I just started my quest to overeat as i have realized exactly how much i have been undereating. I calculated my necessay calorie amount to be about 3340 calories per day.
As you can tell by the thread title, however, I’m living in japan, and not many of the products here have nutrition labels (or at least at the stores around me)
Can anyone share with me some nice meal combos I can start with, because I have never really done this before, so I can’t really calculate the calories. What I’m really looking for is specific examples of food.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I’m so lost on how to clean bulk here. Thanks so much!
I live in Japan, too. If I were you I would go to fitday.com or someplace similar and research the calories for different food, chicken breast, rice…ect.
Also, use fitday to track the calories and macronutrients of the meals that you are having now and you can use this as a guide.
I too live in Japan and while we don’t really have many foods like cottage cheese, other foods good for bulking up are easy enough to find.
Fish is a good source of protein as you’re already aware. It’s easier to find here than in the USA. Also, the Japanese love chicken thighs, so chicken breasts are comparatively much cheaper and have more protein. Australian beef is seen as second rate to the fatty Japanese variety, so that too is cheaper. Still no US beef though.
Bananas are probably the cheapest fruit here, and as great as sweet potatoes are, now they’re not in season so they’re kind of expensive. Most beans are always really expensive, but soybeans and tofu are easy to find and cheaper than most meat. That depends on your feelings about soy though.
If you have access to a Costco, you can get some foods we take for granted in America, canned tuna, nuts, oils and oatmeal for much less than any Japanese store. If you can get onto a military base, I bet they have all sorts of cheap American food.
Let me know what you find, I’ve only been living here [in Tokyo] 2 years and could certainly be missing something.
Would you mind posting an example of what you eat when you want to bulk up? Unfortunately I don’t have a Costco, but that would be great if I did. I’m not on a base, but rather in the middle of nowhere in Gifu-ken.
I think my main problem is that I don’t know how to bulk at home as this is my first time trying to do it properly, so without the nutrition labels on the back of things, I’m finding it hard to figure it all out. fitday.com looks like a great start though.
Actually, bulking in Japan shouldn?t be any different than bulking anywhere else. You mentioned that the food that you buy doesn?t have the nutritional values written on them. That makes me think that you are living off of prepackaged stuff.
I?m not trying to be a smartass, but, what you should do is go to the food store and buy lots of whole food. I know that things can seem expensive in Japan, but what I usually do is go to the store right before it?s going to close and a lot of the meat and fish is on sale, because if they don?t sell it then they have to throw it away. Then take it home, cook it, and freeze it for use later.
You really should start logging your food intake with fitday. That way when things are working well you can see what is best for your body and vice versa.
I don?t know if I?m the best person to give you an example of what I eat. I?m 39 years old, 6?3? and around 230lbs. So, I?m sure our metabolisms are different. I also run over 20 miles a week and do an EDT style training 4 or 5 times a week. I eat a FUCKING LOT!!!
Some ideas would be to buy a rice cooker. Fill it with rice, mushrooms, broccoli (or whatever you want). Instead of filling it with water fill it with chicken broth or soup. That will make enough for a couple of days. Put it in a container and top it with the meat that is in your freezer. It tastes pretty good.
BTW, what are you doing for training and diet now?
Almost every food has nutritional lables, (except meats and whatnot). If this site allows Japanese I’ll translate for you now
Protein = たんぱく質（Tanpaku-shitsu)
Carbohydrate = 糖質（Tou-shitsu)
OR Carbohydrate = 炭水化物 （Tan-sui-ka-butsu)
Fats = 脂質（Shi-shitsu)
Calories = エネルギー （Enerugi-)
Carbs have two words that are commonly used. The most common is tansuikabutsu, but I often see tou-shitsu as well. Sometimes they’ll lable fiber, sometimes not, look on the back of an “all-bran” type cereal box and you’ll see the kanji).
Greetings…I too am bulking in Nihon.
I am starting at about 3100cals on lifting days and 2300cals on non-lifting days…This plan was prepared by a professional trainer who knows his stuff…Basically I eat protein at every meal either it be real food like chicken or tuna or protein shakes. I buy all my protein from bodybuilding.com
I found them to be very excellent,esp for shipping to Japan…After protein,eat starches and fruits and veges…All of which are easily obtained here…I think a very overlooked point about bulking is that people do not eat enough good fats at each meal…At each meal,try to have some nuts/seeds or 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil/flax oil…This will make a big diference…Take a good multi and fish oil as well. good luck…Ganbatte
