Building muscle

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Hi, now that I have lost a lot of weight I want to start gaining muscle, how much calories and protein should I eat? I work out 3 days a week and I'm 19 year old male, 5 ft 10 and 140 lbs.

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  • fitmusiclifeviola
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    140 g/protein/ day amongst other things. Calories likely in the 2300-2400 range. Eat and weigh yourself. If you aren't gaining, then eat more! :o)
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,732 Member
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    To gain muscle, or do a "bulk," you'll want to eat a little more than you burn each day, so you'll have a slight calorie surplus, and you'll want to make sure you stack those calories in favor of protein...no less than 30% of what you eat should be protein. Keep in mind that you'll also gain a bit of fat along with the muscle, so most people cycle bulking and cutting, with a maintenance period in between.
  • jamandlettuce
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    If you google calorie calculator for muscle gain, you can find some great info and tools to make sure you get the right calories and macros for your weight x
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    Hi, now that I have lost a lot of weight I want to start gaining muscle, how much calories and protein should I eat? I work out 3 days a week and I'm 19 year old male, 5 ft 10 and 140 lbs.

    Based on your numbers, I would target about 2500 calories / day.
    Track for 3 - 4 weeks, and see if you are moving in the direction you want to go.....on average I would say, try for 1 lb of weight gain per week.

    Carbs 400 gr / day
    protein ~112 gr / day (based on 0.8 gr / lb of body weight)
    fats ~49gr / day (minimum, based on 0.35 gr / lb of body weight)
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    MityMax96 wrote: »
    Hi, now that I have lost a lot of weight I want to start gaining muscle, how much calories and protein should I eat? I work out 3 days a week and I'm 19 year old male, 5 ft 10 and 140 lbs.

    Based on your numbers, I would target about 2500 calories / day.
    Track for 3 - 4 weeks, and see if you are moving in the direction you want to go.....on average I would say, try for 1 lb of weight gain per week.

    Carbs 400 gr / day
    protein ~112 gr / day (based on 0.8 gr / lb of body weight)
    fats ~49gr / day (minimum, based on 0.35 gr / lb of body weight)
    ^^^This spot on. Many people make the mistake thinking you need more protein to bulk, while its important, its not the same as when you are cutting. Carbs in the 50% range will give you sufficient energy to lift.

  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
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    Make sure you are on a good progressive loading lifting routine. What is your current lifting program?
  • CoolBeans520
    CoolBeans520 Posts: 25
    edited November 2014
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    You need to find out what your body fat percentage is first before bulking or it will be all counter productive than you can accurately calculate protein to lean body mass ratio.
    The less accurate method would be protein to body weight usually people that maintain have a .08 - 1 gram of protein per bodyweight if your 140 that should be 112 to 140 grams of protein to maintain but i would probably go 1.5 if your bulking and combination of a calorie surplus.
    Heavy compound lifting will get you big fast. i got up from being 6'1 178 pounds to 236 lbs in a year of doing a combo of what i said. Now I'm trying to cut down to 205 for around 9 to 10 percent body fat and preserving muscle from the bulk.