Student FFB Going on a Bulk

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hi guys,

Let me first say that although I notice some controversy about the whole FFB thing, I’m putting that there because I definitely fit the bill:

At the beginning end of last year until the beginning of this year I went on a crazy diet, I’ll even go so far as to admit I probably actually had an eating disorder. i didn’t realise at the time, but I was eating WAY too little. I went from about 105-110 kg down to 65 in about 3 months.

Although I was doing heaps of cardio at the same time, I lost a lot of muscle mass as well, so after a year of sitting at about that level, and between 9.5 and 11%bf (and admittedly still being unhappy with my body) I decided to go on a bulk and gain some muscle before I go on a gentle cut in an attempt to get rid of these remaining bits of fat that still bother me (I would love nothing more than to see some abs, having never seen them in my life).

Stats:
64.5kg
12.1%bf (according to electronic scales, so not perfectly accurate)
5’11"

Today’s food: (on training days my breakfast is split into two smaller meals and my workout is in between)

Breakfast - 6am
200ml lite blue milk
4 weet bix
30g Musashi WPC
1 banana
2 eggs

Mid-Morning - 9am
100g Lunch Meat (ran out of real meat)
2 bananas
20 almonds

Lunch - 12pm
4 eggs
100g peas
6 almonds
large apple

Afternoon - 3pm
85g Pink Salmon
70g avocado
1 banana
16 almonds

Dinner
ground beef (180cal)
mixed veges (100cal)
2 eggs

Pre bed
200ml milk
20 almonds
85g salmon

As you can see a lot of almonds today because I’ve almost run out of food for this week. There’s usually a few more servings of veg in there but I’m out of veges. Which brings me to my questions here:

Other than general advice about bulking for someone like me, is there an alternative to fiending the almonds for increasing calories without breaking my wallet? I’m a university student at the moment so money is scarce but I want to bulk clean (the usual FFB hangups about getting fat again). I would just eat a shitload of oatmeal (cheap, low gi all that) but I’ve heard from most sources that as an FFB I need to keep the carbs to a minimum except for breakfast and PWO.

What about if I laid into the complex carbs for my first three meals and then high protein and healthy fats for the rest? Any advice here would be awesome.

Also: I’m taking 5g of creatine a day (finished my 5 day 20g loading phase yesterday)

Cheers guys,
Andrew.

2

I’m a FFB myself and I also fell into the same traps as yourself. However, once I broke away from the mind games and shitty tips I recieved (needing to go low carb, low cal, add extra cardio, etc) I ate like any other person trying to bulk and it worked. Adding hard weight training into your life 5-6 times a week changes the game. It allows you to eat more than you think you can.

I spent two years losing weight, and then another 2 years “bulking” but really only put on about 5 lbs because I was afraid to eat. Don’t fall into the same traps as me. Whatever you think you can get away with eating, I bet you can get away with eating more. Thats my two cents. I don’t know how many cals your currently taking, but the sources look good. What does your training look like?

3

[quote]AndyCab wrote:

At the beginning end of last year until the beginning of this year I went on a crazy diet, I’ll even go so far as to admit I probably actually had an eating disorder. i didn’t realise at the time, but I was eating WAY too little. I went from about 105-110 kg down to 65 in about 3 months.
[/quote]

Have you seen a doctor since this weight loss? You should make sure you didn’t screw yourself up hormonally and such before you start bulking again. Losing that much weight in 3 months is not healthy.

4

[quote]cally wrote:
I’m a FFB myself and I also fell into the same traps as yourself. However, once I broke away from the mind games and shitty tips I recieved (needing to go low carb, low cal, add extra cardio, etc) I ate like any other person trying to bulk and it worked. Adding hard weight training into your life 5-6 times a week changes the game. It allows you to eat more than you think you can.

I spent two years losing weight, and then another 2 years “bulking” but really only put on about 5 lbs because I was afraid to eat. Don’t fall into the same traps as me. Whatever you think you can get away with eating, I bet you can get away with eating more. Thats my two cents. I don’t know how many cals your currently taking, but the sources look good. What does your training look like?[/quote]

Good post. That is why these labels hold people back.

If you were sedentary and fat, you don’t call that an “FFB”. You call it a lazy fat person. Weight training changes the game completely.

Acting like your sedentary self sets the game from that point on makes NO sense at all.

You judge how you eat by the progress made, not by how you looked before you ever lifted a weight.

5

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]cally wrote:
I’m a FFB myself and I also fell into the same traps as yourself. However, once I broke away from the mind games and shitty tips I recieved (needing to go low carb, low cal, add extra cardio, etc) I ate like any other person trying to bulk and it worked. Adding hard weight training into your life 5-6 times a week changes the game. It allows you to eat more than you think you can.

I spent two years losing weight, and then another 2 years “bulking” but really only put on about 5 lbs because I was afraid to eat. Don’t fall into the same traps as me. Whatever you think you can get away with eating, I bet you can get away with eating more. Thats my two cents. I don’t know how many cals your currently taking, but the sources look good. What does your training look like?[/quote]

Good post. That is why these labels hold people back.

If you were sedentary and fat, you don’t call that an “FFB”. You call it a lazy fat person. Weight training changes the game completely.

Acting like your sedentary self sets the game from that point on makes NO sense at all.

You judge how you eat by the progress made, not by how you looked before you ever lifted a weight.[/quote]

THIS EXACTLY!!!

yeah i was fat before too but its because i ate more then i do now and played video games all day, turns out i have a decent metabolism and good genetics for this, being fat did not change this i jut had to get off my lazzy ass

6

Hi guys,

Thanks for your quick replies, it’s encouraging. I have two different workouts, both of which I do twice weekly, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Monday and Thursday:
Squats
Barbell Rows
Dips
Bench Press
Reverse Crunches

Tuesday and Friday:
Squats
Overhead Press
Deadlifts
Chin-ups
Prone Bridge

You might recognize this as the StrongLifts beginner program.

I find it difficult sometimes to eat enough not because I don’t want to but because protein sources are generally expensive and I was worried about eating too much carbs. So if I allowed carbs back into my diet (except probably dinner and pre-bed meals) What’s a convenient carb to have?

I’m very good at controlling my diet so I could pretty much eat one type of carb all day without getting bored of it but oatmeal is a prick to prepare all the time. I like the convenience of ww bread but I hear nothing good about that at all (simple carbs being prominent there and all that). So what’s the best option here?

I did see a doctor after that weight loss, had blood tests done and everything, he said everything was normal, but I did have borderline iron levels. I think this was due to me avoiding red meat during that diet and so I fixed it by eating red meat again.

Thanks in advance for your help guys :slight_smile:

7

bump?

8

OP - I put on a lot of ‘fatass lazy fat’ a while back. I lost all that shit (70#) and started lifting heavy and eating for strength. Given any opportunity it can, my body wants to gain/hold fat.

I managed to lift my way past my orignal fat 240 something to a stronger 270 something, now down to 250 ish.

I eat waaay more while lifting than I did before, but obviously much better food choices. I’m coming down a little now and it’s only taken weeks versus the years it took to build back up. Now that I think about it, I’m eating MORE now and LOSING weight than years ago when I was gaining fat not lifting.

Point is if you’re dedicated and consistent in the gym and lift progressively heavier and eat the right foods, you will grow muscle. By ‘the right foods’ I mean the obvious foods that will help you grow. You need to adjust carbs and calories that suit you. Some people handle carbs better than others. If you’re honest with yourself, you should know how you handle those. Tweak accordingly.

On average-- Sweet potatoes and rice? Probably good choices. Snickers and ice cream? Probably bad choices. That doesn’t mean you can’t reward yourself with those things, or use eat a pizza or CHEESEBURGER in a pinch or as plateau buster, but you get the point.

You will gain a little fat, no doubt, but when you reach that limit, you take some weeks (maybe it’s 4 weeks, maybe it’s 16 weeks) to tighten up and enjoy the gains you’ve made. At that point you assess your goals and maintain what you have or start gaining again (or, I guess diet more).

Don’t be afraid to eat to gain weight when you’re lifting. Different rules than when you’re just sitting on a couch. Don’t buy into that because you were fat before means that you’ll be fat again/always unless you’re “dieting”.

My fat $0.02

9

I’m biased as hell because I just looove the Anabolic Diet. I’m sitting at 212 lbs right now, eating 4000 calories a day, 12 eggs, bacon, ham, beef, heavy cream, you name it. On weekdays I’m eating so much fat it’s coming out my ears. Then saturday comes around and you carb up. I ate a 2000 calorie breakfast, just to give you an idea.

I’m STRUGGLING to gain weight here, and I’m a “FFB” too. See if you can get DH or MODOK involved here, those guys have forgotten more about nutrition than I’ll probably ever learn. The AD might be something for you to try, or not. I’m not giving any recommendations, just putting my personal experience out there. As a former sedentary fat ass with a rather slow metabolism, nothing has been better to me diet wise than the AD.

PS: If you aren’t able to force progress in the gym while eating to gain, it’s all for shit. No bulking if you can’t force progress. You better have your fucking game face on every time you hit the gym.

PPS: No, for fucks sake, I’m not suggesting you start eating 4000 calories right now. lol