Bulking and Cutting

[Rees75]

Hello everyone! New guy here.

Can I get some beginner information on how bulking and cutting works? I'm interested in time periods, and differences in workouts and nutritional intake for each period.

I've gone through a lot of the site and I'm having trouble pulling all the information together. I understand that most of this is probably basic information that everyone here already understands- that's why it's not all together in one thread.

[Johnka]

Welcome aboard Rees. For the nutritional side of the equation, here's what most people follow for bulking with great results:

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/...ating_rl_1.htm

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/...ating_rl_2.htm

And here's a good cutting program:

http://people.smu.edu/jowillia/curre.../nutrition.htm

[Bo]

Quick question Johnka. What are CHO's ??

Also, did you ever find that having a very high protein intake can lead to increased stomach acidity?

[Johnka]

CHO's are carbohydrates.

As long as you're getting plenty of vegetables, there should be no stomach acidity with a high protein intake.

[Rees75]

Thanks for the articles Johnka. Very informative. I've done all my calculations and it looks like I need to be eating about 3500 calories per day to start making gains on a bulking cycle.

I've been keeping track of my eating for the past 2 weeks and I've been steadily raising my caloric intake each day. Before I began logging my food intake, I was probably at a mere 1500 cal/day or so. Currently I'm at about 2200 cal/day. I've always been a thin guy (now I know why!).

I desperately want to eat clean. I'm eating a lot of fish, chicken, eggs and other whole foods. My question is how do I get to that 3500 cal/day goal and still eat clean? Even at 2200 cal/day, I'm constantly eating something- I'd say 6-8 meals per day. Should I eat larger meals or eat foods with higher calories?

Again, thanks for those 2 articles. They were extremely helpful.