You're about ideal at the moment. You also might be pleased to know you have great genetics in your upper arms, chest, and upper back for muscle gain too.
Do it properly, don't eat crap, work hard in the gym, rest hard out of it, and push your calories up slowly.
Might be worth getting Richy23's attention to. He has the diet thing down to a fine art and can show you how to eat to gain the lean stuff without adding unwanted fat.
That's great news, I'll drop by Richy's thread and ask for some advice, cheers now.
Rich
hey mate sorry for not replying quicker! I've had a quick skim through your thread to get a jist of where you are at etc and I definately agree with Anthony; you are at a prime time to begin gaining mass. There is little to no fat left on your body to loose and you do look a little skinny in the pics on page 1.
Just to give you a little info on me; I'm currenlty about the same height and weight as you; 5,11 and approx 70kg. I started bulking after I became ill and a little obsessed over a slight belly I thought I had and my weight plummetted to 53kg! So since then its been an uphill struggle to gain mass but keep the fat gains low so I didnt end up with skinny arms and upperbody and a belly!
Diet wise I stick to the principles Anthony said; 15-20% protein, 20-25% fat and the rest from carbs; however I don't religiously check this everyday or get caught up on it I just check now and a gain to see if its on the right lines; as as long as the overall calories are right and you eat a healthy balanced diet then all will be fine.
For bulking, when I say a healthy balanced diet, I mean ensuring you include complex carbs, fruits, veg and dairy, good fats and lean protein sources. Water is also very important for muscle gain as muscle are made up of mainly water!
Complex carbs
Oats,
Wholemeal bread
Wholemeal pasta and rice
Cereals such as weetabix and shreaded wheat
Fruits and veg
Any, buts is best to get various sources.
On an average day I may have 2 pieces of fruit, eg an apple and bannana + some raisins and honey with cereal, and then a serving or 2 of veg (carots, brocolli, sweetcorn) with my evening meal.
Good fats
These are non-saturated fats and come from things such as oils (extra virgin olive oil being the best), nuts and oily fish such as salmon
Lean sources of protein
Dairy sources such as skimmed milk, low fat cheese spreads, low fat cheeses and low fat yogurt.
Chicken
Beef
Fish
Water
At your weight, aim for about least 3-4 litres a day.
In order to gain lean mass its best to spread your meals out throught the day and eat say 5-6 times rather rthan just 3 standard meals. Thats way you are feeding your body more nutrients for growth every 2-3 hours whilst awake.
Taking all this into account, a typical bulking diet for me is something along the lines of......
Breakfast - Porridge made with skimmed milk, topped with honey + an apple
Mid morning - Glass of smoothie (ie innocent smoothie) and some oat cakes
Lunch - Wholemeal sandwitches made with olive spread and lean chicken breast sandwitch meat, lettuce and a small amount of light salad cream
Mid afternoon - mixed nuts and a bannana
Dinner - Diced chicken breast cooked in a tsp of little oil, with chopped tomatoes, stock cube, a splash of lea and perins, salt and pepper, served on wholemeal pasta with 1-2 micro veg packs
Bedtime snack - Weetabix with 0.1%fat natural strawberry yogurt
Calorie wise its really a game of triual and error, but the following guidlines should help....
Weigh yourself first thing in the morning after going to the toilet and before eating at the same time every week in order to monitor weight gain.
If you gain nothing, then add 150-300cals the next week.
If you gain about 1lb and are happy with the gains, add about 50-100 cals the next week to keep the gains coming
If you gain weight but a little too much (ie if you gain 2-3lbs+ and a little too much fat) then keep the cals the same or cut back a little.
I generally aim to gain less than 25% fat, so for every 4 lbs gained, 1lb or less is from fat. I monitor this using skinfold measurements at the thigh, chest and abdominal region, and by tape measure measurements too. A good online calculator to use this one here. I use an average of the 'Jason/Pollock 3 Site' and a 'Tape Measure Method'.
Thanks very much for your very detailed post Richy, I think I'm on the right lines, but you have made me more aware of my macro breakdowns, which should have a higher fat percentage, and slightly less carbs.
I started my bulk on Monday, at 2500 calories, which feels great, it's so nice not being hungry all the time! I've attached a breakdown of today's calories from fitday for anyone interested. I think I'm going to replace the two pieces of Soreen Maltloaf with 2x20g of fruit and nut mix to get more good fat, otherwise I'm pretty pleased with it! I'm also managing to put away 4 litres of water a day, and a few mugs of redbush tea.
I'm currently doing the DC workout from here, following a scrict 5/5 cadence, which is extremely challenging, I've dropped the weight on most excercises right back, and am concentrating on proper form and pace.
My body fat calipers arrived on Monday, but I'm not very useful with them, most of the online calculators have me at 9% body fat from my chest, abdominal and thigh skinfolds, but I'm about 12% I reckon. Still as long as I can measure relative fat gains over the bulking period, that's the important thing.
I'm currently exactly 11 stone 7 pounds from the scales first thing on Monday morning, so hopefully next Monday I should be 11 st 8.
I will try to keep this updated regularly, as it will keep me motivated, and in 3 months time I should hopefully be a bit bigger!
just had a ganeder at your fod log; looks ok but if I were you I'd get rid of the tesco sandwitch especially if its white bread, and just make your own; far cheaper and far healthier too.
And there are much healthier alternatives to muller-rices too; I'd guess they are pretty high in sugar and use white rice instead of wholmeal too.
Malf loaf can be a good way of getting in extra cals when bulking but tbh I'd much rather go for some oat cakes or like you say some nuts and dried fruit.
Finally is the bagel white bread? If so I'd only use them straight after the gym as a snack with some protein such as low fat cheese spread for example. I avoid white bread, white rice and pasta at all othert times as they are all refined carbs. Wholemeal versions are unrefined and so much better for you.
Today's lunch was purely because I wasn't at home last night to prepare it, normally I have 130g of couscous, 1 skinless chicken breast and an egg which comes to about 400 cals. Now I'm bulking I have 250 grams of drained tinned fruit and 100 grams of onken fat free yogurt, which adds another 200 cals.
The bagels are wholemeal seeded items, I just don't like white bread, so avoid it at all costs.
Thanks for the comments mate, I may cut down on the malt loaf and bagels I think!
Hey mate good luck, remember commitment is the key. Everytime you feel like skipping the gym or eating badly, try to think how that will affect your goal in 3 months! But saying that, don't be afraid to plan in reward/cheat days! A night out now again, or a cheeky burger will stop you lusting after them!
