I have been working out for just over 5 months and seeing good strength gains but minimal size gains. The reason is that I never got control of my diet. Some days I would barely break 2000/2500 calories and other days I would eat complete junk and end up with no telling how many calories which were mostly simple carbs and bad fats.
Then I started reading about proper nutrition and for the past two weeks I have been writing everything down and eating good foods (protein, complex carbs, good fats) every two to three hours. Basically my intentions have been to start a clean bulk at around 3800 cals a day. This has turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. So now I have gained two pounds on the scale in 2.5 weeks and I am seeing more strength gains than before. However, tonight I took a progress picture and compared it to a late Spring picture I had and the difference was there but in a bad way.
I now weigh in at around 196 at 6 feet tall and in the earlier pics I was probably 184lbs. During good weather I would canoe a few times a week solo so I burned a lot of calories by doing it. So even though I know I was smaller in those picture and had considerably less strength I looked better and more well built/defined because my belly was almost non existent.
So know I am questioning my decision to bulk at all at this point and instead trying to get down to around 10% bf (probably close to 20% now) before starting a bulk cycle again. My question is how to go about doing this? Should I start to cut following a rigorous schedule or just plain ol' diet and exercise without getting too technical with it? I ask because I have never really done a true bulk so I am not sure if following a true cutting diet is right for me. If I go on a cutting cycle, will I be able to maintain the mass and strength that I have been able to achieve so far? I suppose that simple cardio and less eating would take away some of the gains that I have achieved?
Maybe that seems like a silly question but I am a complete beginner to this game and really dont know.
Thanks
Then I started reading about proper nutrition and for the past two weeks I have been writing everything down and eating good foods (protein, complex carbs, good fats) every two to three hours. Basically my intentions have been to start a clean bulk at around 3800 cals a day. This has turned out to be a lot easier than I thought. So now I have gained two pounds on the scale in 2.5 weeks and I am seeing more strength gains than before. However, tonight I took a progress picture and compared it to a late Spring picture I had and the difference was there but in a bad way.
I now weigh in at around 196 at 6 feet tall and in the earlier pics I was probably 184lbs. During good weather I would canoe a few times a week solo so I burned a lot of calories by doing it. So even though I know I was smaller in those picture and had considerably less strength I looked better and more well built/defined because my belly was almost non existent.
So know I am questioning my decision to bulk at all at this point and instead trying to get down to around 10% bf (probably close to 20% now) before starting a bulk cycle again. My question is how to go about doing this? Should I start to cut following a rigorous schedule or just plain ol' diet and exercise without getting too technical with it? I ask because I have never really done a true bulk so I am not sure if following a true cutting diet is right for me. If I go on a cutting cycle, will I be able to maintain the mass and strength that I have been able to achieve so far? I suppose that simple cardio and less eating would take away some of the gains that I have achieved?
Maybe that seems like a silly question but I am a complete beginner to this game and really dont know.
Thanks