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Hello, Shane!
I love the calculators on this site and find them pretty accurate. Could you tell me, please, if the bulking calculator’s “sedentary” mode accounts for fidgeting? I’ve read that even simple things like typing on a keyboard or using the mouse can burn ~41 per half hour! That’s super discouraging 🙁 Sometimes it seems like everything is set against us, skinny dudes.
Thank you, Elijah!
No calculator can fully account for fidgeting, but that’s part of what the “thickness” option helps with.
Still, some people fidget more than others, and metabolisms adapt, and some people’s metabolisms adapt more than others. It’s possible to add 500 calories to your diet and subconsciously fidget them all away.
The trick is to eat a little bit more, weigh yourself every week, and keep adding 100–200 more calories until you start gaining weight. Keep weighing yourself, and keep adding more calories whenever your weight plateaus.
It’s discouraging, for sure, but I think it winds up being a genetic advantage. It’s nice not to need to worry about accidentally becoming overweight. It’s nice not to live a life of constant restriction, always eating less than you want to. In the end, I think it’s a good thing.
But it’s definitely hard while bulking up. Have you seen our video about how to eat more calories more easily?
Hello, Shane
Something really grabbed my attention: you said that you had familiar hypercholesterolemia. And I wanted to ask you if you have any specific tips for someone who also has problems with cholesterol, (I’m a skinny 16 year old, and my cholesterol is pretty high, doctors are making tests to see if it’s genetical). I want to bulk, and I’m currently at it, but it concerns me a little bit how could bulking affect my cholesterol. Thank you!
Hey Artemiy,
Yeah, I have familial hypercholesterolemia and had sky-high LDL cholesterol. I got tested at 18, after my dad had a heart attack (in his forties). At the time, they didn’t prescribe statins to people so young, so my cardiologist told me to try to manage it with diet, exercise, and lifestyle. I also had health problems from being underweight, so, after dragging my heels for a few years, I started bulking up at 22.
Bulking shouldn’t be an issue. Gaining muscle is great for your health. If you’re like me, it might even help a great deal.
You’d just want to bulk in a healthy way, following a good working program, eating a nutritious diet, getting plenty of sleep, and doing some cardio.
The big diet tips are:
1. Minimize your intake of saturated fat, especially from palm oil and butter. I swapped it for extra-virgin olive oil. Cocoa is high in saturated fat but tends to be good for the heart, so I didn’t worry too much about eating moderate amounts of it. If you eat meat, I would eat very lean meat. I ate lots of extra-lean ground beef and chicken breast. For dairy, I went low/no fat. Low/no-fat Greek yogurt and kefir and milk.
2. Eat lots of fibre. Lots of fruits and vegetables. Lots of beans and lentils. Brown and wild rice. Lots of oats. Smoothies can be great for this. Psyllium husk (e.g. Metamucil) is the fibre supplement you could pair with meals that are low in fibre. You could also have chia.
3. Eat lots of fatty seafood, such as salmon. Fish/krill oil is good, too.
4. Lots of nuts and seeds. Avocados. Olives. I ate a lot of trail mix.
Put great effort into your lifting. Don’t skimp on cardio. Try to get to bed on time. Stay away from vices like smoking and binge drinking.
Try to keep your gains lean. You can do that by stimulating more muscle growth with your workouts, eating plenty of protein, and keeping your calorie surplus relatively small, giving you a small amount of weight gain every week (i.e. less than 0.5 pounds per week). I didn’t do that.
Try that out for a few months, and then test your blood lipids again. See if they’re trending better. You can run all this stuff by any experts you see, too. And your parents, of course. None of it is particularly controversial.
Bulking isn’t forever, either. You won’t always be overeating.
I’m happy to answer any follow-up questions.
I really hope it helps! And props for catching it young and working to fix it. I think you’ll do great. This medical field is advancing at a tremendous rate. We were born into a good time to have an issue like this.