How NOT to Bulk - My Failure at Bulking? Calculating Your TDEE?
Happy January 8th!! So first of all I want to clarify that there is nothing wrong with planning to "bulk," however I did basically fail at it. Bulking can be a great success, if you do it right; however I did not execute this well. I spent a lot, and I mean hours, of researching how to bulk and reading articles and watching videos, and yet I still messed up. There is one main reason for this:
I ATE TOO MUCH.
I calculated the following (for my body and goals) on a myriad of different websites using different calculators:
I ATE TOO MUCH.
I calculated the following (for my body and goals) on a myriad of different websites using different calculators:
- TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure- how many calories you burn in a day, including exercise)
- BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate - how many calories you burn at rest in a day, as if you were to lay in bed all day)
- Body Fat Percentage (how much of your weight is made up of fat)
- How many calories I would need to intake to lose weight (calorie deficit, under your TDEE), gain weight (calorie surplus, over your TDEE), and also maintain weight (right at your TDEE)
I was honestly so stressed out trying to find the "perfect numbers" so that I would gain minimal fat, yet still gain as much muscle as possible.
It was even more stressful taking into account that these different calculators would give me answers that had such a wide range; I'm talking 500 calories difference (500 calories is a lot when you're only 5'3"!!). For instance, I found out my BMR was between 1300 and 1450 calories, my TDEE could be found somewhere between 1700 and 2000 calories, and to "bulk" I had to be anywhere from 2000 to 2500 calories!!! The information was so conflicting, especially considering 2000 calories may be my maintenance or a surplus. At this time I had sometimes tracked what I ate, but never consistently (it wasn't my goal to track consistently before this), so I didn't have a clue what my TDEE actually was.
Anyways, I was freaking out so much that I just decided to set my calories at 2000 (it seemed like a pretty good ballpark number) and added however many calories I burned to the daily total. I use the app Lifesum (I LOVE IT) and you can choose whether to include or exclude the calories you burn into you total number of calories for the day. I would typically log a little over 300 calories burned, so I usually ate around 2300 calories for one day. Looking back with the experience I have gained, that's insane for a person of my stats:
Stats as of June 2017
5'3"
123 lbs
16 years old
Sedentary
3-4 hours of moderate exercise per week
By eating about 2300 calories per day, I ended up gaining about 15 pounds in a matter of 5ish months...
...I only wanted to gain about 5-6 pounds in that time.
(Women can only gain .25 pounds of muscle per week, therefor only 1 pound per month).
Yeah, 2300 calories was way, way off.
I had planned to bulk until December, but by October I was feeling so fluffy and too chubby at 139 pounds, so I decided to go into maintenance calories, and then into a deficit in hopes to shred some of my new fluff. I was actually surprised at how little my body had changed in appearance- just a little more around my stomach, love handles, and thighs (it was interesting to see where I stored fat!). Here are some "progress" pictures to show you, don't mind the completely unflattering facial expressions:
End of July:
End of October:
Here are some screen shots of my stats today, and some of the more accurate calculators:
As you can see, my currents stats are as follows
January 2018 Stats:
5'3"
134 lbs
17 years old
Sedentary/ lightly active
6+ hours of moderate exercise per week (I've been working on increasing my weight training to almost an hour, and also am logging more hours because of marathon training)
BMR: Through experience, I find this to be around 1300 or 1350 calories
TDEE: Depends on the day and amount of exercise, but usually around 1750-ish calories, it can really vary
The calculators listed above are some of them I would recommend; keep in mind no calculator is going to be 100% accurate and these serve as a ballpark estimate- you will figure out your "perfect" numbers through experience (trial and error).
I can make a post focusing more about how to successfully bulk, but my number one tip is to find your TDEE. Trust me, knowing that is like a secret weapon whether you want to cut (lose weight), bulk, or maintain.
Personally, for anyone looking to find their TDEE, I would recommend using several calculators, and starting with the lower end (hoping to not gain any fat). Weigh yourself in the beginning (preferably before eating) and take note. Diligently take in that amount of calories for 1-2 weeks. Track your calories either with a pencil and paper, or an app; again I recommend Lifesum (the free version is amazing!). At the end of the 1-2 weeks, weigh yourself again, at the same time (Granted, your weight will fluctuate through out the day, that's why its imperative to weigh yourself at the same times! Personally, I only have access to a scale at night, so thats when I weight myself).
If you lost weight, you need to bump up the calories. If you gained, reduce. If you stayed the same, congrats!! You have found your TDEE! Keep up this process until you have found you very own personal TDEE.
Anyways, that's all for now! If there is any topic or subject you would like me to address in more detail, please let me know down in the comments!
Until the next post,
Hannah
Comments
Post a Comment