How Do You Stay Lean in The Off-Season? With This One Secret - Q&A #3

"With this one secret" - My apologies for the lame part of the heading. Obviously, there's not one secret - there are many. I wouldn't necessarily call them secrets, but it looks great in a headline. Best practices is a better name. Let's talk about one of them today.

Q: Any advice on staying lean in the off-season? I find it easy to gain muscle, but always pack on too much fat in the process. :( 

A: Reading between the lines, this person does what most people do when they're not dieting; don't count calories. Because that's the only way to "find it easy to gain muscle", you're eating too much, and in reality, you're still gaining a disproportionate amount of fat in the process.

Starting out with the best of intentions, these people might follow a meal plan in the very beginning of their bulk. Then, day by day, their boundaries move a little bit. Might let a few bites of this and that pass without logging. No big deal, just a few bites.

Maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend offers up some snacks on Netflix-night. Perfectly reasonable to partake. Besides, you're bulking - gotta live a little, right? But few bites becomes more bites and eventually, they're the ones buying snacks for Netflix-night. And wondering if there's any ice cream left in the fridge.

Sooner or later, their perfectly calibrated 2900 kcal-bulking plan with ideal macros and +300 kcal/day surplus is all but forgotten. Now they're just eating what they feel like. Know this, because I've been there myself and the pattern has repeated itself many times. Not this time however.

Why does it happen though? Why are people who can be strict and disciplined while dieting, letting things slide and snowball on a bulk?

Calorie counting is tedious if you constantly vary your meals or meal-plan. Coming off a diet, you will want to vary it, because you're eager to try everything you've been fantasising about on your cut. Especially if you've been dieting for a long time and reached a low body fat. Since this part is almost unavoidable, go ahead and indulge it for the first few days.

Under one condition: Follow the same meal plan you followed during your diet and let the foods you craved make up your surplus. Add 800 kcal of cheesecake to your -500 kcal/day diet plan and voila, that's your plan for the day. Next day, ditch the cheesecake and go for 800 kcal of that garlic bread you've been fiending for. You know what? Make it 1000 kcal, because that happens to be the caloric content of a loaf. No big deal. Do that for a week and you've satisfied your cravings methodically while staying on point.

Eventually, settle into a meal plan and ditch the variation and need of constantly trying new stuff. Because too much variation in your diet encourages overeating and will, sooner or later, put you on that sliding slope into full-blown decadence.

BTW: That part about "eating a varied diet" - standard advice thrown around indiscriminately by every health columnist and Registered Dietician - is complete horse shit. If you're eating nutrient dense foods like veggies, fruit, potatoes and fish, chicken or meat, there's no need for variation because you'll get all the nutrients you need from the wholesome foods you're eating. The ones you should be eating on your bulk, but probably aren't.

Ask yourself this, how much does your diet change when you go from dieting to bulking? Because it shouldn't change by much. You should keep a food base similar to that which you maintained during your cut. You can and will have to modify it, obviously. But that doesn't mean the minute you're done dieting, the broccoli, spinach and fibrous fruit you ate so diligently for 3-4 months gets thrown out to be replaced by bread, cereal and rice. Hell no.

If you want to stay lean on your bulk, you need to maintain a similar - not same - order and structure that you kept when you deliberately sought out to lose fat. Yes, you need to exert some discipline on your bulk as well. Do you really think you'll stay lean in a world that encourages overeating, when you're living in a body that eagerly invites it? Think again.

When bulking, eat the same almost every day - just like you did on your diet. Follow a plan. And then, every now and then, have a nice meal with friends and family. Or enjoy a guilt-free lunch with your spouse; knowing that it might put you over your perfectly calibrated 2900-kcal budget, but that it doesn't matter in the long run, as long as you stick to a plan on most days.

And lastly, very important if you ask me, don't have cheat days when you're dieting. That will set you up for a world of trouble when you're coming off a diet. But that's a topic for another time, perhaps.

That's all for today folks. Did you like? Helpful? Let me know in the poll. Thanks to everyone who voted last time. 64.87% loved the previous Q&A so it's a subject I'll revisit next time sickness season rolls around.

The next Q&A will arrive in one or two weeks. My schedule is quite hectic this month; I'll do my best to squeeze another one in next week, but it's just as likely it'll arrive the week after. For motivational support, consider the link below.