Today’s Topic & What You’ll Learn
- How The Idea To Bulking Started
- What Changes To My Diet I made; caloric intake
- How Many Days A Week I Workout
- My Top 10 Side Effects To Bulking
Mama Robbins
So you clicked on my link for this blog. I bet you noticed the woman. Yea, that woman is built! This is what I want to look like in 13 months. Is it realistic? With the proper nutrition, exercise and dedication I am betting so! Will it be hard work? Harder than ANYTHING I have ever done before. So let’s begin!
After I had my fourth child I weighed 148 pounds. To get down to my goal weight of 128 pounds (20-pound loss), exercise was key. I’ve never been a woman to pop out a baby and bounce right back to my body weight. I’ve always had to work my tush off and watch what I eat. Baby number four was no different. However, this time I decided I’d lose the weight, get lean, and try CLEAN bulking. But just like becoming a parent, no book or advice can prepare you for what you’ll go through or feel. Starting to build muscle has had side effects I never expected.
Don’t get me wrong, I did a ton of research and consulted with my doctor before exercise. It has only been four months post-baby as I write this. Some things are expected like being hungry, but how hungry was nothing that I’d ever imagined.
How It Started
To get lean I started watching what I ate and worked out for one hour a day only three times per week. It took me three months to get down to 135 pounds due to my recovery from baby four taking SO MUCH LONGER than expected. Thereafter, I knew in order to pack on the muscle I was going to need to take everything up a notch. Okay, a lot! I bumped my calories from 1200 cals per day to 2400 per day and started working out one hour per day SIX DAYS A WEEK!
Side Effects To Bulking
1. Hunger
For most of my adult years, I’ve struggled with eating. It’s never enough, or I ate too much of the wrong thing. Yummy McDonalds. So, starting to bulk I knew my caloric intake needed to increase by 1200 at a bare minimum. No big deal right? Oh, my GOODNESS I was so wrong!!! It took me FIVE weeks to finally get to a point I was actually consuming enough calories to support my building. To be honest, I believe this still isn’t enough as I’m still losing weight! Now, I’m experiencing hunger like never before! I’m hungry ALL the time. I just ate a huge supper, still hungry. Had a large snack, still hungry. Don’t even get me started on how bad it is when I go to bed and wake up at 3 am feeling like I’ve haven’t eaten a day in my life.
2. Soreness
It’s to be expected to feel sore after working out, especially when lifting heavyweights. But I feel like I’ve been hit by a MAC truck daily! The thing is, Sunday is my rest day. So I recover from all the soreness from the week as it’s 48 hours until my next workout. But on day one I become fatigued from the workout. On day two I always have a little soreness from the day before, plus I feel fatigued after that night’s workout. Then, day three I not only have the worst soreness from day one, plus a little from day two, I add fatigue onto day three and we have our constant feeling for the rest of the week. I know it will taper off in a few weeks, but this was not a feeling I expected AT ALL.
3. Hot Flashes
Since working out I’ve notices I am getting hot flashes constantly at night after my workout from the change in my diet and my metabolism skyrocketing. I also know this will change in a few weeks once my body adjusts, but in the meantime, not expected.
4. So Much Water
If you’re dehydrated, you won’t build muscle. I hated water. I still don’t really like it either so it’s been a challenge to consume even 24 oz. With my body weight, I need to be consuming 3 of my water bottles a day and it sucks. But I keep my goal in mind and do my best. Considering the amount I have changed over the last few months, even though this one is a key component to success, I count my other successes too!
5. Vitamins & Supplements
I used to struggle to take my multivitamin daily. For the past month, I’ve managed to not only take my multivitamin daily, I now take five other vitamins a day too! Vitame D3, Ginger Root, Omega, Green Tea Extract, and a Probiotic. Then come night time I have my ATP Beef Protein shake! My shake is one scoop to 2 cups of skim milk. This is like my ice cream. It’s super sweet and satisfying without the high sugar. I know there are other supplements out there great for what I am aiming to do, but consideration for my nursing is a must and number 1.
6. Lack of Sleep Matters
Without adequate sleep, your body can’t recover. I knew sleep was important, but not as important as it actually is. Even for daily life I never “really” focused on this. If anything this is where my struggle will be with my 16 week old and toddler due to the extensive night wakes and feeling more run down in the mornings. My girls are great sleepers so no issues there, but the boys. Thankfully my husband has helped out tremendously by allowing me extra sleep in the mornings and he takes the baby. But until I can get quality sleep the building will be a struggle.
7. Libido Disappeared
Yep. You read that right. It has vanished completely. I have read that working out a lot can lower your drive, but actually experiencing it is a whole different experience. Does it bother me? Nope. If anything I feel more focused on my priorities which has been beneficial for both my husband and me.
8. Grocery Bill Didn’t Change
This one was a bit of a shocker. I figured having to increase the amount that I was eating, plus my husband is also going through a bulking phase our grocery bill would increase substantially. But it hasn’t changed at all. Go figure, I was spending a LOT on takeout and now we are making every meal at home which has literally evened itself out. When I think how much crap I was consuming, it really hits you hard what your body must think now with all this great nutrition coming in.
9. Energy Level Hasn’t Changed
I’ve read so much about how exercising on a regular basis can increase your energy. I’m not sure who is experiencing this, but my husband as well doesn’t notice a change either. Okay, I am working out six days a week, but even when I was working out three days a week, I still felt tired, and often. Setting aside having a baby and toddler in the mix, even when I didn’t have kids and worked out five days a week I felt the same as I did now. This is something I hope will change over a few months as I am still only a few months into this.
10. Feeling Bored On Off Days
Sunday hits and it’s finally a day off. No exercise required. But the feeling like something is missing is HUGE! I never thought I would become so reliant on my workout routine that my one day off I feel like I should be doing more. Sunday I take a day to relax, spend more quality time with family, work on building my home business or other goals for the week. It allows me to plan my week’s meals and really set the pace for the week. But again, I feel like….something is missing on that day. With cruddy whether it’s been a little harder getting out there for walks with the kids, but I think once the weather warms up I’ll be right as rain!
So there you have it guys! My top 10 Side Effects To Bulking. Keep in mind, I am adding bulk to look great. To feel better about my body. I want the image of a badass. But for those who do this for competitions, I give them credit for strictness with their diet, time in the gym and overall fitness level. It’s now something I look at in a whole new way!
If you have any questions about Personal Training, what I am doing, or if you have suggestions I could implement into my routine, please let me know in the comments below!
Until Next Time – Follow Me on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube!
Sincerely,
Mama Robbins
