Calorie intake for intermediate women lifters

alysonleah

I'm looking for a little advice on how many calories I should consume. My main goal is to gain strength and muscle, but I do have a little extra body fat I'd like to drop. I'm 5'6" and currently 137lbs and 19.4% body fat (estimate from scale). My current lifts are...squat:195lbs, bench:117.5lbs, deadlift: 205lbs. I lift 4 times a week. I'm thinking of adding a day or two of HIIT. I also commute by bike (minimum 60 minutes a day total). I do have a sedentary job, however.

I calculated my BMR and think my intake came out to be I should be consuming about 1700 calories a day. Does that sound about right?

I've been eating about 1,800-2,000 calories a day for the last four weeks and gained about 2lbs and approximately 0.4% body fat. So I'm guessing I should cut back a little? I don't mind that the weight went up, but the body fat went up with it...so I'm guessing it's not all muscle gains... or is it too soon to judge if I need to make an adjustment?

sardelsa

Are your goals to start a bulk, lean down more then start a bulk or to recomp? (eat at maintenance and lose fat and gain muscle over time).

If you are gaining consistently on 1800-2000 (and you don't think it's a fluctuation) then ya I would eat a little less to maintain and see how that goes. Unless your goal is to gain.. then carry on.

bbell1985

I'd wait one more week on those calories. If you can eat 1800-2000 to maintain, and it's just a bit of water weight from upping food intake, exercise, period, etc then it'll even out. If you consistently gain, cut back.

It doesn't sound like you want to bulk. Eat at maintenance, train for performance goals, the physique will come along with it (body recomp).

I'm 5'4", 144, lift 4x per week and eat 1800-2000 to maintain so that sounds about right to me.

Chieflrg

At .5 lb gain a week on average with a goal of muscle and strength...
I think you're right where you want to be.

Obviously the weight gain will be even lower in the upcoming weeks as your body will need more calories to gain. From there you can decide on how much you want to adjust.

Gaining muscle efficiently needs the calories, and a half pound a week is near the top end for a female your size, but as I mentioned you will only slow on the gain from this point out. Biggest mistake on a bulk is being afraid of it and governing what is needed to get the results for your goal.

quiksylver296

You might find the answers you want in this thread, @alysonleah.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

alysonleah

sardelsa wrote: »

Are your goals to start a bulk, lean down more then start a bulk or to recomp? (eat at maintenance and lose fat and gain muscle over time).

If you are gaining consistently on 1800-2000 (and you don't think it's a fluctuation) then ya I would eat a little less to maintain and see how that goes. Unless your goal is to gain.. then carry on.

I'm thinking recomp? I'm not in competing, so there's no big rush, but I don't mind weight gain at all as long as its mostly muscle gains. I think I'm just at a point where I'm unsure if I should bulk, cut, or what? I'm not sure what would be more beneficial for me at this point. How much slower would muscle growth be if I were to recomp vs bulk?

bbell1985 wrote: »

I'd wait one more week on those calories. If you can eat 1800-2000 to maintain, and it's just a bit of water weight from upping food intake, exercise, period, etc then it'll even out. If you consistently gain, cut back.

It doesn't sound like you want to bulk. Eat at maintenance, train for performance goals, the physique will come along with it (body recomp).

I'm 5'4", 144, lift 4x per week and eat 1800-2000 to maintain so that sounds about right to me.

Yeah, I'm thinking about trying it for just a little longer.

My main goal is still strength. I'd rather see my strength increase and gain a little bit of fat. But rather not gain more extra fat than what is necessary to get stronger I guess.

How advanced are you with your lifts? If you don't mind me asking. I'm just curious cause I know more muscles means more calories needed to maintain.

Chieflrg wrote: »

At .5 lb gain a week on average with a goal of muscle and strength...
I think you're right where you want to be.

Obviously the weight gain will be even lower in the upcoming weeks as your body will need more calories to gain. From there you can decide on how much you want to adjust.

Gaining muscle efficiently needs the calories, and a half pound a week is near the top end for a female your size, but as I mentioned you will only slow on the gain from this point out. Biggest mistake on a bulk is being afraid of it and governing what is needed to get the results for your goal.

Yeah, I just wanna make sure I'm gaining the right kind of weight. I've definitely seen an increase in strength. Just wanna make sure I'm on the right track. I know the more muscular a person is, the more it takes to maintain.

quiksylver296 wrote: »

You might find the answers you want in this thread, @alysonleah.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

Thanks!! I'll check this out!

bbell1985

alysonleah wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

Are your goals to start a bulk, lean down more then start a bulk or to recomp? (eat at maintenance and lose fat and gain muscle over time).

If you are gaining consistently on 1800-2000 (and you don't think it's a fluctuation) then ya I would eat a little less to maintain and see how that goes. Unless your goal is to gain.. then carry on.

I'm thinking recomp? I'm not in competing, so there's no big rush, but I don't mind weight gain at all as long as its mostly muscle gains. I think I'm just at a point where I'm unsure if I should bulk, cut, or what? I'm not sure what would be more beneficial for me at this point. How much slower would muscle growth be if I were to recomp vs bulk?

bbell1985 wrote: »

I'd wait one more week on those calories. If you can eat 1800-2000 to maintain, and it's just a bit of water weight from upping food intake, exercise, period, etc then it'll even out. If you consistently gain, cut back.

It doesn't sound like you want to bulk. Eat at maintenance, train for performance goals, the physique will come along with it (body recomp).

I'm 5'4", 144, lift 4x per week and eat 1800-2000 to maintain so that sounds about right to me.

Yeah, I'm thinking about trying it for just a little longer.

My main goal is still strength. I'd rather see my strength increase and gain a little bit of fat. But rather not gain more extra fat than what is necessary to get stronger I guess.

How advanced are you with your lifts? If you don't mind me asking. I'm just curious cause I know more muscles means more calories needed to maintain.

Yeah, if your goal is strength-eat and train. If anything, you might want to see a little gain on the scale. You look great and lean so I wouldn't worry. If you start to feel a little fluffy, mini-cut

I have about a 240 squat, 300 deadlift, and a very poor bench...110-115. I bulked and actually find that more muscles don't really mean much more to maintain. It's really a miniscule amount.

alysonleah

bbell1985 wrote: »

Yeah, if your goal is strength-eat and train. If anything, you might want to see a little gain on the scale. You look great and lean so I wouldn't worry. If you start to feel a little fluffy, mini-cut

I have about a 240 squat, 300 deadlift, and a very poor bench...110-115. I bulked and actually find that more muscles don't really mean much more to maintain. It's really a miniscule amount.

Thank you! Yeah I don't mind the scale numbers going up as long as it isn't mostly fluff. Haha.

And, daaang girl! Impressive!

..bench progress has been so slow. -_-

bbell1985

alysonleah wrote: »

bbell1985 wrote: »

Yeah, if your goal is strength-eat and train. If anything, you might want to see a little gain on the scale. You look great and lean so I wouldn't worry. If you start to feel a little fluffy, mini-cut

I have about a 240 squat, 300 deadlift, and a very poor bench...110-115. I bulked and actually find that more muscles don't really mean much more to maintain. It's really a miniscule amount.

Thank you! Yeah I don't mind the scale numbers going up as long as it isn't mostly fluff. Haha.

And, daaang girl! Impressive!

..bench progress has been so slow. -_-

Word. Yours is good. I wasn't built to bench. I have long arms and I dunno...I'm a deadlift girl.