The Soapbox - Lessons learned from a bulk

During the past 4 months I've put on an average of 2.75kg of body weight per month. And estimating I've gone from 12% body fat to 16% body fat, that means I've put on around 5kg of lean body mass. This is pretty damn good in my eyes, and is a result of eating hard every day. 

However, I'm going to come right out and say that I'd never do it again. The reason why bulking so hard paid dividends is because I was quite weak beforehand. If I tried the same approach again after this cut is finished, the result would be stalling sooner and gaining too much excess weight. So in saying that, I think I've figured out what I'd change if I ever decided to commit to bulking again:

1. Eat more whole proteins - sometimes I think I ate food that was an unfavourable mix of protein, carbs and fat, with the reasoning being "I'm on a bulk, it all counts." A little more attention to detail with my protein intake would have seen less fat gain and potentially more muscle gain. 

2. Eat more slow burning carbs - I ate too many simple sugars while on this bulk, when I could have eaten brown rice or something completely mundane instead. There's a reason they call it Big but Boring. Oh well, I don't really regret enjoying myself with frivolous calories I suppose.

That's about it. Mostly I think I would have preferred to eat more whole foods in general just to make sure I was only getting the necessary calories. Apart from that though, I'm quite happy with what I achieved both in size and strength over the last 4 months. Now it's time to lose the fat and continue to gain strength, probably not on a workout-to-workout basis though.