How many calories to eat? Want to gain muscle and lose BF%

DC_TheDrivah1

So I've been trying everyday to figure out how many calories I should be eating a day. Ok, I am 5'7 155lbs 23 years old. I have a good amount of muscle on me and don't know my body fat % but I'm in good shape but not very cut and you can barely see my 6-pack. My goal is to get more muscle definition while continuing to gain more muscle. So I figured out by using a bunch of websites that my BMR is 1720-1730 so I go with 1725. At work some days I really get at it working hard, some days I drive around doing inspections all day. Every afternoon, 6 days a week, I workout doing 60-90m of lifting (changing body sections every day) and 40m of cardio(500 cal incline walking)... So I'd say I could be burning about 700 cals per day at the gym alone.

Right now on this app my calorie goal is at 1,910 cals per day at 40/40/20. I just wanted to know if I'm completely off on what I'm doing. Any suggestions of what I should be doing differently. All is appreciated. Thanks.

jett69

I'm also 5'7" and 150lbs but not 23 yrs old. You cant gain muscle and lose BF and the same time. to gain muscle, you need to be in a calorie surplus. To see the 6 pack, you need to be in a calorie deficit. From your pic, you look pretty lean so if you want the 6 pack, you got to lose more weight. I suggest you get ripped as hell with summer coming soon and enjoy it about Sep. In Oct, go on a clean bulk (not dirty bulk), adding about 200-300 calories surplus a day.

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DC_TheDrivah1

@jett69‌ @MrM27 thanks for the response guys. As far as my calorie intake goal, to lose BF% should I eat at my BMR or less?

jett69

I would suggest you eating less, do you have a target date and weight? like my goal is to lose 10lbs in 12 weeks. my calorie intake is about 1750 a day.

DC_TheDrivah1

@jett69‌ nah not really, I guess summertime is my goal lol. I figured eating at my BMR and working out everyday should be good.

kgeyser

You should be calculating any deficit or surplus from your TDEE, not your BMR. With your stats and level of activity, I would think your calorie goal would be higher than 1910, because MFP is designed for you to eat back exercise calories.

jett69

well in order to see the 6pack, you need to lose weight. so if you can do it with your current bmr...great. if not, drop a 200 calories and see how that goes.

Good luck

Hornsby

jett69 wrote: »

well in order to see the 6pack, you need to lose weight. so if you can do it with your current bmr...great. if not, drop a 200 calories and see how that goes.

Good luck

No, never eat below BMR. I think you are getting BMR confused with TDEE.

DC_TheDrivah1

@kgeyser‌ using scoobysworkshop.com it says my maintenance TDEE is 2675 cal. What would be a good cal intake based on that?

RyanPerry2012

Personally I use this calculator: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

DC_TheDrivah1

@Hornsby‌ so glad to hear that. Eating 1700cal a day would suck.

DC_TheDrivah1

DC_TheDrivah1 wrote: »

@Hornsby‌ so glad to hear that. Eating 1700cal a day would suck.

Less than 1700 i mean**

Hornsby

DC_TheDrivah1 wrote: »

@Hornsby‌ so glad to hear that. Eating 1700cal a day would suck.

I maintain on 3600 per day so yea, it would suck tremendously. Lol

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jtabiolo

jett69 wrote: »

well in order to see the 6pack, you need to lose weight. so if you can do it with your current bmr...great. if not, drop a 200 calories and see how that goes.

Good luck

@DC_TheDrivah1‌ Loosing weight is totally different from losing body fat. Your goal should be to lose the body fat rather than lose the weight. You have to do weighted ab workouts. Everyone has abs. There's just a fat layer over the abs. Now to get abs to really stick out and hard abs, you have to do weighted ab workouts. I think your spending way to much on cardio. What are you macros? If your eating 1700 calories, you must be crazy. Lower your fat and carb intake. Your macros should be 40f 180g carbs 150g protein. Calorie intake 1900-2000. If you reach a plateau, slowly decrease macros each week.

kgeyser

DC_TheDrivah1 wrote: »

DC_TheDrivah1 wrote: »

@Hornsby‌ so glad to hear that. Eating 1700cal a day would suck.

Less than 1700 i mean**

No, you were right the first time. Even 1700 would suck for what you're doing.

As @MrM27 said above, your two choices are either a recomp or a bulk/cut cycle for what you are looking to achieve. For recomp, you would eat at maintenance or slightly below, but as he said, it's a slow process. Bulk/cut would probably be the better option, but it also depends on your timeline.

_Terrapin_

MrM27 wrote: »

jett69 wrote: »

well in order to see the 6pack, you need to lose weight. so if you can do it with your current bmr...great. if not, drop a 200 calories and see how that goes.

Good luck

What are you talking about? BMR is basic life function. What we look at is TDEE which is BMR + NEAT + TEF + EAT.

What is this 'we' stuff? For those inclined to look up the acronyms you may also search rough percentage of TDEE each represents. ie--BMR can be up to 70% of TDEE. And maintenance for an old fart like me is 2,540. BTW, hope your head is cleared for work. Okay, I'm leaving. . .seriously.

And/or take a look at this: http://myhealthyweighs.tumblr.com/calculatingcalories


Decent explanation. Good luck OP.

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bremerspatz

Just saying...I'm female 5'4 working out everyday cardio and lifting(90min) trying to loose 10lbs. My intake of calories is 1200 that is straight without my extra calories I "earn" from cardio. I'm at week 1. I'm trying this approach since I have never watched my calorie intake....I'm not overweight , but have gained some over winter ahhh....I'm also having age against me after 30 your body slows down the way it burns calories....I'm 48