Should i start bulking?

Willo

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I'm unsure if I should start a bulking progress, I'm quite tired of going to the gym and remaining small. Over this last year I feel like I've done a lot of progress in my body and got a lot better with my self esteem, yet it's like people hardly notice as I went from skinny fat to just skinny. For context I attached some pictures from around this time last year and from this week.

I basically started dieting, initially i was counting calories but that made me too paranoid about eating and as i already had a general idea of what I could eat in a day to be within 2000 calories I stopped counting. I basically cut on hidrates and sugary stuff and would mostly eat just lean meats like chicken and turkey and accompany them with salted veggies, most of my snacks were low sugar/low calorie stuff too. Also did a lot of cardio. I feel like I can't really diet more than this, as the food that i eat now was all that I could eat without feeling like i was hungry all the time and that I had no energy during my workouts.

Yet I'm unsure if i should start bulking because I don't know if I'm skinny enough, if that makes sense. I also feel like I don't even know how to bulk, dieting is easy as you just cut out certain foods but bulking seems more complicated. I already take protein, should I also start taking creatine? Are there certain foods that are recommended to gain mass? I'd love any advice you can give me.
 

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VonMitte

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In general it is quite simple. Estimate a calorie intake and expenditure. The sum is positive if you want to go up and negative if you want to go down.

You sit down one day, figure out what you can afford to spend on each weight training and aerobic session you set up. You propose some meals taking into account the expense and your objective, to go up or down. Then you follow it for a few weeks and study the result.

You don't have to get paranoid about counting calories. You don't have to count every day. Also don't weigh yourself every day.

You don't have a lot of muscle mass. In fat numbers, the more you have, the easier it will be for you to burn (BMR).

I would do bulking as clean as possible since you don't have a lot of muscle mass. Calc your BMR. Rising about 500 kcal above maintenance, with protein intake around 3g/kg and the rest (fat-hydrates) at 50% and testing the evolution weekly.

If you can, fit in two moderate aerobic sessions a week, when you take a break from weight training.

At least that's what works for me. Surely there is someone who knows more and can advise you better.

And, above all, perseverance and commitment to the goal.
 
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51arledge

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As I have posted before, what has worked for me for many years has been to set a goal for what I want to weigh, and then eat 1 gram of protein per day for each pound of my ideal lean body weight.
I used to have a body much like yours---skinny but little muscle mass. I'm 6'2" and decided that a goal of 185 to 200# would be my ideal, not too bulky but big enough to look muscular.
I've been parked right at 195 for a few years and my waist is 34" right where it was in my lean early 30s. I don't count calories; I eat the protein I need for my goal, I make sure I eat lots of fruit and veggies, and on the rare occasion that I'm still hungry, I will eat dessert.
The other thing I do is limit my starchy carbs to only breakfast or the 8 hours after a heavy lifting session. So, on days that I don't lift, I don't eat pasta, rice, bread, potatoes or dessert.
 
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MilfBanger78

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Settle on a steady weightlifting program.... Personally i like Max-OT and also Dorian yates routine...google them, good stuff.

I'd advocate a "clean bulk" (get your surplus calories from lean protein not junk) You're lean but you dont wanna put on a lot of fat..also how old are u