭✭✭✭g'em


    Roper wrote: »
    Eat big quantities of low sugar, high protein, moderate fat foods to get big, eat smaller amounts of the same to get thinner.
    Absolutely.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,369 ✭✭✭cmyk


    Roper wrote: »
    Good and proper foods might seem like the way to go but they simpy won't reticulate the MGRM factors like high insulin foods do. If you disembigulate over the short term you're bound to find that your ICG levels flatline after a period longer then the 16 day window for high rebate returns.

    Now I get it!


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 22,419 Mod ✭✭✭✭Brian?


    kevpants wrote: »
    At this point I'd like to remind everyone that I made the l'Oreal analogy and that I am at least this much smarter than the average picnic basket.

    I know the point opponents of "seefood" are trying to make but the fact remains that skinny people don't eat enough and people who think they are making lean gains are in fact making fuck all gains.

    Agreed, its very common to see someone describe themselves as a "hardgainer", yet they're only eating 2000kcal. Of course you're a hardgainer, you eat like a malnourished sparrow. My advice would always be: Eat more steak and drink more milk.
    kevpants wrote: »
    As a controlled study we should take all the people who claim to be making lean gains and all of the fat gainers and put them in a room. The fat gainers would undoubtedly end up beating up the stir friers and possibly taking their money/wives.

    I concur.

    I would also like to propose a pie eating competition to sort out who gets which wife.

    they/them/theirs


    The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all of the people.

    Noam Chomsky



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,369 ✭✭✭cmyk


    kevpants wrote: »
    As a controlled study we should take all the people who claim to be making lean gains and all of the fat gainers and put them in a room. The fat gainers would undoubtedly end up beating up the stir friers and possibly taking their money/wives.

    I would be lying if I said I didn't spit out my low GI, lentil, herb and goji berry zero point weight watcher soup laughing at that.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,448 ✭✭✭Roper


    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Roper View Post
    Eat big quantities of low sugar, high protein, moderate fat foods to get big, eat smaller amounts of the same to get thinner.
    g'em wrote: »
    Absolutely.

    You see that's the other problem. People assume that when someone is getting bigger, that all they're doing is eating burgers and knocking back Guinness. There's a snobbery among so called "healthy" people that assumes that if you think burgers are nice then you must surely know nothing about foodstuffs. My own diet is actually very good and if I may say so myself, I am a bloody good cook.

    From my own point of view. In the last 3 years I've been anything from 75kgs and lean to 85kgs and 15-19% BF. Does that make me unhealthy? No, I just compete in a sport with weight classes. For a man of my size to maintain 75kgs year round would be unhealthy, I'm actually healthier at 85kg than at 77. I get less colds and flu, get more vitamins and minerals and don't feel as cold in the winter. If I want to put on weight, I just eat more of what I eat generally. If I want to lose it, I eat less. I fluctuate by design and it's easy for me. I also enjoy myself more with my diet off-peak. I like Ice Cream.

    Most people under or over eat. They don't need to know the macros they just need to get their sh1t together.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,025 ✭✭✭d'Oracle


    kevpants wrote: »
    As a controlled study we should take all the people who claim to be making lean gains and all of the fat gainers and put them in a room. The fat gainers would undoubtedly end up beating up the stir friers and possibly taking their money/wives.

    I can take a pound of steak, cut it up thin, stirfry it in butter, coconut-cream and curry paste and serve it up with a **** load of cream noodles and make something that would make you cry with joy.

    Hate the player, not the game.


  • Posts: 2,138 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]



    HAHA. Brilliant.

    image003.jpg

    EDIT: I really enjoyed reading that article. Good find.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 21,981 ✭✭✭✭Hanley


    This thread is utterly epic.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,931 ✭✭✭Jimmy Bottlehead


    Man, the fookin' confusion in my head is unreal after reading everything. From experience, see-food diet (not too careful) does pack on size big time and quickly, but you do look decidedly pudgy. Being smarter about it the past while and it seems to be a lot better. Slower gain, but because body fat drops I tend to look better. And for the record, I'm not one of the those "OMG gotta have rock hard abzzzz!" guys :)
    I'd just prefer to keep BF a bit lower, gain a bit slower and look a fair bit better.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,819 ✭✭✭✭g'em


    @Roper, I completely agree with you. I wasn't trying to make any assumptions, simply clarify, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way.

    I'm going for a burger right now myself and I can't bloody wait. It's post training & it's a treat!


  • Posts: 2,138 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Man, the fookin' confusion in my head is unreal after reading everything. From experience, see-food diet (not too careful) does pack on size big time and quickly, but you do look decidedly pudgy.

    Agreed, I'm kind of the same.

    Most the people I've seen who say they go on a bulk, they don't come off it and they look ridiculous. I'm not saying they may not be good soccer or rugby players or that they can't bench a lot or that they can't squat more than me or whatever but they don't aesthetically speaking have the body I or most guys would want. This is the one reason why I have been put off this "seefood diet" or whatever it's called and in my opinion, I don't think I could look good on that seefood diet so maybe I secretly hate it for that reason.

    If you look at personal trainers in Ireland, most the people they train that I have seen are standard people who are just looking to lose weight and get in better shape. That would be the majority of their clients. They still have the athletes and scholarship lads but most of their business is from people who just want to get in better shape and from seeing that, and just lads who "bulk" and stay that way, I think the "seefood diet" with no expert written article to back up what I say, but I believe that diet would not work well with the majority of Irish people.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19 gandhi24


    Hi Guys,

    I must say this has been one of the most interesting and thought provoking threads I have read in a long time. Some very good arguments put forward by all posters.

    I was wondering if you could give me a bit of advice. I usually train in thai boxing 3-4 times a week but I tore my cruciate ligament and I had an operation to repair it in May. I am hoping to get back training in January. In the meantime I have been hitting the gym trying to throw on some muscle. I was thinking now would be a good time to go a bit of a seefood diet / bulk up and then in January when I start thai boxing again, it will be pretty easy to lose all the extra padding that I have accumulated while keeping the extra muscle mass. Does this sound like a good idea??

    My diet at the moment consists of

    9am
    Whey Shake
    Porridge with nuts and honey

    11am
    Banana
    Youghurt

    12.30am
    Chicken breast, potatoes, veg

    4pm
    Turkey and cheese sandwich

    6pm
    Whey shake

    7pm
    Weight Training

    9pm
    Whey Shake
    Tuna sandwich
    Pint of milk

    Any advice on this diet or does my plan of bulking up now and then trying to lose the extra padding when I go back to thai boxing make sense.

    When I go back thai boxing, will I have to keep up some weight training to ensure that I don't lose the extra muscle mass which I have put on?

    Roper - You come from a martial arts background, do you have any opinion on this?




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,114 ✭✭✭corkcomp


    gandhi24 wrote: »
    Hi Guys,

    I must say this has been one of the most interesting and thought provoking threads I have read in a long time. Some very good arguments put forward by all posters.

    I was wondering if you could give me a bit of advice. I usually train in thai boxing 3-4 times a week but I tore my cruciate ligament and I had an operation to repair it in May. I am hoping to get back training in January. In the meantime I have been hitting the gym trying to throw on some muscle. I was thinking now would be a good time to go a bit of a seefood diet / bulk up and then in January when I start thai boxing again, it will be pretty easy to lose all the extra padding that I have accumulated while keeping the extra muscle mass. Does this sound like a good idea??

    My diet at the moment consists of

    9am
    Whey Shake
    Porridge with nuts and honey

    11am
    Banana
    Youghurt

    12.30am
    Chicken breast, potatoes, veg

    4pm
    Turkey and cheese sandwich

    6pm
    Whey shake

    7pm
    Weight Training

    9pm
    Whey Shake
    Tuna sandwich
    Pint of milk

    Any advice on this diet or does my plan of bulking up now and then trying to lose the extra padding when I go back to thai boxing make sense.

    When I go back thai boxing, will I have to keep up some weight training to ensure that I don't lose the extra muscle mass which I have put on?

    Roper - You come from a martial arts background, do you have any opinion on this?



    I will let other posters give more detail on diet etc but IMO it is a VERY bad idea to start out with the deliberate intention of putting on some extra padding and trying to lose it afterwards, unfortunately many people who do this wont lose the extra fat afterwards, for whatever reason ....

    you should have no problem gaining muscle without gaining any fat (or very little) .. IMO the idea of eating everything in slight is stupid, unless you are lifting heavy almost every day of the week ...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,369 ✭✭✭cmyk


    The whole thread has been a debate on this really, but the one constant is that all of it has been based around the premise of heavy training. Your injury might prevent you from pushing yourself on some of the major lifts ie. squat and deadlift? Have you had medical advise on rehab etc.?

    As corkcomp said, I'm sure someone more experienced can help in more detail.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19 gandhi24


    corkcomp wrote: »
    I will let other posters give more detail on diet etc but IMO it is a VERY bad idea to start out with the deliberate intention of putting on some extra padding and trying to lose it afterwards, unfortunately many people who do this wont lose the extra fat afterwards, for whatever reason ....

    you should have no problem gaining muscle without gaining any fat (or very little) .. IMO the idea of eating everything in slight is stupid, unless you are lifting heavy almost every day of the week ...

    Thanks corkcomp... I am lifting heavy weights 3 times a week, but according to some of the posters on this thread, it is very hard to make lean muscle gain while consuming RDA/ minimum calories..

    I am 5'10" and weigh 78 kilos with a body fat of 16%. I find it pretty easy to lose the weight when I am thai boxing, when I was training at my peak, my weight was 65 kilos.

    My goals at the moment is just to put on as much muscle as possible in the next few months while i recover from my ACL injury. I am pretty confident of losing the "extra padding" in January when I go back to the thai boxing.

    With this in mind, do you think I have the correct approach?

    How many calories a day roughly would I be consuming with my daily diet? Is this enough/ too much?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,114 ✭✭✭corkcomp


    gandhi24 wrote: »
    Thanks corkcomp... I am lifting heavy weights 3 times a week, but according to some of the posters on this thread, it is very hard to make lean muscle gain while consuming RDA/ minimum calories..

    I am 5'10" and weigh 78 kilos with a body fat of 16%. I find it pretty easy to lose the weight when I am thai boxing, when I was training at my peak, my weight was 65 kilos.

    My goals at the moment is just to put on as much muscle as possible in the next few months while i recover from my ACL injury. I am pretty confident of losing the "extra padding" in January when I go back to the thai boxing.

    With this in mind, do you think I have the correct approach?

    How many calories a day roughly would I be consuming with my daily diet? Is this enough/ too much?


    you need to eat more cals for the pre and post workout meals defo - but thats what 6 meals per week? it doesnt mean you should pig out for the rest of time time - when i was trying to gain I was taking in about 800cal above maintenance but only on training days, stick to maintenance on other days
    IMO at 16% BF I wouldnt be aiming to add anymore if possible .. if you want to look ribbed then you need to be at 10 - 11% and if you much further above 16 it will take ages to come back down (healthily) ..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,369 ✭✭✭cmyk


    gandhi24 wrote: »
    Thanks corkcomp... I am lifting heavy weights 3 times a week, but according to some of the posters on this thread, it is very hard to make lean muscle gain while consuming RDA/ minimum calories..

    Have you actually read this thread or the associated articles? No one stated that you could build muscle without a calorific surplus. All the info you are asking for is here.

    For information regarding calories needed etc, there are formulas for working that out in the stickies and you can estimate the calories in your diet through sites like fitday.com.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19 gandhi24


    cmyk wrote: »
    Have you actually read this thread or the associated articles? No one stated that you could build muscle without a calorific surplus. All the info you are asking for is here.

    For information regarding calories needed etc, there are formulas for working that out in the stickies and you can estimate the calories in your diet through sites like fitday.com.


    I think you misinterpreted what I was trying to say or else I phrased it poorly. What i meant to say was that according to the general consensus on here, you need a calorific surplus to increase muscle mass. The extent of the calorific surplus is what is most debated and is what I am interested in.

    I have read the thread and the stickies with great interest and after taking different opinions on board, i would like to get the advice of the different posters as to my proposed bulking up training regime.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19 gandhi24


    corkcomp wrote: »
    you need to eat more cals for the pre and post workout meals defo - but thats what 6 meals per week? it doesnt mean you should pig out for the rest of time time - when i was trying to gain I was taking in about 800cal above maintenance but only on training days, stick to maintenance on other days
    IMO at 16% BF I wouldnt be aiming to add anymore if possible .. if you want to look ribbed then you need to be at 10 - 11% and if you much further above 16 it will take ages to come back down (healthily) ..


    I am not that concerned with looking a bit flabby/ out of shape for a few months if it will provide me with the most muscle gain during this period. I have attempted weight training sporadically previously but I did not experience significant muscle mass gains which was probably due to not eating enough.

    I am pretty confident that I can lose the extra pounds when I go back thai boxing as I was previously at 8% body fat with a 6 pack when training hard.

    The reason for my body fat at 16% at the moment is due to inactivity from my cruciate ligament injury (and beer).


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,448 ✭✭✭Roper


    Ghandi,

    keep in mind the fact that you're rehabbing, that has to be your priority. You can do yourself a huge favour in adding some muscle. For the combat athlete we call that armour. Extra back and neck armour makes you stronger in the clinch, extra leg armour makes your kicks and knees harder and your blocks stronger, and extra power behind every strike is desirable at any level. So don't think of it as padding think of it as a 6 month armour building course.

    Don't change your diet that much just eat more of what you're eating right now, and time your meals so that you're having a good one before the gym with maybe a protein shake, and some grub immediately afterwards. You won't pad up that much but you need to be prepared to eat a lot more than you do right now, often when you don't feel like it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19 gandhi24


    Roper wrote: »
    Ghandi,

    keep in mind the fact that you're rehabbing, that has to be your priority. You can do yourself a huge favour in adding some muscle. For the combat athlete we call that armour. Extra back and neck armour makes you stronger in the clinch, extra leg armour makes your kicks and knees harder and your blocks stronger, and extra power behind every strike is desirable at any level. So don't think of it as padding think of it as a 6 month armour building course.

    Don't change your diet that much just eat more of what you're eating right now, and time your meals so that you're having a good one before the gym with maybe a protein shake, and some grub immediately afterwards. You won't pad up that much but you need to be prepared to eat a lot more than you do right now, often when you don't feel like it.

    Hey Roper, thanks for the advice.. It is much appreciated. I have just seen the surgeon this week again and he said that the recovery is going well. It has been 5 months since the op and he said I should be back thai boxing by January.

    Do you think my plan makes sense, in that I should try and pack on as much muscle as I can in the meantime. As i said I am not that worried about throwing on a few extra kilos of fat + % body fat in the process as I can lose the fat when I start the thai boxing.

    How would you make adjustments to my diet? Any reccomendation?

    My diet at the moment consists of

    9am
    Whey Shake
    Porridge with nuts and honey

    11am
    Banana
    Youghurt

    12.30am
    Chicken breast, potatoes, veg

    4pm
    Turkey and cheese sandwich

    6pm
    Whey shake

    7pm
    Weight Training

    9pm
    Whey Shake
    Tuna sandwich
    Pint of milk


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,189 ✭✭✭drdeadlift


    I clean bulked from 145lbs-202lbs in 2007,it took seven months.
    Most of my calories were from good sources such as fruit/veg.
    Contrary to belief i didnt have to eat the table to get big+ i kept the waist below 32"


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,189 ✭✭✭drdeadlift


    gandhi24 wrote: »
    Hey Roper, thanks for the advice.. It is much appreciated. I have just seen the surgeon this week again and he said that the recovery is going well. It has been 5 months since the op and he said I should be back thai boxing by January.

    Do you think my plan makes sense, in that I should try and pack on as much muscle as I can in the meantime. As i said I am not that worried about throwing on a few extra kilos of fat + % body fat in the process as I can lose the fat when I start the thai boxing.

    How would you make adjustments to my diet? Any reccomendation?

    My diet at the moment consists of

    9am
    Whey Shake
    Porridge with nuts and honey

    11am
    Banana
    Youghurt

    12.30am
    Chicken breast, potatoes, veg

    4pm
    Turkey and cheese sandwich

    6pm
    Whey shake

    7pm
    Weight Training

    9pm
    Whey Shake
    Tuna sandwich
    Pint of milk

    Gandhi gandhi scream when your liftin it makes the mind muscle connection better.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,863 ✭✭✭kevpants


    abc2304 wrote: »
    <mod edit>

    Now this thread has everything...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,502 ✭✭✭gnolan


    Although you're clearly spamming, i do like you're idea of buying in bulk from myprotein.co.uk and passing on the savings. If you:

    1) had a proper website
    2) built up a decent reputation
    3) actually worked out cheaper than myprotein

    then i would definietely buy from you

    EDIT: Great, now i look like an idiot


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,333 ✭✭✭✭itsallaboutheL


    kevpants wrote: »
    Now this thread has everything...

    not quite....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 217 ✭✭hardtrainer


    This might just be the most interesting thread ever.

    I just want to make it clear that I am not advocating a real 'seefood' diet. I was just saying that thats kinda what its like when you're really eating to get big and I'm sure somewhere back in the earlier posts I said something to the effect of 'all jokes aside re: seefood".

    Anyway, just in case its not obvious, I wouldn't advise eating everything you see. The quality of food is important, but its not SO important that you should try get all your calories from organic handpicked broccoli and goji berries. But lets be clear on one thing, eating jars and jars of peanut butter is no more natural than eating bread made from bleached wheat flour.

    Getting bigger (which was what this thread was about, was it not?) requires that you eat a lot of food. Far more food than most people think (which is even more evident by the posts from some people here).

    Yes there are exceptions to this. Some people can grow big without too much hassle in terms of diet as below.
    drdeadlift wrote: »
    I clean bulked from 145lbs-202lbs in 2007,it took seven months..........
    Contrary to belief i didnt have to eat the table to get big+ i kept the waist below 32"

    I hate these people! (pure jealousy really)

    The rest of us have to eat. Eat when we're hungry (that lasts a couple of days) and then just eat when your watch tells you to eat. Eat more. Feeling full? Tough sh*t. Eat a little more than that. Still not enough. Hmm, ok, that will do. See you back in the kitchen in a couple of hours.

    I have a few issues WRT protein. The idea that everyone needs more protein is another fallacy put forward by the likes of menshealth , maximuscle etc. We absolutely do not need 1g protein per pound bodyweight. Thats way more than you need every day even with very serious training. The real requirement for protein is about half to 1 gram per kg (and the low end of that is perfectly sufficient) and thats for someone who IS training seriously. It is true that increasing protein intake (by about 20%) leads to increase in lean muscle mass (i.e. anabolism) but this was in sedentary people eating average amount of protein (which is a hell of a lot less protein than most people on this forum). Like everything else there is a limit to this and when you're getting plenty of protein already adding more and more will not mean more and more muscle growth. BUT (a big but!!) that doesn't mean adding more protein isn't a safe bet. Not so much because it will mean more muscle growth, but simply that protein has less calories than fats and carbs (i'll come back to this in a minute). Also, protein (especially meat) tastes nice :)
    And we shouldn't forget that while yes, dietary protein = amino acids = building blocks for muscle....but we can synthesize some amino acids ourselves (less than half are essential in the diet) and we generally recycle a lot of the stuff thats in our bodies already. Building muscle of course requires protein, but the amount needed is less than many of us would think.

    Back to the comment about calories in protein. We all know the whole protein/carbs = 4 cals per g and fats = 8 cals per g. While its technically true, it's based on a very crude measurement using a bomb calorimeter to burn food as fuel and see how much heat that generates. Well as nice as that is, it's really nothing like the situation in our biology. We don't burn food in our stomachs. Proteins contain a lot of chemical bonds between their constituent amino acids that need energy to be broken down. So for protein it really isn't 4 cals per g, it can be quite a bit less. As for fats. Yes, you can get 8cals per g, but we don't digest all of the fats we consume and some fats (milk fat especially) is bound to calcium in our gut and passes through us (another reason drinking milk is good...the calcium mops up not just the fat from the milk but other fats in your meal).

    Lean protein, veg and fruit are great for your diet. I would advocate them for every balanced diet. Similarly complex carbohydrates are preferable to simple sugars and poly/monounsaturated fats are better than saturated fats for the average person. But reducing your fat intake too low is not good for you. You need fats. They're just as important for your diet as protein and complex carbs. If you're training lots and want to get bigger, then a little saturated fat isn't gonna hurt too much. But this seems to be where this thread is going around in circles. If you want to get bigger (bulking..as in the title) you need to eat a lot and what you need to eat a lot of is carbohydrate because that provides the energy that you body needs to cope with all the heavy lifting you'll be doing (the squats, the deadlifts etc) and if you're getting enough food into you to help yourself grow I'd be very very surprised if you weren't getting enough protein. Remember there is protein in bread, pasta, beans, nuts, meat, eggs, milk...all of which you'll be shoving in your mouth at every given opportunity. But (again) you just try to get 4-5000cals into your mouth every day by eating lean meat, veg and a small amount of carbs. Even having plenty of carbs. You need to add some fats in there to help bulk it out with calories.

    Whats my experience? Well I am now about 102Kg at 6'2". I pretty much stay above 100Kg year round (but dropped to 98kg at start of september from flu), but can get up to 106/107kg in december (before christmas...I always lose weight over the christmas break :() Come spring time I try to drop some fat from about 15% back to 11-12% and it's possible with a little diet change, more salads etc and adding cardio to my workouts. Otherwise its heavy lifting 4-5 days a week, every week (bar the odd break). It's cooking every night making enough for 4 people and eating half for dinner and keeping half for lunch. Big breakfasts, big snacks, milk, brown bread, plenty of eggs, veg, fruit, ice cream, yogurts, drink (too much of this) and all the other delicious things that I can get my hands on incuding enough meat to keep the average family of six going. It's expensive but thats the price you gotta pay to get big and stay big.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,818 ✭✭✭Inspector Coptoor


    I agree with pretty much all of that.
    Im weighing in at about 116kg now from about 110kg in the summer.
    I lift heavy 4-5 times a week as well and eat a shed load of food.
    It is pricey but thats what it takes.

    Some people would just say "you're an 18 stone, overweight lard ass", but ill tell you one thing, its actually hard to maintain this weight and train with weights 4-5 days a week and put in a bit of cardio and conditioning.


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