macros for huge clean bulk

[weflyhigh]

Next 12-13 weeks I am going balls to the wall, eating harder lifting harder and sleeping harder (we'll see about that)

what should my macros be? 40/40/20? Gunning for 20-30 lbs as clean as possible. Want 30.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

20lbs is pretty doable - anything more than that is excessive. You're gonna gain a lot of fat with it if you try that fast.

A 40/30/30 (carbs/protein/fat) split is easier to maintain and a bit healthier, if you're eating from good sources.

 

[KoolDrew]

I've said this before, but don't base your whole diet off of percentages. At least protein. It has absolutely no relevance to what you actually need and shouldn't be dependent on overall caloric intake.

1. Set calories at 16-18 cal/lb
2. Set protein at 1-1.3x bw
3. Set carbs at 2-3 g/lb
4. Set fat at 0.4-0.5 g/lb

Fat intake is generally the only one I will sometimes recommend percentages instead just because most research dealing with fat intake has used percentages. Honestly, since it's a bulk don't get too hung up on this. Make sure your intake is within those ranges, and most importantly, that you're getting enough calories.

Also, if you want a "clean" bulk, the best thing to do is keep the surplus reasonable. 30lbs in 12 weeks will not be clean. You're probably best limiting it to 1lb a week, or 4-5lbs a month. You're not going to gain muscle any faster by eating a huge surplus, you'll just make yourself fat.

 

[Special K]

I've said this before, but don't base your whole diet off of percentages. At least protein. It has absolutely no relevance to what you actually need and shouldn't be dependent on overall caloric intake.

1. Set calories at 16-18 cal/lb
2. Set protein at 1-1.3x bw
3. Set carbs at 2-3 g/lb
4. Set fat at 0.4-0.5 g/lb

Fat intake is generally the only one I will sometimes recommend percentages instead just because most research dealing with fat intake has used percentages. Honestly, since it's a bulk don't get too hung up on this. Make sure your intake is within those ranges, and most importantly, that you're getting enough calories.

Also, if you want a "clean" bulk, the best thing to do is keep the surplus reasonable. 30lbs in 12 weeks will not be clean. You're probably best limiting it to 1lb a week, or 4-5lbs a month. You're not going to gain muscle any faster by eating a huge surplus, you'll just make yourself fat.

What happens if the sum of 2, 3, and 4 doesn't equal 1? That is, where do you add the calories if you find that you need to eat more even after setting the requirements of 2, 3, and 4? Does it even matter at that point?

 

[EvilYoda]

Realizing that he wants it to be as "clean" as possible, I'd add calories in fat due to his increased workout volume. But what do I know.

 

[KoolDrew]

What happens if the sum of 2, 3, and 4 doesn't equal 1? That is, where do you add the calories if you find that you need to eat more even after setting the requirements of 2, 3, and 4? Does it even matter at that point?

The best way to approach it is probably to set calories, protein and fat, then just fill the rest with carbs. It won't always fall within the range I mentioned, but if it's in the ballpark, that's fine.

For example, say we have someone 150lbs looking to gain mass. Calories would be set first at 16kcal per pound. So at 150 we have 2400kcal to work with. He may need much more than this, but it's only a starting point. Adjust as needed. Then set protein. 150g would be fine, so that's 600kcal. Fat at 0.5g/lb, so 75g or 675 calories. So now we have 1125kcal left, enough for 281g of carbs, not quite at 2g/lb, but if he needed to adjust calories up, I'd just suggest adding a bit more and leaving fat and protein alone.

 

[CAW!]

20 in 13 weeks may be doable clean, but 30? nah. You'll have to get somewhat dirty to do that. I'm bulking right now, taking 24 weeks to do 43, and that's going to be pretty dirty. 30 in 24 would probably still be pretty dirty. 20 in 24 though is probably doable. How many cals per day you at?