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So, I have been cutting, it will be a year in June, and I am kind of worried about my next bulking phase. At my heaviest on my bulk , I was at 231lbs at 25%. I never want to have such a high body fat again, so I am planning on eating cleaner while bulking.My question is how bad is 80/20 hamburger and steak? These are two foods that I ate a lot during bulking and was wondering how much it contributed fat gains?

I wouldn't be concerned about that. How were your carbs and how long were you on the bulk?

I read through your old posts and you listed your macro nutrients at 50%P, 35%C and 15%F. In all likelihood you're getting too many carbs and not enough fats.

I have a different opinion on it - if you're bulking, you should be carb cycling if you want to keep fat gain to a minimum.

Carbs don't make you fat.

Fat doesn't make you fat.

Excess calories make you fat.

Off days, you should eat higher fat, high protein.

Lifting days, you should eat lower fat, higher carb, high protein.


Have most of your eating be post-workout.

Check out leangains.com - I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to bulk without putting on too much fat.

I got serious about lifting when I was 19 years old back in '04. So, I have been bulking since then minus about a year and half due to two surgeries I had. My whole goal then because I was so young was to put on as much mass as possible. Last spring, I got tired of carrying so much weight and decided to go on my first cut. I am currently at 192lbs and have been losing about a 1 lb per week. If all goes well, I imagine I should be done cutting by June. I read over at bodybuilding.com that people recommend "cheats meals" once a week, but after cutting for so long I really do not want to put on fat.


Also, during bulking I did no cardio.

The "cheat meals" are really a way to cycle carbs. You need periods of low carbs to reduce fat and periods of high carbs to stimulate your metabolism. In any case, don't be afraid of fat in your diet. It will help you lose body fat.

What was your BF like before your first bulk?

I'm sure I read over on t-nation (once upton a time) that one of the best ways to bulk without gaining too much fat is to first get very lean first and then bulk. By getting very lean first, you improve your insulin sensitivity, in theory it's more difficult to gain fat. Of course, theres a limit, but the advantage of being lean first is it's much easier to monitor how much fat you're gaining. Its much harder to monitor fat gain when you can't see your abs in the first place.

I cant find the article at the moment, if I do, i'll post again with a link. Maybe someone else here knows the article.

I'd go with Stu on this one. 35% carbs is way too much. As an example, Arnold Schwarzenegger recommended 100-150g of carbs a day, which only constituted aprox 15-20% of carbs for him.

To get an example of a low carb approach to building muscle and losing fat, this is the basic recommendation from "The Anabolic Diet". I just cut and pasted this straight from the e-book.

THE ANABOLIC DIET
Carbs %Fat %Protein %Carbs
Weekdays 30 grams 55–60 30–35 5–8
Weekends No Limit 30–40 10–15 45–60
(36–48 Hour Carb Load)

The difference between bulking, cutting and maintenance then becomes calorie consumption.

If you're going to follow this plan, get the e-book and do it right.

In general, I prefer getting about 100 g carbs from whole foods and having carbs randomly but that's just me for my goals.

Generally it does actually boil down to carbs. Everyone is different though, so it depends on how your body handles them. Any given amount of carb intake may be inadequate for one person to gain muscle, but another person would gain too much fat.

You have to find the right level for you. Hamburgers are actually a classic bulking food.

I was skinny fat as a teen so that is what probably contributed to such a high body fat. I drank alcohol and ate like the average American. When I turned 19 and got serious about lifting--serious as in, I learned from bb.com what foods I should be eating-- I gave up alcohol, and cleaned up my diet by excluding pop and sweets. However, I still would go out and eat taco bell and papa johns.