Lean Bulk Week One: Protocol & Nutrition

by Dr. David Minkoff March 04, 2023 9 min read

Lean Bulk Week One: Protocol & Nutrition

YOUR WEEK ONE LEAN BULK PROTOCOL

Only Whole Foods: On this protocol we’ll only be consuming whole foods — no packaged, processed foods or processed sugars, not because of how many calories they have, but because of what they do to our hormones, making it harder to lose fat and keep it off.

There will be no protein bars, protein powders, or collagen powders. These will only get in our way on this protocol.

We need real foods and they need to be organic. We need real fruits, real vegetables and real meats — organic and grass-fed.

You will also be consuming more protein than you are used to and most likely will not be up to that at the very beginning. This is because the amounts of processed sugar and foods, and lack of enough protein that most people have had for decades, have lowered most people’s ability to fully digest proteins.

Digestive Enzymes: For this you will be taking digestive enzymes. These ensure the proteins and fats you consume are fully broken down so they can be used. You’ll be consuming a high amount of protein and fat on this protocol, more than you’re used to, and you will need this.

Omega 3: We will also need you taking Omega 3 fatty acids. I cover more on why these are necessary later on, but they are the one fat source that contributes to fat loss and counters another fat source. Note this is not Omega 3-6-9, but only Omega 3.

Cruciferous Vegetables: These have many functions, but one of them is to remove excess estrogen from the body (a fat creating hormone). In fact, their benefit is so much that you will not be counting calories from any cruciferous vegetables or leafy greens in your macros.

Your meals should include at least one salad and/or serving of cruciferous vegetables per day. And for this, any dressing should be a vinaigrette — the olive oil is going to help you.

Transition Period: There is a transition period of a few days to a few weeks where your body readjusts. This is both to burning more fat than carbohydrates (sugars) for energy, but also hormonally.

The first part of this you will experience are the cravings for processed food or sugary foods. These are usually the heaviest between days 2-5. During this time your energy levels may go down a little bit, you may have trouble sleeping, and your mood may shift easily.

This is just withdrawals. Keeping in high protein and healthy fats and plenty of PerfectAmino is what will help you through this the fastest. So don’t skimp on these.

You will come out of it if you keep going. And you will be very happy that you did once you see how you feel.

But this is necessary. We don’t just want to help you build lean muscle for 30 days. We want to help rebalance your hormones so that building lean muscle is easy and if you do splurge and gain some unwanted body fat in the future, it will come off more quickly and easily.

 

THE LEAN BULK DIET

If you’ve done a lot of Bulking & Cutting in the past then these calories may seem too low.

And that may be the case, and we’ll cover what to do with that below if this is the case.

But first, realize one thing here. You’ve most likely been consuming processed foods for your bulking & cutting. And whey or other low-utilization protein powders.

These give less nutrition and usable protein than whole food protein sources do. And more hidden sugars.

In fact, while you may get “less” calories on this protocol, you may actually have more trouble consuming all of it.

This is in part because of your digestion. Most people aren’t up to eating this much real food. And processed foods, sodas, and heartburn medications have lowered most people’s digestive abilities.

This is why digestive enzymes are so important when starting this.

On this protocol, consuming only whole foods with digestive enzymes, you will most likely be giving your body much more nutrition than it normally gets, despite eating less calories than you would think are needed.

This is so much so that your biggest problem will likely be getting it all in.

That said…

As everyone will do a somewhat different intensity of workout…

And as different people will have different amounts of muscle they’re starting with…

Some people will need more or less calories for energy and repair than others.

That’s why the numbers below are the starting numbers and we will tweak these as we go.

So if you start, and have a hard time getting in this much natural protein and fat, the direction is to work to get as close to the number as you can each day.

But if you find yourself going hungry, we need to increase.

Most people couldn’t get it all in at first (though this quickly changed for them).

However. one person had to increase their protein levels by 50% before they were getting enough.

So if you’re already on higher protein levels or feel you need more — get ready to increase. We’ll cover how below.

But a firm rule on the Lean Bulk protocol is: You should never be hungry.

You’re not eating processed sugars or foods or low-utilization proteins that can create un-needed cravings. You’re eating real food and building lean muscle.

So if you need to eat more to maintain and grow, then we eat more. And we do this by simply raising the macro amounts across the board.

You’ll probably spend the first week dialing in your macros, while getting through any “cravings” that can cause confusion between sugar cravings and real hunger.

Then we’re off to the races to build,and we’ll go fast.

Take two servings of PerfectAmino prior to your workout and 1 serving after.

Then two more servings 4 hours before bed. (Taking PerfectAmino too late at night can keep some people up.)

If you have more servings to take, take them first thing in the morning before food.

If you experience any cravings late at night, it’s most likely you need to raise your macros. Eat some protein, go to sleep, and in the morning recalculate to add to your macros as stated below.

Here we go.

 

LEAN BULK SUPPLEMENTS:

PerfectAmino: You will be taking at least one serving for every 50 lbs of body weight while on this protocol, plus two more servings.

So if you weigh 150 lbs this would be 3 servings plus 2 more.

If you experience extreme cravings on any specific day during the first week, take another serving on top of this, but also increase macros. It will help considerably.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Take at least one gel cap for every 50 lbs of body weight.

Digestive Enzymes: Take 2 capsules per meal, with the meal. Do not take them before or after, but with food.

Electrolytes: If you experience any bloating from water retention, take electrolytes, one serving per day. Water retention comes from too high sodium (salt) and the electrolytes balance that out. This will also help with any headaches or fatigue as well as improved recovery.

Sleep: If you have any trouble sleeping, take the Sleep supplement. A majority of fat loss and muscle building occurs during the first few hours of sleep each night.

Multi Complete: Vitamin D, CoQ10, Vitamin E, and B12 are also highly recommended. They're each necessary for both men and women for hormonal balance, energy production and utilization, and protein synthesis.

 

LEAN BULK MACRONUTRIENTS: PROTEINS, CARBOHYDRATES & FATS

Carbohydrates: We want all carbs to be from natural sources, no processed or packaged foods, and definitely no canned sodas or energy drinks as these will stop you in more ways than one.

Fats: We want our fats to be healthy fats — no trans fats from packaged, processed foods. Saturated fats are great, olive oil is great, avocados, nuts, butter, whole fat meats, fatty fish, cream, eggs, chia seeds, sea food.

Proteins: We want our proteins to be Non-GMO and certified organic, free range, grass fed, wild-caught. No protein powders.

Now we have some calculations to make.

Below you will find the exact amount of Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fats you will be consuming per pound of body weight for the Lean Bulk Starting Macros.

First, weigh yourself.

To get your macros, take your weight in lbs and multiply it by the amount of grams listed below for each:

 

LEAN BULK STARTING MACROS:

Carbohydrates: (your body weight) x 0.7 grams (20%)

Protein: (your body weight) x 1.05 grams (30%) (Note: this does not include PerfectAmino)

Fats: (your body weight) x 0.77 grams (50%)

Here's an example: If you weighed 150 lbs you would have:

Carbohydrates: 150 lbs x .7 = 105 grams

Proteins: 150 lbs x 1.05 = 158 grams

Fats: 150 lbs x .77 = 116 grams

 

ALTERNATE MACRO GROUPS FOR HIGHER CARBS/FAT (And a note about age):

The above are the normal Lean Bulk macros, and they work very well for most.

But many will say they need more carbohydrates, that they do fine on carbohydrates.

While some in their 40s and 50s may say this, this will mostly be said by those in their 30s or below.

This is because our metabolism undergoes a change around the age of 40 for both men and women (for some people it’s earlier by a few years and for some people later).

Before this we’re more able to metabolize higher levels of carbohydrates without gaining fat.

After this… carbs are our enemy.

Do you need higher carbs to get what you want?

No. But if they don't hurt you, and you really want them, then as long as they’re natural — not processed — you can have more.

We just need to adjust your ratios, raising carbs and lowering fats.

Or, if you prefer lower carbs, we can do this also.

Below you will find macros for 30% carbs (High Carb Lean Bulk) as well as 10% carbs (High Fat Lean Bulk):

 

HIGH CARB LEAN BULK MACROS:

Carbohydrates: (your body weight) x 1.05 grams (30%)

Protein: (your body weight) x 1.05 grams (30%) (Note: this does not include PerfectAmino)

Fats: (your body weight) x 0.62 grams (40%)

Here's an example: If you weighed 150 lbs you would have:

Carbohydrates: 150 lbs x 1.05 = 158 grams

Proteins: 150 lbs x 1.05 = 158 grams

Fats: 150 lbs x .62 = 93 grams

 

HIGH FAT LEAN BULK MACROS:

Carbohydrates: (your body weight) x 0.35 grams (10%)

Protein: (your body weight) x 1.05 grams (30%) (Note: this does not include PerfectAmino)

Fats: (your body weight) x 0.92 grams (60%)

Here's an example: If you weighed 150 lbs you would have:

Carbohydrates: 150 lbs x .35 = 53 grams

Proteins: 150 lbs x 1.05 = 157 grams

Fats: 150 lbs x .92 = 138 grams

 

DIALING IN YOUR MACROS (Too high or too low):

So those are your starting macros. But everyone is different and they will need to be dialed in.

And dialing these in is very easy.

Macros too high:

First, if they are too much to consume, for the first few days — do your best.

I mean it. Go as high on each macro as you can without stuffing yourself or making yourself feel uncomfortable — and take your digestive enzymes.

If that means you’re only off by a little bit, great. If it means you can only eat 70% of it, fine.

Do your best to hit each macro, staying balanced between the three, without stuffing yourself.

You may very quickly find they’re not too much as you start working out.

However, if they’re still too much in the next day or two, it’s easy to lower them.

Just take your exact amount of grams for each macro and multiply them by 0.95 to reduce them by 5%, or multiply by 0.9 to reduce them even more.

Then use those new numbers.

If still too much, multiply your new numbers again by 0.95.

If this is still too much… Do your best to eat as much of it as you can and within a week at most it will definitely not be too much.

Macros too low:

If your macros are too low, and you find you’re still a little hungry, multiply your macros by 1.05 and use these new numbers. If you find you’re still hungry, multiply them again by 1.05.

Or, if at the very beginning you are starving, multiply them by 1.1. If still hungry the next day, multiply the new number by 1.05.

It can sometimes happen over a period of a week that someone raises their macros a few times.

They raise them once and they’re fine. But two days later they’re hungry again. So they raise macros again. Then they’re fine. But two or three days later they’re hungry again. So they raise macros again.

This is fine. Just keep to the macro percentages, raising each one individually and not one more than another.

It will balance out in a few days and within a week at the maximum we’ll be dialed in pretty well and we just move forward from there.

 

NOTES:

This first week is a dial-in week.

We want to dial in our macros and dial in the weights we’re working with.

We also want to get through any cravings for processed sugars we may have.

So it may be a bit up and down.

But it evens out pretty fast and they we build.

Okay, you should start planning your grocery shopping now.

Next were going to get into the workout you will be doing.

Go here for the LEAN BULK WORKOUT.

If you have any questions, make sure to join our VIP Group where you can ask any question you have and get only the best answers.

And here you can find Discounted Product Bundles for the 30-Day Lean Bulk Challenge.

Just use the code LEANBULK at Checkout.

 

WEEK ONE: Lean Bulk Workout

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.