I Bulked for OVER A YEAR... Here's what happened

I tried bulking. Eating in a caloric surplus, gaining weight to add muscle mass. This is my 1 year and 3 month journey. It's not very common for women to bulk so I had to take on the challenge. In my calorie surplus I continued weight training. I used a ZOZOFIT suit to better track my measurements and body fat. How long will it take me to put on 10 pounds and increase my muscle mass? How much body fat will come with it? Will I stick with a clean bulk or will it get dirty?

Every Monday morning I bring you Fitness Outrageous. Fit tips. Health hacks. Superhuman strategies! All delivered with a side of hilarious. I'm constantly working to get better at life. Wanna join me? Let's get Fitness Outrageous together :)

[FitnessOutrageous]

Yes, that is midnight ice cream uniform every time 😆

[pseudophd]

Agree with Christine about not needing to be in a deficit for a long time. She smort

[JoeAuerbach]

I really appreciate how hard this video proved that weight is not just about calories.

[kirstenolson]

This is a great video and you really committed over a long time to make this. The main thing I learned from this entire video is that you are undernourished. Your body was able to add +500 kcal a day without changing much weight. I can gain 8.2 lbs in one week, so you gaining 8.2 lbs over 68 weeks is nothing. Also, maybe rethink doing such extreme intermittent fasting (time restricting eating). Check out the recent Huberman episode about female physiology and how intermittent fasting works better for male bodies than female bodies. The doctor interviewed even goes into the hormonal response that female bodies have if we don't eat in the morning and why we need to eat a snack before working out. Listening to that episode really made me re-evaluate all the bro-science that I've absorbed over the years, and now I wonder how much of it really only pertains to male bodies.

[n.i.c.k.f.l.e.t.c.h.e.r]

I am incredibly sceptical of that zozofit thing, because coming from a a VFX background there’s a reason they don’t use mocap suits with such a tight minimally contrasting pattern

[tiddiewiddies]

Great video! People are so terrified of gaining weight but it’s not always a bad thing. Also your sleep probably was shite because of the sugar rush you’d get right after eating ice cream before bed. That always tanks my sleep if i eat sweets within an hour or two of going to bed. Anyway, great video and good commitment. There’s definitely a solid boundary of what is healthy for your body and what is healthy for your mind and it’s probably different for everyone :)

[MrMadeinthes]

Id like to see a Coach Greg reaction/breakdown to this.

[flymypg]

I backed off bulking decades ago. First, it was clear my muscles bulked unevenly, and the work to have even marginal symmetry was NOT working. But, damn, did I have super traps (no neck) and legs (and butt), with skinny arms and chest.

Instead, I went toward strength and definition, which came in handy when I started triathlon, where a typical goal is maximum strength and endurance for a given mass.

Another phrase you may hear is "muscle densification", where you pursue conflicting goals of maximum strength for minimum weight. For me, circuit training worked very well. But I also need cardio, which adds another conflicting goal.

I view it as a delicate balance that gets tipped as needed, mainly toward muscle in winter and endurance the rest of the year.

My only exception (and another conflict) is my desire to have my looks reflect my achievement and efforts, which means giving a little extra love to my "Vanity Muscles", especially my bis, tris, delts and lats.

Good eating habits are at the center of it all. I tried individual meal management, and rediscovered a love for cooking, but I was eating too much, too often. I started eliminating meals and found I was happy to see I could tolerate hunger far better than expected. It's the difference between momentary hunger and being comfortable fasting.

I've been on OMAD (One Meal A Day) for 5 years now, but that's only about 5 days per week. I give myself permission to deviate with family and friends, and even when I get a rare "sinful craving" for a Big Mac. To make this work, I developed a daily super-smoothie that meets 80% of my calorie needs and 100% of my protein and other nutrient needs. So, if I have ONLY the super smoothie, I will gradually lose weight. And that smoothie is SO tasty that I don't really miss much else.

Strength training, triathlon (endurance), OMAD. Those are my touchstones.

My visible body fat varies (mainly as a donut around my waist) for a variety of reasons, and I no longer care about it on a daily or weekly basis, and only tweak my trajectory based on monthly data.

There's so much more to share, but the biggest overarching concept for me has been to make everything unify into a LIFESTYLE, not temporary collection of changing bits and pieces.

That said, I have enormous variability within my lifestyle. For example, I seldom EVER repeat the same workout. I will shuffle everything (exercises, order, reps, duration, weight, ...), so long as the big picture remains intact. This also helps prevent boredom and chronic use (overuse) injuries. I like to also toss in "assessments" where I explicitly check my performance limits, something I do not include in normal workouts, which I like to keep well inside the safe zone.

[Engineergirl]

Congrats on your accomplishment!
Re: glucose regulation decline...
Glucose metabolism declines later in the day. Better to fast later in the day to sync with the circadian clock and resulting hormone fluctuations = better glucose regulation. Breakfast skippers have a higher rate of cardiovascular disease/death and stroke. I just completed a doctoral research paper on fasting last week. It's kind of fresh in my head. (And I have to change my whole fasting routine now. I prefer to fast early as well.)

[eveningecho]

Yes to vid on getting back into cardio

[saltybear]

You really should have tried eating meals during the day. Daily fasts have slowed your body's ability to build muscle, and the night time eating, while ruining your sleep, is also reducing your body's ability to recover. It's a hard enough challenge to bulk without animal protein, without the added difficulties of these bad habits.

[schmorgzzz]

This was a great video, the authenticity is delightful!

From a type 1 diabetic, your average blood glucose might be going up if you're eating all your food (and therefore carbs) in a short period of time (due to fasting). If you spaced out your eating throughout the day (implying you space out your carbs) you would likely see that bg level closer to what you want while bulking! Then again, our bodies work very differently. Congrats on the weight lifting progress!!🎉

[bleepbloop]

low key she got the best abs compared to many fitness influencers

[maggies]

I can't imagine losing 5 pounds without trying. Different experiences for us all.

[GalacticGoddess]

You are so determined. A powerhouse!! I'm so in awe!
I'm bedridden 90% of the time due to a back injury and i just look at extra calories and can gain a few kills. I was really surprised to hear you cut out cardio and increased calories by a large amount and still struggled to gain weight.

[Tobsson]

Would love to see another year where you do this but try to eat the most calories in the morning/day and eat something lighter in the evening. It fights against your natural habits more so it's probably quite a challange, but I think the response would be oh so much better.

[elainapalka]

ya having been 5 foot 1 and 116 lb average for most of my teenage years and then jumping to 138lb after 21 years of age due to stress of life and chronic pain does not feel good. I want to overcome chronic pain. I'm 24 now and will be graduating from nursing school soon. I love these videos! Thank you for making this channel.

[Shirayuuki]

when i started tracking my protein intake for muscle gain i honestly became sickened by the amount of food i was eating. like i started HATING eating. i wasn't tracking my calories too closely tbh but i was aiming for about 2500 every day. i was doing cardio but not alot. anyways, long story short, i maintained for like 8 months. lost like 2 inches off my waist and hips and gained muscle. loved the recomp but eating can be a chore. I understand how draining all of this must have been! it was awesome hitting all those prs so quickly tho!

[aaronswig]

Heard a LOT about zone 2 training. Would love to see your take on it! Thumbs up from me for that video!

[Demurr]

Ali's painting of a toilet hanging in her parent's toilet melted my heart a little bit =)