Changing Main Goal to Building Muscle: Calorie Intake

Hi all!

I started my weight loss journey about 6 months ago and have lost everything that I want :) I am currently 140lbs, 11% BF.

Over the past couple months, my goal has completely switched to focus on building muscle. I have spoken with friends and some trainers at my gym and think I now have a much better workout routine for this goal (I have also cut out majority of cardio, used to do it everyday). However, all my research and nutrition knowledge has been geared towards weight loss, so I'm not exactly sure how I should approach this area.

The first thing I did was up my net calorie goal to a surplus at 2500, and I have been consistently averaging closer to 3000 over the last month (net of my exercise calories). I haven't really been gaining any weight at all, and still the same weight as I was a couple months ago. Intuitively it makes sense that I should further increase my caloric intake, I am just very hesitant to do so because I don't want to put on the fat that I worked so hard to lose. Some people I talked to say they are on a bulk and trying to take in around 5000 calories daily. Is that realistic for me? Should I be trying to eat closer to that range?

Another area I am a bit confused about is my protein intake. From reading about macros during my weight loss, it seemed like I would be getting enough protein if it made up about 30% of my caloric intake. I had this set as my goal, but now at 2500 calories, 30% is 188g of protein. This seems like it is a lot more than what my body would require - and if I want to be eating more, it would mean even more protein. At this point, should I be replacing the additional calories with fats and carbs and limit my protein to a particular grammage? Or keep maintaining 30% of my calories? My research tells me any unused protein gets converted into fat, so maybe it doesn't matter at all as long as I get enough?

I want to thank everyone for helping in advance, and if there are any additional tips/advice I'm all ears!

Replies

  • NRBreit
    NRBreit Posts: 319 Member
    1g of protein per pound of bodyweight is plenty. I think 5,000 cals a day is excessive, but if you're not gaining on 3,000 you can slowly increase intake by a few hundred cals per day until the scale starts moving. Just for reference, I'm currently 185 lbs. and I have been gaining 1 lb. per week on 3,200 cals (180g protein goal). I may go to 3,300-3,400 in order to hit 190.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
    1g of protein per pound of bodyweight is plenty. I think 5,000 cals a day is excessive, but if you're not gaining on 3,000 you can slowly increase intake by a few hundred cals per day until the scale starts moving. Just for reference, I'm currently 185 lbs. and I have been gaining 1 lb. per week on 3,200 cals (180g protein goal). I may go to 3,300-3,400 in order to hit 190.

    ^ what he said ..

    maybe try 3200 and see how that goes...?
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
    I'm a 5'6", 124 lb woman and am bulking on 2400 calories (150g protein/day). I think you need more cals.
  • lisajsund
    lisajsund Posts: 366 Member
    I eat anywhere from 100-200 g of protein a day.
    I've increased my weight training recently, and have seen my weight loss slow down to a crawl. Have had a couple of people ask me if I'm losing weight - must be losing inches.

    I lost 15 pounds while I was training for the Des Moines 1/2 marathon and maintained all my lean tissue by keeping my protein from 25-35% of my calorie goal.
  • BigWin20
    BigWin20 Posts: 45 Member
    5000 cals? No. I just spent the past 6 months bulking on around 4000. And I weigh 100 more pounds than you. Without knowing what your exercise routine is comprised of, I can say that if you are at 2500 and not gaining, up it only 250-350 cals at a time. Jumping it up by 1000 cals or more you won't be able to know if that's too much until you've put on 10 pounds but an inch on your waist. As I said, I don't know what exactly you are doing in the gym, but if you are doing some kind of traditional bodybuilding program, stop. Stop now. Every single day I see skinny guys in the gym doing nothing but curls and tricep kickbacks, etc and it just blows my mind. If you aren't already, stick to heavy compund movements. Deadlifts, squats, bench press. Maybe some barbell rows, pullups, military press. And that's pretty much it at first. See "starting strength". "Stronglifts 5x5" or a similar routine. Progressively add more weight to the bar. Add more calories when necessary. After you're at that protein amount, you don't have to add more calories from protein. Unless that's what you want to do. Carbs are just fine. Especially if you are that lean now. Complex carbs will not hurt you to add those few extra calories. Good luck.