Engage Bear Mode, or... Who is on a bulk?

[JohnHelton]

@Wilhelm, even 3100-3200 calories seems high for maintenance. I believe in calories in / calories out, but the calories out part of the equation doesn't have to stay constant as macros change. You may be burning more calories given your diet. Just a hypothesis. I know that eating a more traditional diet with that caloric intake would have me gaining weight.

[Wilhelm]

@ Wilhelm, even 3100-3200 calories seems high for maintenance. I believe in calories in / calories out, but the calories out part of the equation doesn't have to stay constant as macros change. You may be burning more calories given your diet. Just a hypothesis. I know that eating a more traditional diet with that caloric intake would have me gaining weight.

I have, up till now, only myself to base the numbes off of, so that is interesting to know.

I really wish the number would come down.
I'm having a hard time eating up to it.

I suppose i'm working harder now too.
Weights don't burn much, so they say, but i'm steady on with MM now, so that's more volume, and doing my dips and pullups through the week.

*shrug*

[soulsidejourney]

Sometimes it goes like nothing, nothing, nothing, add 5 pounds.

[throwinshapes]

Over the past 2.5 years of weight training and tracked calories my maintenance has varied from 2800-3500cal (15.5-18.5cal/lb). That's with a bodyweight of 152-210lb and everywhere in between.

[izzynarvaez]

I’m probably right around 6000kcal per day right now. Typical day includes 2lbs of ground bison, a ~6oz salmon fillet, 10 almonds, 2-3 mandarins, 12 large eggs, 1lbs of bell pepper strips, 12oz raw spinach, 2-3 measurement cups of whole milk, 2-3 measurement cups of orange juice, and 2-2.5lbs of rice. I may have a bite of random things here and there as I’m currently not strictly tracking. I just finished a long diet to 5-6% body fat and that completely depleted my neurotic dieting energy... Probably for quite a while. Trying to get to 250lbs and I’ll reevaluate from there.

[OrderInChaos]

Sometimes it goes like nothing, nothing, nothing, add 5 pounds.

Reverse woosh effect?

[hsilman]

I’m probably right around 6000kcal per day right now. Typical day includes 2lbs of ground bison, a ~6oz salmon fillet, 10 almonds, 2-3 mandarins, 12 large eggs, 1lbs of bell pepper strips, 12oz raw spinach, 2-3 measurement cups of whole milk, 2-3 measurement cups of orange juice, and 2-2.5lbs of rice. I may have a bite of random things here and there as I’m currently not strictly tracking. I just finished a long diet to 5-6% body fat and that completely depleted my neurotic dieting energy... Probably for quite a while. Trying to get to 250lbs and I’ll reevaluate from there.

Serious question, do you have a diagnosed mental disorder?

[masterexploder]

[izzynarvaez]

Serious question, do you have a diagnosed mental disorder?

I’ll always wonder what makes people like you feel entitled to speak to strangers in this manner. I’m sure you aware you’re being rude, right?

[JohnHelton]

@izzynarvaez, welcome to the site. Glad you are doing well. Was concerned with how deeply / quickly you cut down to 143 lbs per IG. I can't imagine doing that. Good to bulk. Unfortunately, I'm cutting now. Hoping just for a couple lbs. per week though.

[izzynarvaez]

@izzynarvaez, welcome to the site. Glad you are doing well. Was concerned with how deeply / quickly you cut down to 143 lbs per IG. I can't imagine doing that. Good to bulk. Unfortunately, I'm cutting now. Hoping just for a couple lbs. per week though.

Thanks, man. That was totally unintentional and, as per my blood work, was extremely deleterious to my health. I've got things sorted now, but it took pushing the calories over 4000 to stop losing weight and I had to go over 5000 to start reversing the effects. It was a shitty lesson to learn, but I'm glad to have it in the rear view mirror.

[JohnHelton]

@izzynarvaez, welcome to the site. Glad you are doing well. Was concerned with how deeply / quickly you cut down to 143 lbs per IG. I can't imagine doing that. Good to bulk. Unfortunately, I'm cutting now. Hoping just for a couple lbs. per week though.

Thanks, man. That was totally unintentional and, as per my blood work, was extremely deleterious to my health. I've got things sorted now, but it took pushing the calories over 4000 to stop losing weight and I had to go over 5000 to start reversing the effects. It was a shitty lesson to learn, but I'm glad to have it in the rear view mirror.

Scary. Glad you are doing better. Reminds me of Stephen King's book Thinner. Read it as a kid. Frightening. https://www.amazon.com/Thinner-Stephen- ... 173&sr=1-1

[izzynarvaez]

Being that lean and dry is bizarre. It got to the point that walking around started to hurt because my heels no longer had a fat pad. It definitely gave me more respect for competitive bodybuilders. It also made me question why I'd ever want to get that lean again, lol.

[BenM]

Yep I got to 6.8% on the Tanita scales at the doc's office last year. 62kg / 136lbs. I felt fucking horrible.

[soulsidejourney]

Sometimes it goes like nothing, nothing, nothing, add 5 pounds.

Reverse woosh effect?

lol yea. Fat cells filling with fat while releasing water or whatever. Then one day water is like ''I've had enough, I wanna be in too''.

[hsilman]

Serious question, do you have a diagnosed mental disorder?

I’ll always wonder what makes people like you feel entitled to speak to strangers in this manner. I’m sure you aware you’re being rude, right?

No, sorry you feel that way. Your (public) behavior reminds me of my own struggles with being manic-depressive, so I was wondering if you've spent any time in therapy yourself, as I have. I don't think there's anything negative about having psychological disorders. It doesn't make you a bad person or anything.

edit: Looks like in the DSM-V it's termed "Bipolar Disorder". Unrelated, but I always like to see how things change.

[izzynarvaez]

Sorry I misread your intentions. I have not been diagnosed, no, but I suspect you’re right that I have some level of manic tendencies. I’m wary of sharing too much here because I feel it will be used against me, but mental health is near and dear to me for many reasons.

[Wilhelm]

Still a bottomless pit.

Three month daily average of 3,534 calories, gained less than 5lbs.

Aside from the calories, i actually like this rate of gain.
2lbs a month would have had me closer to 93kg by meet time than i've ever been since starting doing meets.
I've been right around 90kg for all my meets.

*Fwiw, this is all the same food i've been tracking daily for three years now.
Same measuring methods, same item values.

[JohnHelton]

I am starting my bulk on Avatar. Don’t like cutting. I set Avatar to the slowest bulk setting. It is only giving me 2500 calories this week. I am sure it will keep pushing up from there. I will endeavor to not blow it and start eating everything, totally disregarding my calorie target. Can I fill into the 105kg class without becoming a fat mess? We will see.

[Wilhelm]

@ Wilhelm, even 3100-3200 calories seems high for maintenance. I believe in calories in / calories out, but the calories out part of the equation doesn't have to stay constant as macros change. You may be burning more calories given your diet. Just a hypothesis. I know that eating a more traditional diet with that caloric intake would have me gaining weight.

I'm starting to think some of it may have to do with having developed more brown fat.
I'm always hot, and brown fat, rich in mitochondria, evidently has the electron transport stuff uncoupled from atp production, so it's just sitting there generating heat. https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/m ... energetics

Evidently, when white fat is exposed to ketones, it starts to behave more like brown fat, and when brown fat is exposed to high levels of insulin, it starts to behave more like white fat.

In any case, having tracked calories for over three years now, i absolutely need more to gain now (be it muscle or fat) than i did at earlier points in that span.

Been tracking weight daily since starting the bulk three months ago.

I'm not complaining either, as it appears i'm not just getting completely sloppy as i bulk.
Something seems to have changed.
I do think i am working harder doing MM consistently, and my dips and pullups too.
Definitely working more to build actual muscle.