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Women bulk?

chopsuey

New member
So I'm keen to gain muscle.

Is it better to go through a bulking stage then cut - or just aim for consistency and take it gradually?

At the moment I'm 57.7kgs, 163cms and am consuming around the 1400 - 1500 calories daily.

Sorry for all my probably stupid questions, but I've gotta start somewhere, right?
 
Bulking is good. Just eat slightly above maintenance and keep track of weight gain. At your weight you don't want to gain more than 200-300 gms per week.




Head Kunce
 
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Bulking or slight calorie surplus is good for muscle and strength gains.




Head Kunce
 
Please explain :)

You can make gains without the bulk. Unless you are absolutely disciplined to know when to stop bulking and switch onto a controlled cutting diet then I wouldnt bother with a bulk as such.
Bulking = too tempted to eat the shit that got us fat in the first place.
Lean gains, that is all.
 
I'm with @kaz on this.

Slight calorie surplus ... lean gains all the way.

It's slow, a bit like watching grass grow but won't make you a fatty boombada in the bargain

:)

#doingitnow

#worksforme

#whyamIusinghashtagswhenthisisclearlynottwitter
 
oh and @fatchicslim; currently for your height and weight, you are eating well below your maintenance if you are very active.

You won't gain if you keep that up :)

Your maintenance will be around 1900 - 2000 kcals roughly.

Get around 2.5g protein per kg body weight

Get min. 0.45g fat per kg body weight (minimum)

and the rest is carbs to make up your kcals.


That's a good starting point. Oh and train!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
If you're a beginner you don't need to bulk... you can put on muscle on a calorie deficit, up to a point.
 
Thanks everyone - so now to figure out how to increase calories...(as per post in member training diary)
 
oh and @fatchicslim; currently for your height and weight, you are eating well below your maintenance if you are very active.

You won't gain if you keep that up :)

Your maintenance will be around 1900 - 2000 kcals roughly.

Get around 2.5g protein per kg body weight

Get min. 0.45g fat per kg body weight (minimum)

and the rest is carbs to make up your kcals.


That's a good starting point. Oh and train!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BINGO and what I am doing :)
 
Thanks everyone - so now to figure out how to increase calories...(as per post in member training diary)

I'd suggest eating at maintenance for a 2-3 weeks to establish what your maintenance actually is (you can gain muscle on that for a bit ... I did).

Based on your height and weight, your maintenance should be roughly 1900-2000kcals per day but it depends a bit on your activity level.

I started by erring on the lower side and found that to be more accurate (usually is for us gals).

Given you have been eating well below that for a while, that jump is quite huge and your body will need time to adjust.
If you think you can't do it in one go, then just increase your kcals by a small amount each week until you do.

This is the approach with reverse dieting. usually a 1% increase on total kcals coming from carbs and a little from fats.
This is a good way to get your metabolism adjusting to higher kcals.

Check out IIFYM.com for the calculators for BMR and TDEE and macros.

I have found that keeping my protein high around 2.5g per kg of BW has been effective for me. It's above what is required but lower than that didn't seem to work for me.

Also consider the impact of fats on your skin etc and how you react to carbs vs fats in your diet.

hope that helps :)
 
It really does help!! Thank you so much :)

Have you got a food diary within your training diary I could take a look at by any chance? I have been scrolling through yours and fmdreams but there are so many pages lol!

I went to that site:

BMR - 1357
TDEE - 2104
 
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To count my macros and cals I use myfitnesspal you need to be eating clean at this point I eat things like oats, brown rice, chicks, white fish, almonds, berries, apples, bananas, buckwheat slices, avocado, protein shakes, tuna etc...
Does that help? My coach has split my macros according to what I train on that day and when I train
 
So I completed the calculations and I have totals of :

Carbs 104.1
Protein 319
Fat 57.4

Seems like ALOT of protein???

And yes I am on my fitnesspal :)

Should i adjust the settings accordingly?

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 
So I completed the calculations and I have totals of :

Carbs 104.1
Protein 319
Fat 57.4

Seems like ALOT of protein???

And yes I am on my fitnesspal :)

Should i adjust the settings accordingly?

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 4 Beta

2.5g protein per kg bodyweight, not per lb.
 
Yes 2.5g per KG as per original post of mine below.

That would put you at around 145g protein :)

Your carb allowance will go up given that.

I am also on MFP and yes, use the custom settings to adjust your macro settings and whatever else you are tracking.

I put my stuff on my CCM Quest 2013 log as I closed my training log (I have one I use with my coach so don't log all my sessions here anymore).
I update what I'm doing re diet and progress on the CCM thread though.

I included the link in my sig :)

happy for you to friend me on MFP.

I follow IIFYM but mostly I eat whole foods and pretty healthy (helps as I have a fructose/fructan/sugar polyol intolerance which is a pain).
But I don't obsess about it. My passion is making chocolates and pastries and I'm no hypocrite in my diet :D
 
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Ok - I re-read that calculator and saw where I went wrong!

So I'm looking at:
145 grams protein
26 grams fat
275 grams of carbs

And according to MFP I've been coming in (on average) I've been consuming:
180 grams of protein
24 grams of fats
160 grams of carbs

I'm really quite disappointed in myself for buying such an online 'one size fits all' program that bangs on about eating every 3 hours - and is quite strict on doing so - I'm not eating nearly enough. :(
Goes to show, regardless of sparkly logos, previous titles etc - not all know whats best for the individual.
 
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