Force Feeding

During a bulking cycle, do you generally eat more than you will enjoy?

I typically trust my appetite to guide my total caloric intake (though I consciously control the timing and macro breakdown). But, on a bulking cycle, should I continue to trust my appetite? I read on this forum from guys that are recommending 6000+ calories per day while on bulking cycles. On a clean diet, there’s no way my appetite will guide me to eat that much. So, should I make myself eat more than my appetite would suggest I should?

Thank you.

Do you struggle to eat enough everyday? Ecto or endo?

I have no problem getting enough food in, hell I could probably get all my calories in on a bulk in 2/3 meals. They idea is to just be eating enough, not so much that you start getting fat.

Why would you force feed yourself 6000+ calories a day unless you weighed 280lbs or had an insanely fast metabolism? If you have a hard time adding weight, then eat more often, eat before bed, eat all the time.

[quote]meep wrote:
During a bulking cycle, do you generally eat more than you will enjoy?

I typically trust my appetite to guide my total caloric intake (though I consciously control the timing and macro breakdown). But, on a bulking cycle, should I continue to trust my appetite? I read on this forum from guys that are recommending 6000+ calories per day while on bulking cycles. On a clean diet, there’s no way my appetite will guide me to eat that much. So, should I make myself eat more than my appetite would suggest I should?

Thank you.[/quote]

The answer to this is the same as the answer to most questions regarding training: It depends. If you need more calories, and are not hungry, I guess you would need to “force feed” yourself more until you are consistently getting what you need to grow. For me, right now, I don’t know if it’s the dbol or the test but I am just hungry all the damn time, so, rather than having the appetite, fixing all of the food and having it available is my problem.

Do you have a good idea of what you need to grow? For me it is really easy, I almost never count calories, I just know what I need to get in me and I do that. If I’m dieting it’s a different story, but bulking is easy for me. But for some people, what they think is enough is nowhere near, and, if you have to ask that question, I would suspect you might be one of those people. In that case, when you start your cycle, you’ll need to keep a log and eat more than you usually would, quite a bit at first. See where that takes you and then you can adjust your calories up or, hopefully, down from there. I am getting between 5000-6000 calories a day depending on the day right now and I would not consider myself stuffing my face. However, I have been eating something like this for years now, and I have pretty well figured out what makes me blow or lean out. You’ll have to work this out for yourself, too.

I think you ask quality questions, btw, and it is obvious you are really researching this topic. I bet you have a good first cycle.

I am an ecto and can’t go by actual hunger when planning my diet. I have set times when I eat and set items that I eat. Every 2 hours I eat regardless of being on cycle or off. Obviously I eat larger meals when on cycle to create a positive calorie balance. But to answer your question I’m not always hungry when I eat, but I know it is time to eat so I just do it. When on cycle my hunger usually picks up which helps with the larger portions.

I am going to start off with saying I have no experience with AAS but I do with force feeding vs eating for hunger and I think this applies to both sides of the fence.

You have gotten what I consider good responses and the above poster was correct with “it depends”. I personally have a tiny appetite and can only eat so much in a meal before I quickly become stuffed. A friend of mine is like a bottomless pit and can eat at least twice as much per meal as me without much discomfort. You have to look at yourself and the results you are getting and decide what is neccessary for you. Me I need to force feed myself sometimes or I will stay stagnate in weight while the friend mentioned has to monitor calories a little more carefully. I am certainely not an ecto who needs 7,000 calories to gain to catch up to my speedy metabolism, it’s just my appetite holding me back. See how eating for hunger works for a couple weeks, if it’s effective then stay with it. If not try to force feed a little bit or sneak in calories beyond what you’d normally eat.

I will say this though, if you don’t have to force feed then DON’T. It’s not fun and takes all the joy out of eating for me haha.

Hm, I’m guilty of saying I eat in the upper 5000’s myself. On a regular non-cycle diet my appetite guides me to consume about 2700 calories per day, whereas while on cycle I do eat more more regular food (totalling about 3300). But I also drink mass gainers. Those easily jump the numbers up without filling you up nearly as much as one would think by counting the calories.

Good ol’ fashioned GNC Pro Performance Mass XXX chocolate, available in the 13lb bucket.

It tastes decent, dissolves well in a shaker, and I’m a huge fan of damn near anything that comes in big-ass buckets.

I’ve used Muscle Juice and currently use Dymatize Mega Gainer. The Dymatize stuff is quite cheap and is virtually fat-free. It’s just glucose, maltodextrine, protein, and some other nifties. I only use it for PWO because of the macronutrient profile. The Muscle Juice is pretty cheap too, and is loaded with fats and complex carbs, so better for bulking probably.

My favorite bulking shake is 80g olive oil (more balances with 20g fish, 60g olive, but not as tasty), and three scoops protein (~75g). This is quite inexpensive, super healthy, and is just over 1000 cals for 8-12oz. If I’m bulking I’ll mix it with cream instead of water.

I’ve tried Muscle Juice before, good stuff. I try to avoid fat in my protein shakes, in order to expedite the protein absorption.

I may be wrong, but I don’t think there is a mass gainer available from Muscle Milk. I love their protein, it tastes delicious. I wish they made a mass gainer.

When you’re not hungry, you’ll more likely feel like eating more if what you prepared is something you like and tastes good. Think of alternatives to some of the usual foods, add different spices, try new sauces, etc. Mix it up a bit.

Add a dense gainer shake in everyday and have it when you’re not feeling hungry. If it’s 1200 calories and 750mL, it WILL fit in your stomach regardless of what you ate 2 hours ago.

[quote]Contrl wrote:
Hm, I’m guilty of saying I eat in the upper 5000’s myself. On a regular non-cycle diet my appetite guides me to consume about 2700 calories per day, whereas while on cycle I do eat more more regular food (totalling about 3300). But I also drink mass gainers. Those easily jump the numbers up without filling you up nearly as much as one would think by counting the calories.[/quote]

Big shakes with whole milk and whey protein for me. If you can handle dairy, this is an easy, tasty (for me) way to get another 1500-2000 calories in.

Everything is expensive in Japan so I tend to try and be as creative as I can with the basics.

Eat a jar of nutella every day.

[quote]Brant_Drake wrote:
Eat a jar of nutella every day. [/quote]

I actually did this with a jar of narual PB for a while when I ddn’t feel like eating. It added 3200 cals per day. I have since evolved this into my Peanut Butter Fluff recipe, which I would recommend to anyone. It should be in the search engine.

Peanut Butter Fluff:
8tbsp natural PB
14g canola oil (or other)
4 tbsp milled flaxseed
1 scoop protein powder
cinnamon and cocoa to flavor

Mix all together until it has a fluffy, whipped texture. Do not add water or it will get sticky gooey, unless you like that sort of thing. This is about 1100 calories.

Looked it up and had to share.

[quote]Contrl wrote:
I’ve tried Muscle Juice before, good stuff. I try to avoid fat in my protein shakes, in order to expedite the protein absorption.

I may be wrong, but I don’t think there is a mass gainer available from Muscle Milk. I love their protein, it tastes delicious. I wish they made a mass gainer.[/quote]

They sorta do. CytoGainer is made by the same company. It’s less fat and more carbs via malto, but not a bad gainer overall. I take it pre and post workout sometimes. Low lactose and decent overall macros.

Muscle Milk pretty much IS weight gainer. Same macro breakdown, just not as dense.