Hi all,

I am 4kg away from finishing my cut (I started at 21% bf and am aiming for 8%, currently around 13%) and have started to reseach a bulking program that I will start in March.

My bulking goals are faily modest, I want to go from 70kg to around 75kg at about 8-10% bf). I bought the book "Scrawny to Brawny" as it seems to sum up my state and goals. The issue I am seeing in the book is that is prescribed a HUGE amount of calories to ingest. The book suggests slightly over 4,000kcal per day.

Leaving aside concerns about actually eating this much, do you guys believe this is too high? I am obv concerned about putting on unneccessary fat after all the work to get it off.

I am looking forward to the bulk and am lifting a fair bit as the last few stages of my cut to prepare.

Looking forward to your views...

Hi all,

I am 4kg away from finishing my cut (I started at 21% bf and am aiming for 8%, currently around 13%) and have started to reseach a bulking program that I will start in March.

My bulking goals are faily modest, I want to go from 70kg to around 75kg at about 8-10% bf). I bought the book "Scrawny to Brawny" as it seems to sum up my state and goals. The issue I am seeing in the book is that is prescribed a HUGE amount of calories to ingest. The book suggests slightly over 4,000kcal per day.

Leaving aside concerns about actually eating this much, do you guys believe this is too high? I am obv concerned about putting on unneccessary fat after all the work to get it off.

I am looking forward to the bulk and am lifting a fair bit as the last few stages of my cut to prepare.

Looking forward to your views...



I think it pretty much depends on your metabolism.


But those of average size and average metabolism would quickly turn into Mr. Blobby on 4000 cals a day, unless there was a lot of cardio involved.

Certainly for an average person 3 - 4 x weight training a week for 45mins - an hour will not justify 4000 calories a day. I think you often read a lot of crap about how many calories one should eat for weight training. Such diets may be okay for guys blessed with super fast metabolisms and who may be taking steroids, they are not okay for Joe Average I don't think.

I remember reading this training programme which involved 3 x body weight exercise sessions of only 20 mins per week and advocated eating at least 4000 calories a day, absolute madness:D

I'm reading the same book and wondering the same thing. However, did you calculate your calories like the book suggests? The book gives a recommended caloric goal for a 5'7 150lb male at 4000 calories. This seems a bit extreme...however they have developed a fairly complicated method to calculate hypertrphic caloric needs...

Keep in mind why the title is "Scrawny to Brawny." The book is aimed at people who start out scrawny and have trouble putting on weight. Since you were overweight before, you do not fall into this category. The training advice in the book is still useful for you, but you'll need to adjust your nutritional intake somewhat to compensate for the fact that you have been able to gain a significant amount of fat in the past. Be wary of overcompensating, however, as I believe the book does intend you to use an intake that is higher than you may intuitively set.

Start at 2800 calories and add 250 calories every 2 weeks, if needed, while watching waist for growth (the first place it goes on men).

154lbs to 165lbs, ain't much, don't overdo calories when you want to go down in BF%. You gain muscle with proper weight training, you gain fat with overdone calories.

Yeah, 4000 is way over the top. I myself am in the scrawny category. If I don't lift weights and eat big, by default I'm skin and bones, lacking in muscle, with a fast metabolism. At my starting height and weight of 5'11" and 132lbs, I was able to go to 170lbs eating 2500-3000 calories per day. I'm still bulking on only 3000 calories. I can't even fathom what kind of a metabolism you'd need in order to require 4000 calories to go from a weight of 70kg/154lbs to 75kg/165lbs. Cutting calories are generally a few hundred or so below your maintenance while bulking calories are generally only a few hundred or so above maintenance.

Do like rtestes just said.

Start at 2800 calories and add 250 calories every 2 weeks, if needed, while watching waist for growth (the first place it goes on men).

154lbs to 165lbs, ain't much, don't overdo calories when you want to go down in BF%. You gain muscle with proper weight training, you gain fat with overdone calories.


Yeah, good advice, keep a very close eye on your waist on a bulk and how your jeans/pants/trousers fit. A good rule of thumb IMO would be don't go up more than one jeans size on a bulk or that's too much fat being added.

I was eating around 4000kcals during my last bulk. I needed to to get the needle moving it seems, in the end though I did end up fatter than I would have liked. I could have probably eaten less and ended up with the same results in terms of strength.

I've done my calculations for my next strength training phase and I'll be starting off at around 2500 and moving up from there if needs be. I'll probably end up on around 2800 and I'm 6'3, 173lbs but VERY sedentary (don't even leave the house most days).

If you're just finishing a long cut, you'll regain some size and strength just eating at maintenance for a few weeks, so start with that.

Go based on progress. Work your way up to maintenance - as mentioned, increases in 250 cal increments are good - and then stay there until strength improvements stagnate. Then add 250 cals to your diet. Wash, rinse, repeat.