Advice for bulking-up diet?

[SpelunkingTheMind]

So last summer I first started hitting the gym, went pretty regularly with some buddies, ate like crazy (thank you Chipotle), and put on some solid weight/muscle mass (~35 lbs in 3 months but I was starting off SUPER skinny after a week and a half of amphetamine.. oy). Then I went backpacking in South America for 3 months, which meant no gym, way less food, and walking/hiking constantly, so I lost most of the weight I'd put on. My legs definitely got stronger in the process, but I lost a LOT of the muscle gains in my upper body.

Anyway, so I'm getting back in the habit of hitting the gym 5 times a week, and I want to start bulking up again. I know I need to start eating WAY more, but I've gotten much into healthier eating as well as not eating meat (except fish), so I'm not quite sure what the best way to do that is now. So I've got a few questions I'm hoping you guys could help with

1) Gallon of whole milk a day. I came across this at stronglifts.com. Pretty simple notion, drink a gallon of milk a day (for me it might be 1.2 gallons because they don't seem to sell gallons in Edinburgh..), get a whole lot of calories pretty easily, including a whole lot of protein. That comes out to a LOT of saturated fat also, but the guy at stronglifts.com seems to think that that's not a problem, and is good for the testosterone boost. So yeah, is this a good idea? Or crazy.

2) Sort of related to the bulk but also just in general - saturated fats and dietary cholesterol. Good? Bad? Good in low amounts/bad to overeat? Good to ingest a lot of? I keep reading arguments on either side. Don't know what to think.

3) Is eating a lot of fish bad in terms of mercury? I know tuna is pretty mercury heavy. What about a lot of sardines (as in like 3+ cans a day)? Salmon? Cod? I've tried to find this stuff online but just get like 'high mercury' or 'low mercury' ratings; I don't know what that means in terms of eating like 3-4 salmon fillets multiple times per week..

4) I just bought some hemp seeds today because I read someone raving about them around here the other day (full spread of amino acids, great omega 3/6 ratio), and I was looking at the stuff in em, and had a thought. If this is a horrible idea just tell me and forgive the naivete

Would it be feasible/reasonable/a good bulking diet to consume just the 1.2 gallons of whole milk, a 225g pack of hemp seeds, and a bunch of vegetables/some fruit each day?

By my count, the milk + seeds would give me
265 g total fat (that seems super high, but I'm not sure how much fat is good when bulking..)
107 g of which would be saturated fat (seems REALLY high but I don't know what to think of that..)

231 g protein (seems pretty good)

267 g carbs (no idea how much is good for bulking)

coming to 4377 calories (seems good)

plus whatever I get from various vegetables and fruit (probably not much fruit unless you guys think it's necessary.. maybe a couple apples a day)

It's mainly the carbs/fat/saturated fat amounts that I'm uncertain about.

Also, I know eating only milk, hemp seeds, and vegetables would seem like a horribly boring proposition to most, but that part of it rather appeals to me. I've been simplifying what I eat a LOT in the past few weeks, and really enjoying it, and I wouldn't at all mind simplifying to that level. Less cooking, more time for other stuff (like wasting time here )

That's all I can think of for now.. might have some questions about workout plans but nothing specific at this point. Any tips there are welcome as well of course, I haven't really settled on a regimen/schedule yet.

Thanks for the help!

 

[SpelunkingTheMind]

also, I'm 21 yo (if that matters), just over 6'2", and I think around 165 (haven't weighed in awhile but that's my best bet on how I look right now)

 

[AgentSquish]

Right now I wouldn't be too concerned with your macronutrients. Somebody at your height and weight, should just eat eat eat eat! Also, working out 5 times a week might be overkill. Have you looked into a 4 day split? IE:

Mon-on
Tue- on
Wed-off
Thur-on
Fri-off
Sat-on


In terms of building mass, recovery times is just as important as diet/exercise, if not more! Also, what types of lifts are you incorporating??

 

[p-mo]

Milk=good. Will certainly help you pile on mass.

Lots and lots of saturated fat isn't great (unless they're MCT's) but a little bit won't do any harm. Dietry cholestrol and blood cholesterol aren't related. Having high HDL isn't a bad thing as testosterone is formed from it- you just need to watch your LDL levels. Eating good fats (flax, fish oil, hemp) will help maintain a good cholesterol balance. I can't remember whether the saturated fat in hemp seeds would be entirely MCTs so couldn't recomend your all hemp seed diet! I would try and not get more than 30-40g of sat-fat daily. Regular fat you can go as crazy as you like on but avoid sugars whilst the fat is digesting.

The bigger the fish the more mercury its likely to contain. I don't think much of eating some type of fish daily.

Which gym do you hit in Edinburgh? I go to the Edinburgh Uni one over by the Plesance- seems to be the best for freeweights.

 

[SpelunkingTheMind]

I was thinkin about goin down to 4 days a week.. I always seem to miss one of my 5 anyway so I might as well work it into the schedule..

Right now I'm doing a pretty stupid smattering of isolation lifts.. I tend to avoid the big ones like squats/deadlifts/overhead press because I worry about messing myself up with bad form (plus my back sucks because I rarely work it well), but from everything I've been reading those are exactly the ones I most need to be doing.. sooo I guess that'll have to change.

What would a good 4-day schedule be? And are there any other really important lifts I should be sure to incorporate?

p-mo, what are MCTs? And what bad would saturated fats do? Like would it be something I could keep an eye on (bp, pulse) to see if I was takin in too much?

Also, I go to that same gym actually. The free weight areas are pretty good (though I'm from the states and am still getting used to kg.. I've never done so much math in the gym). If you wouldn't mind giving me some pointers on squat/deadlift/overhead press form sometime I could definitely use it.

 

[SpelunkingTheMind]

Ok trying to figure out weekly schedule.. how would this be?

Mon - Chest/tris
Tues - rest (abs)
Wed - Back/biceps (including deadlift)
Thurs - Shoulders (including overhead press)
Fri - rest (abs)
Sat - legs (including squats)
Sun - rest

Any thoughts? Any particular exercises I ought to definitely include other than the ones mentioned?

 

[p-mo]

Looks good. I'd always include chins(maybe your back/bis day), rows, cleans (in your shoulder day), bench and flyes (chest day). I'd also use one of your rest days for cardio. But I'd only be doing 3 days a week lifting so I have an extra day to play with.