IIFYM Or Strict when bulking?

[Switcha2011]

Just curious on what you guys do when bulking.

Say if someone needs 4000 calories to bulk and around 200g protein per day do you guys recommend clean strict calories or anything and everything aslong as you hit your protein and don't go over your daily calories?

Would there be much difference from eating a strict diet vs eating majority clean-ish but enjoying pizza burgers sausages etc throughout the week but sticking to the daily calories and protein goal.

 

[theotherguy]

I'm gonna get really "nit-picky" here, but I think you'll understand why once I get to my point:

You use words like "majority" and "clean-ish" but these words really don't mean anything in a concrete sense, and I see this as a recipe for less than desirable results. If you have a goal, make it something concrete and obtainable, not something fluid or abstract.

I personally have found that the 80/20 rule works REALLY well for me (80% of your calories need to be from whole food sources and 20% can come from the junk) and you can split that however you want. I am currently more like 90/10 because I am 2 weeks out from my next strongman competition. I walk around at 241 with abs, AND I eat a bowl of ice cream literally every night, but that's because everything else I eat is food with no ingredients label. I consider myself to be strongman/powerlifter lean, but not bodybuilder lean.

Frankly, I wouldn't consider burgers to be junk food, as long as you grill the meat and use something 90% or leaner. The bun would be junk though.

One thing people tend to forget about with calories is that they are not all created equal and certain types of foods lend to different hormonal responses in your body (generally processed foods will give poor hormonal responses). And you also have to remember that your performance in the gym will also be directly affected by what you put into your body.

IIFYM affects so much more than just how your food tastes.