After you reach a BMI score of 19—or are below that—you will switch to this section. This phase goes over how to eat to maximize muscle growth without taking on too much fat.
Many bodybuilders while attempting to gain muscle go on a “dirty bulk” where they eat without limits. As you probably guessed, that doesn't usually end well. See the provided infographic for what that looks like.
People who dirty bulk almost always end up gaining more fat than muscle while working out. In contrast, lean-bulking is the practice of slowly gaining weight every month to maximize muscle growth without gaining much fat in the process.
Now that you are on the lean-bulking phase, your main goal will be to increase muscle mass. Therefore, you will need to start gaining weight in order to allow your body to grow the maximum amount of muscle mass possible. Let's get started.
Task 1: Head over to your copy of “The Ideal Female Body Calculator” and then the “Lean Bulking Phase” tab. The weight you’ll need to get to is under “Weight at 20 BMI”.
Task 2: On your smart scale app, set that number as your goal weight.
The reason your goal weight is 20 BMI is that this is the weight in which you still look good. We'll get into more detail later on, but for now know that even though this guide's lean-bulking strategy aims to maximize muscle growth while minimizing fat gain, you will inevitably gain fat as well.
By stopping your lean-bulk at 20 BMI, you guarantee that you still look good, that you've gained muscle, and that your existing muscles aren't covered in fat!
Look under the “The day you reach 20 BMI” table. The date here is the estimated date you will reach 20 BMI.
Below that table, you'll see how much weight you will gain per week/month, as well as how much weight you have left to lose.
<aside> 💡 On this plan, you will aim to gain about 2.5lb (1.1kg) each month.
The average individual can gain about 2.5 pounds of muscle per month [1, 2], meaning that any weight that you gain over this limit will be mostly fat!
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Task 1: Look at the table called “Calorie and macronutrient goals per day”
Task 2: Enter these numbers into your calorie-counting app of choice.