I can't bulk....

[unev_en]

This is frustrating. I've been trying to "bulk" now for five months (actually, if one considers last summer as well, a time in which I trained perhaps too often and with too much volume, then for approximately seven months.) I've gained four pounds. My strength has increased, and I believe my lifts are good for my size, but it seems lately that I'm losing whatever size I've gained.

I think I need to increase calories, but at the same time I'm unreasonable paranoid of "getting fat." Last night, for example, I went to bed hungry. I'm fairly sure that I have a solid routine (you can examine it if you wish in my thread, entitled "Bulking...unevenly," in the online journal section of WBB)
so I think the problem lies in my diet. Please, if anyone has any suggestions on how to change my diet, or how to get over my fixation on leanness (I can see all my abs), I would greatly appreciate hearing them.

Stats: 18, Male, 5'7'', 136 lbs, and very low bf%.
Diet (workout day.)

Meal One: 7:15: 600 cals
one cup oats
25 g egg white protein
one omega-3 /omega 6 enriched egg yolk
one tbsp cashew butter (8 g fat)

meal two: 11:00: 600 cals
one half cup (measured uncooked) brown rice (340 cal, 75 c)
one tbsp cashew butter
some fibrous veggies
one can low sodium tuna (34 g protein.)

meal three: 2:30: 300 cals
2/3 cup oats
one 3 oz can of tuna

workout: 3:30-4:45

meal four: (post-workout) 5:00: 300 cals
50 g dextrose/malto
25 g egg white protein.

meal five: 6:30: 600 cals
9 oz. sweet potato
6 oz salmon filet (14 g fat)
veggies

meal six: 9:30-10:00: 200 cals
two egg yolks
four egg whites

Approximate totals: 2600 cals; 300 c / 54 f / 170 (complete protein)

On non-workout day I change my post-workout meal to a 2/3 oats and 20 g protein worth of tuna; total cals remain same, but carbs drop to 280 g.

Oh, and dairy and non-cashew nut products are out of the question...fatal allergies...

Thanks again.

[syntekz]

Sounds like you have a pretty high metabolism. Only thing I could say is keep increasing those calories.

[Pup]

It appears that you have a 50/30/20 ratio of c/p/f, i would suggest that you try to manipulate these ratios a bit, maybe 40/40/20 or 40/30/30, but you are gonna have to up your fat or protein.

[the doc]

reduce carbs somwhat and increase fat intake by eating more calorie dense things like nuts and nut butters

eat more whole eggs in the morning.

[Wizard]

Word

[unev_en]

Thanks for the help.

I'm wondering which meals I should increase in size...or does it really matter? Where should I add the extra calories?

Body, I would use more whole eggs with my first meal, but that would seriously up the fat content...wouldn't it be better to spread the fat out over the course of a day?

Any other suggestions?

[syntekz]

If you are looking to throw in some more calories, do it in your post-workout meal. Double both your carbs and protein; so you'd end up with 600 calories.

:thumbup:

[AnthonyE]

unev_en

You need more protein. I suggest you add chicken breast in one of your meals. Also just have egg whites, instead of eggs with yoaks.

If you want more calories, baked potatos are great carbs and low fat.

[Wizard]

You need the fat for several reasons.It's essential.

[unev_en]

I get around 55 g of fat on the current diet; if this is insufficient, how much do i need?

Anthony,
More protein? 160 g complete, around 200 g when you consider incomplete protein; why more?

Also, if I were to increase the post-workout meal, how many carbs should it contain? Still dextrose/malto? And how much protein? I should note that I'm allergic to whey protein; post-workout, I eat cooked egg whites. 50 g worth of egg white protein is a HUGE amount of cooked egg whites.

If I increased my post-worokout meal, should I leave meal five alone? Taking in fat, albeit good fat, 75-90 mins after ingesting so much high-gi carbohydrate makes me a little nervous; at least in the current diet, I can pursuade myself that the initial insulin spike from the post-workout meal has subsided... Is this reasoning completely flawed, as I believe it is?

[the doc]

Originally posted by the doc
reduce carbs somwhat and increase fat intake by eating more calorie dense things like nuts and nut butters

eat more whole eggs in the morning.

my bad. missed the part about no nuts or dairy.
are p-nuts ok?

More whole eggs!

[the doc]

oh yea add some olive oil in there somehow!

[Avatar]

-take in more EFAs. Add at least 15g fat to the diet.
-your post workout meal should be the largest of the day. Instead you have it as the smallest. Add 200-300kcal to it. Perhaps 80g carbs (malt/dext) and 50g protein (whey) total or something.
-lower over-all carbs slightly while raising protein and/or fat some
-since your only 130sometin, keep daily calories around 2600 if your still gaining. Raise 'em if your not.

[Wizard]

Postworkout should be 70-80 malto/40 whey.

If you wanna gain muscle mass you can't do it with low carbs.(well you can but it's co productive to eat 500g of protein)

The carb amount you're getting is ok.Bulking=2-3grams of carbs x lb of bodyweight.

Protein is ok @ 130-170 g.

Fat intake would be ok @ 70 g.

[unev_en]

Thanks again for the replies.

There's only one problem w/ whey post-workout; I'm allergic to it (Peanuts too, doc.)

This means, well, that I have to eat egg whites post-workout. 50 g of egg white protein...that's two cups of cooked egg whites....that's alot of egg whites...any other ideas? What else could I use post-workout that is digested quickly?

Wizard, so there would be no problem with consuming so many simple carbs post-workout, then eating my normal meal at 6:30?

[Wizard]

It's ok,even if it's late night.After the workout,glucose tolerance is at very high levels.(the same thing happens in the morning)

As for the alternative protein to replace whey,I think that egg whites are ok so why not to consume them?

Digestion will be very fast because of the consumpton of maltodextrine.(or dextrose)

[unev_en]

Thanks for the help.

The only problem I could see w/ egg whites is that 25 g protein worth of egg whites is already large egg-white omelete, which means that 50 g protein worth of egg whites would be a large amount to eat...