# Cutting carbs to "lean bulk"



## Bulkamania (Feb 16, 2009)

Hey peeps, hope everyone had a good xmas! :thumbup1:

Right, my thinking for the new year is to ditch the classic bulking and cutting routine, and try to stay lean all year round by "lean bulking" as they say.

After reading article after article, and a very long thread by Prodiver, I'm interested in giving it a go.

My current diet consists of around 400g of carbs a day. I'm thinking about cutting them down to about 250g a day. I've been on this diet since my keto, so about 3 months. Havn't gained too much fat, but would like to be leaner and hopefully drop a little bit of bodyfat whilst "lean bulking".

I'm not in a huge rush to gain "weight" like I was a year ago, I thaught the more weight on the scale the better, but what I didn't realise was half of that was probably fat :lol:

If I could gain 0.5 lbs of muscle a week I'd be happy. I havn't done any cardio since my keto diet so I'll add that back in 2-3 times a week.

So, by cutting carbs to 250g a day, the aim is to "lean bulk".

I'd be interested to hear Prodiver's thaughts on this.

Thanks for reading


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## sizar (Nov 13, 2008)

As long as you provide enough carb for your energy and some post workout for muscle recovery along with good quality protien you should be good to go .. the best thing is to look in the mirror and adjest the diet and see how your body responds to it.


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## Bulkamania (Feb 16, 2009)

Yeah :thumbup1:

So the plan is, if I'm taking in 250g a day, take half of that amount and split it between breakfast and PWO. Then have the other 125g split between the other 4 meals.


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## Rick89 (Feb 27, 2009)

Why not add cardio 30 mins evryday and leave carbs as they are, I would think if your eating the right kind of carbs then 400g wouldnt be a problem IMO anyway.


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## sizar (Nov 13, 2008)

carb up before workout this includes breakfast and have decent amount of fast carb for pw shake and some complex carb the meal after that post workout meal .. then toward the evening ease up on the carb .. have more veg ..


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## Bulkamania (Feb 16, 2009)

Rick89 said:


> Why not add cardio 30 mins evryday and leave carbs as they are, I would think if your eating the right kind of carbs then 400g wouldnt be a problem IMO anyway.


Yeah I suppose that's an option. But, from reading through Prodiver's thread, he's saying that an excessive amount of carbs isn't really necessary and to take in an amount to just keep your energy levels up. So my theory is sort of coming from his experience.

Thanks for the imput though, will bare everyone's comments in mind


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## Rick89 (Feb 27, 2009)

Bulkamania said:


> Yeah I suppose that's an option. But, from reading through Prodiver's thread, he's saying that an excessive amount of carbs isn't really necessary and to take in an amount to just keep your energy levels up. So my theory is sort of coming from his experience.
> 
> Thanks for the imput though, will bare everyone's comments in mind


More Carbs=Less muscle loss..I learnt this the hard way when deiting low carb and lost ALOT of hard earned muscle, now dieting at the mo again and carbs are around 400g a day (oats,sweet potatoe,brown rice), and never been leaner and lost zero muscle, but doing 45mins cardio everyday before breakfast low intensity.

I read somewhere that although amino acid are vital for muscle size, carboHYDRATES are just as important when dieting as they keep the muscle hydrated and therefore full and in no danger of becoming catabolic as long as cardio is moderate intensity and not high which will eat into muscle store instead of fat.

I have now come to realise I can loose fat much easier and better using high carbs but lots of cardio.


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Carb cycling approaches are good. You could try keeping carbs between 150 and 250g on non workout days but allowing them to go up to 300-400g on training days.


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## MillionG (Nov 17, 2009)

Interesting how many different views there are on this lean bulking thing.

My view: eat what you want when you want. I have been lean bulking since i started, I've put on about 10kgs lean in about 7 months (with a 2 month break for summer holiday).

True if I'd been eating more like a bber I could probably has gained quite alot more, but then my gf would have left me because my pack would have faded, (I'm sure that's pretty much the only reason she's with me :tongue: ), which would mean my cardiovascular fitness would be much lower, she's my main source of cardio.

Though to be fair I eat chicken and rice everyday atleast once, tuna and rice almost everyday, whole milk, couple of whey shakes, but that's not exactly commited, and I like chicken and tuna - they're yummy, and I like rice- it's cheap.

"If your abs are showing you ain't growing (yeh but you're getting alot more sex)".

:beer:


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## Rick89 (Feb 27, 2009)

Not true, loads of lads on here keep abs all year and grow!


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

far to complicated......

nearly everyone who bilks uses far to many carbs and become fat....FACT

you do not lose strength or energy in the gym if you reduce carbs if you counter the drop with raises in both protein and fat levels......

I very rarely have any carbs after my PWO shake and in fact have the majority of my carbs within the first 3-4meals of the day yet my strength or size does not suffer.....

you are eating 400g of carbs how much protein and Fats are you eating? it is clear from what you have said you are getting fat on 400g of carbs so obviously this needs to be cut down but in saying this you did keto which is zero carbs then jumped onto 400g a day there is a chance that this alone made you fat and you have not been able to get the fat down since then as your metabolism may of stalled from the increase in fat....

drop the carbs in half and adjust the Fats and Protein levels then see where you go...i would also add some cardio 30min 5 x week this is crucial for bulking of any type....


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