Want to gain muscles but not fat (6ft/141lbl)
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Turentoo
Posts: 5 Member
Hi.
My name is Alice, I want to gain some muscles as I am fairly skinny.
I eat 1850 (sometimes 2000+) calories a day, but I have a feeling that it might not be enough for my body type. Can anyone advise?
I go to the gym 3 times a week. For now my work outs are not too crazy, but I am trying to add more weights. I spend around 30-35 min at the gym. I am mainly concentrated on butt and hands. My hands lack tricep and my butt lacks..well, it lacks butt.
I don't want to become just fat (a bit of fat is fine, but I mainly want muscles). Should I be avoiding fat/sugar to do that (providing I am workin out of course)?
Thank you!
My name is Alice, I want to gain some muscles as I am fairly skinny.
I eat 1850 (sometimes 2000+) calories a day, but I have a feeling that it might not be enough for my body type. Can anyone advise?
I go to the gym 3 times a week. For now my work outs are not too crazy, but I am trying to add more weights. I spend around 30-35 min at the gym. I am mainly concentrated on butt and hands. My hands lack tricep and my butt lacks..well, it lacks butt.
I don't want to become just fat (a bit of fat is fine, but I mainly want muscles). Should I be avoiding fat/sugar to do that (providing I am workin out of course)?
Thank you!
3
Replies
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If the goal is to gain muscle, you will undoubtedly gain fat too. Eating in a calorie surplus will usually require all 3 macros in balanced amounts to encourage hypertrophy. It's almost improbable to build any significant muscle without carbs in the process (due to hormonal and signaling needed to encourage it).
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Thank you! For now my diet is 50% carbs 20% protein and 30% fat.
I understand thatI will gain body fat and I am fine with that. What I meant was I don't want to just gain fat. I want to be fitter, not just fatter.
I try to avoid saturated fats and refined sugar (still consume, but trying to eat less of it).0 -
I used IIFYM to calculate my macro's for fat loss and my competition coach designed a solid lifting plan to gain muscle. Def need the carbs but if you have the right balance and work toward hitting your macro's daily it's possible. I increased my protein and that seems to be working for me.1
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Thank you! For now my diet is 50% carbs 20% protein and 30% fat.
I understand thatI will gain body fat and I am fine with that. What I meant was I don't want to just gain fat. I want to be fitter, not just fatter.
I try to avoid saturated fats and refined sugar (still consume, but trying to eat less of it).
If you want to avoid excessive fat gains, don't have a very large surplus... don't have a lot of blow out days where you eatz all z food! And follow a structured lifting program: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
But you also will have to cut after a good bulk.
ps - If you want butt focus, look at StrongCurves . But you want something that works more than butt.. and I think you mean arms.. not hands.3 -
Are you maintaining or gaining on 1850? If you are maintaining you can start to add 100-150 cals until you start gaining. Keep in mind the scale can jump around when you start adding cals.. I recommend using a trend weight app to log your daily weight to sort through the fluctuations. For optimal muscle to fat gains you will want to stay under 250 cals surplus (or 0.5lb gain per week). Anymore and you will likely gain more fat than you want to.
I also recommend Strong Curves.. fantastic glute focused program.
And you don't have to avoid sugar and fat...they won't cause more fat gains.. it really all comes down to the size your surplus (and making sure you are following a progressive training program).3 -
Thank you! For now my diet is 50% carbs 20% protein and 30% fat.
I understand thatI will gain body fat and I am fine with that. What I meant was I don't want to just gain fat. I want to be fitter, not just fatter.
I try to avoid saturated fats and refined sugar (still consume, but trying to eat less of it).
If you want to avoid excessive fat gains, don't have a very large surplus... don't have a lot of blood out days where you eatz all z food! And follow a structured lifting program: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
But you also will have to cut after a good bulk.
ps - If you want butt focus, look at StrongCurves . But you want something that works more than butt.. and I think you mean arms.. not hands.
I typically avoid blood out days....2 -
Are you maintaining or gaining on 1850? If you are maintaining you can start to add 100-150 cals until you start gaining. Keep in mind the scale can jump around when you start adding cals.. I recommend using a trend weight app to log your daily weight to sort through the fluctuations. For optimal muscle to fat gains you will want to stay under 250 cals surplus (or 0.5lb gain per week). Anymore and you will likely gain more fat than you want to.
I also recommend Strong Curves.. fantastic glute focused program.
And you don't have to avoid sugar and fat...they won't cause more fat gains.. it really all comes down to the size your surplus (and making sure you are following a progressive training program).
OP listen to this...0 -
If you want to add muscle, you may want to eat more than 20% protein...3
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quiksylver296 wrote: »If you want to add muscle, you may want to eat more than 20% protein...
Yea I agree this works out to be a really low protein goal for your stats. Since % can vary greatly depending on calorie intake, I go by grams per lean body mass/or bodyweight. (Keep in mind these are minimums so you can adjust as you please)
Protein: 0.8 to 1g
Fats: 0.35 to 0.6g
Carbs: The rest
4 -
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Thank you guys!
I'll revise my plan according to your suggestions, seems like 20% of protein might be a bit too low indeed.ps - If you want butt focus, look at StrongCurves . But you want something that works more than butt.. and I think you mean arms.. not hands.
Lol, yes, I meant arms. Sorry, I am not a native speaker,so I embarass myself a lot
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I would calculate your protein to what @sardelsa recommended...for me I do 130g a day which is 1.2g per current lean muscle mass and that is about 22-25% of my daily calories (I take it between 2200 and 2500 recomping)0
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If the goal is to gain muscle, you will undoubtedly gain fat too. Eating in a calorie surplus will usually require all 3 macros in balanced amounts to encourage hypertrophy. It's almost improbable to build any significant muscle without carbs in the process (due to hormonal and signaling needed to encourage it).
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Ummm, not true in regards to your statement about needing carbs for muscle gain.
Carbs don't actually play a role in protein synthesis, the most critical component of building muscle. I’m not saying carbs can't play a huge role in building muscle because they can/do in a way, but they don’t play a role in muscle-protein synthesis itself. They are very protein sparing and play a role in stopping protein breakdown, which all leads to anabolism but in terms of protein synthesis-Nope. However, just because you can build muscle without carbs doesn’t mean it’s a very effective way to do it, IMO.
I posted a study below that does have some interesting information, however I do note that there are a few flaws from each group studied. However, nonetheless, it still shows muscle gain without the use of carbs.
Study Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/120777321 -
deannalfisher wrote: »I would calculate your protein to what @sardelsa recommended...for me I do 130g a day which is 1.2g per current lean muscle mass and that is about 22-25% of my daily calories (I take it between 2200 and 2500 recomping)
I don't know how you manage to eat that much! I mean it is easy to just eat 2500 calories by stuffing your face with sweets... But I find that chicken/rice/veggies/healthy foods don't have many calories while are quite voluminous. I can handle bigger portions and I am already a joke of the office for my ridiculosly big lunches. But it is still not 2500 calories a day.0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »I would calculate your protein to what @sardelsa recommended...for me I do 130g a day which is 1.2g per current lean muscle mass and that is about 22-25% of my daily calories (I take it between 2200 and 2500 recomping)
I don't know how you manage to eat that much! I mean it is easy to just eat 2500 calories by stuffing your face with sweets... But I find that chicken/rice/veggies/healthy foods don't have many calories while are quite voluminous. I can handle bigger portions and I am already a joke of the office for my ridiculosly big lunches. But it is still not 2500 calories a day.
Well adding more calorie dense foods to your diet, like peanut butter, seeds, oils, ect, will help you achieve your calorie goal without adding so much volume. You can hit your protein goal with your meats, nuts, supplements, ect.2 -
deannalfisher wrote: »I would calculate your protein to what @sardelsa recommended...for me I do 130g a day which is 1.2g per current lean muscle mass and that is about 22-25% of my daily calories (I take it between 2200 and 2500 recomping)
I don't know how you manage to eat that much! I mean it is easy to just eat 2500 calories by stuffing your face with sweets... But I find that chicken/rice/veggies/healthy foods don't have many calories while are quite voluminous. I can handle bigger portions and I am already a joke of the office for my ridiculosly big lunches. But it is still not 2500 calories a day.
my diary is open - feel free to check it out - I aim for probably 70% healthy/30% fun2 -
deannalfisher wrote: »
my diary is open - feel free to check it out - I aim for probably 70% healthy/30% fun
I can't see your diary (maybe it is not public after all?) So I have added you as afriend if you don't mind0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »
my diary is open - feel free to check it out - I aim for probably 70% healthy/30% fun
I can't see your diary (maybe it is not public after all?) So I have added you as afriend if you don't mind
if you are on the app, it doesn't show apparently...but i'll doublecheck my settings0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »
my diary is open - feel free to check it out - I aim for probably 70% healthy/30% fun
I can't see your diary (maybe it is not public after all?) So I have added you as afriend if you don't mind
What tpye of lifting program are you on? If u want to add more muscle you got to lift heavier weights 5x5 is about the best look at trying to get 40 grams of protein in 4 meals or so look at better fats like nuts n seeds hope this helps0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »
my diary is open - feel free to check it out - I aim for probably 70% healthy/30% fun
I can't see your diary (maybe it is not public after all?) So I have added you as afriend if you don't mind
What tpye of lifting program are you on? If u want to add more muscle you got to lift heavier weights 5x5 is about the best look at trying to get 40 grams of protein in 4 meals or so look at better fats like nuts n seeds hope this helps
she doesnt need 160 grams of protein per day to build muscle,it can be done on less. also why in 4 meals?2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9rWxHNwA8
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