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First off, if you are someone who does not gain bodyfat even eating big macs five times a day and pounding a pint of chunky monkey right before bedtime to boot, don’t read anymore I don’t want to waste your time. With that out of the way let’s move on.
How do you bulk when your somatotype tends to lean towards the fatboy, endomorph side of the spectrum? This is a tough question and I have learned a lot from the mistakes I have made in the past and I hope to save you some trouble in your quest to get big without becoming a complete lardass. Here are the things that I have found to be critical in my own situation.
1. If you are fat at the current time get yourself under control before you ever consider bulking. Being fat is a vicious cycle, the fatter you are, your body is more proned to becoming even fatter. Fat cells are a nice place for estrogen to hang out in and as we all know estrogen is one of our worst enemies against being lean and defined. If you are currently out of control in the body fat department get it down to at least 9 or 10% before bulking. It will save you in the end from harsh dieting. It has been shown that the leaner you are, the higher the percentage of lean muscle your body ads when bulking. I don’t know the exact numbers on this, but I remember reading that people with single digit bodyfat levels tend to gain 80 to 90% of their weight in lean mass when bulking factoring in a proper diet of course. I know this percentage goes up proportionally and is something like 50/50 with people who are over 15% and only gets worse from there.. So first things first,, get your bodyfat in check!!
2. Don’t mix carbs with fats… Those of us whom tend to get fat easy are carb sensitive and don’t respond well to insulin spikes especially when fats are involved. What happens when you eat carbs with fats? The answer is your body produces an insulin spike and tends to pull the fats more readily into the fat cells than when there is no insulin spike. Keep your meals that are high in carbs as low as possible in fats and this should help stave off fat storage to an extent.
3. Avoid Simple Carbs like the plague. Those of us that are fatboys by nature tend to be way too carb sensitive to be eating meals that contain excess simple carbs. The only exception to this rule would be your post workout shake when you actually want an insulin spike. Ben & Jerry’s is not a good bulking food and krispy crème is not a macronutrient,,, remember that.
4. Eat clean and eat a lot…. Bulking is not an excuse to eat like a pig. I know I love to eat everything in sight and have made this mistake many times. When you get overly fat while bulking you are going to have to trim up at some point and these are the facts boys. When that time comes the more fat you have to lose the more potential there is for muscle loss when dieting. Also, not to mention the fatter you are the longer and harder you are going to have to diet and we know that those of us who are members of the fat boy club hate to diet. One thing I know now after making many mistakes is that I will keep my body within at least 14 weeks striking distance for a show. Anything more than that is a struggle for me to do day in and day out.
5. Try to limit your fats to EFA’s as much as possible. I would recommend making sure that at least 50% of your fat intake is from EFA’s. EFA’s have been shown to have some mechanism in promoting fat metabolism and they also promote heart health. Also, remember not to go to low fat, your body needs the fats in order to repair itself.
6. Don’t eat carbs late in the day.. Do not eat carbs before going to bed since this tends to lead elevated blood sugar levels which promote fat storage at night for us fatboys. I try to get as little carbs as possible in my last two meals which are about 4 to 5 hours before bedtime. Your body tends to be more prone towards pushing carbs into the fat cells later in the day since your metabolism is winding down. Also, by not eating carbs late in the day you will deplete your glycogen before bedtime and through the night making your body more receptive to loading up on carbs in the am before working out when you need them.
7. Eat clean foods. Try to limit your intake of garbage foods to once or twice a week if at all. I see a lot of guys saying they are eating 4 chicken breasts a day and getting fat, but they fail to mention these chicken breasts come from KFC. Also, french fries and twinkies are not a good source of quality carbs, lol. Sorry to ruin it for you my friends, but they aren’t as I found out the hard way,, lol. A rule of thumb that I heard a nutritionist say one time is to shop the edges. What he meant, was when shopping at the grocery store stay out of the isles. If you think about it, all the clean, good whole foods are on the edges of the market not in the isles. Kind of cool huh? This is a good rule to follow if you have a hard time figuring out what is clean and what is not.
8. Food ratios, Here is what I found works for me, this is not set in stone so do what works for you.
Protein 1.5 to 2 g per lb of body weight
Carbs 1.5 to 2 g per lb of body weight
Fats 0.5 to o.75 g per lb of body weight
How do you bulk when your somatotype tends to lean towards the fatboy, endomorph side of the spectrum? This is a tough question and I have learned a lot from the mistakes I have made in the past and I hope to save you some trouble in your quest to get big without becoming a complete lardass. Here are the things that I have found to be critical in my own situation.
1. If you are fat at the current time get yourself under control before you ever consider bulking. Being fat is a vicious cycle, the fatter you are, your body is more proned to becoming even fatter. Fat cells are a nice place for estrogen to hang out in and as we all know estrogen is one of our worst enemies against being lean and defined. If you are currently out of control in the body fat department get it down to at least 9 or 10% before bulking. It will save you in the end from harsh dieting. It has been shown that the leaner you are, the higher the percentage of lean muscle your body ads when bulking. I don’t know the exact numbers on this, but I remember reading that people with single digit bodyfat levels tend to gain 80 to 90% of their weight in lean mass when bulking factoring in a proper diet of course. I know this percentage goes up proportionally and is something like 50/50 with people who are over 15% and only gets worse from there.. So first things first,, get your bodyfat in check!!
2. Don’t mix carbs with fats… Those of us whom tend to get fat easy are carb sensitive and don’t respond well to insulin spikes especially when fats are involved. What happens when you eat carbs with fats? The answer is your body produces an insulin spike and tends to pull the fats more readily into the fat cells than when there is no insulin spike. Keep your meals that are high in carbs as low as possible in fats and this should help stave off fat storage to an extent.
3. Avoid Simple Carbs like the plague. Those of us that are fatboys by nature tend to be way too carb sensitive to be eating meals that contain excess simple carbs. The only exception to this rule would be your post workout shake when you actually want an insulin spike. Ben & Jerry’s is not a good bulking food and krispy crème is not a macronutrient,,, remember that.
4. Eat clean and eat a lot…. Bulking is not an excuse to eat like a pig. I know I love to eat everything in sight and have made this mistake many times. When you get overly fat while bulking you are going to have to trim up at some point and these are the facts boys. When that time comes the more fat you have to lose the more potential there is for muscle loss when dieting. Also, not to mention the fatter you are the longer and harder you are going to have to diet and we know that those of us who are members of the fat boy club hate to diet. One thing I know now after making many mistakes is that I will keep my body within at least 14 weeks striking distance for a show. Anything more than that is a struggle for me to do day in and day out.
5. Try to limit your fats to EFA’s as much as possible. I would recommend making sure that at least 50% of your fat intake is from EFA’s. EFA’s have been shown to have some mechanism in promoting fat metabolism and they also promote heart health. Also, remember not to go to low fat, your body needs the fats in order to repair itself.
6. Don’t eat carbs late in the day.. Do not eat carbs before going to bed since this tends to lead elevated blood sugar levels which promote fat storage at night for us fatboys. I try to get as little carbs as possible in my last two meals which are about 4 to 5 hours before bedtime. Your body tends to be more prone towards pushing carbs into the fat cells later in the day since your metabolism is winding down. Also, by not eating carbs late in the day you will deplete your glycogen before bedtime and through the night making your body more receptive to loading up on carbs in the am before working out when you need them.
7. Eat clean foods. Try to limit your intake of garbage foods to once or twice a week if at all. I see a lot of guys saying they are eating 4 chicken breasts a day and getting fat, but they fail to mention these chicken breasts come from KFC. Also, french fries and twinkies are not a good source of quality carbs, lol. Sorry to ruin it for you my friends, but they aren’t as I found out the hard way,, lol. A rule of thumb that I heard a nutritionist say one time is to shop the edges. What he meant, was when shopping at the grocery store stay out of the isles. If you think about it, all the clean, good whole foods are on the edges of the market not in the isles. Kind of cool huh? This is a good rule to follow if you have a hard time figuring out what is clean and what is not.
8. Food ratios, Here is what I found works for me, this is not set in stone so do what works for you.
Protein 1.5 to 2 g per lb of body weight
Carbs 1.5 to 2 g per lb of body weight
Fats 0.5 to o.75 g per lb of body weight
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