Any Gals Currently Tracking to Gain Muscle?

livijane07

I'm really confused as to how many calories I need at the moment. I'm hitting the gym 3-4 times per week doing strength training (occasionally with drop-sets when I hit a plateau) and 20-30 mins of cardio. So far I've been aiming for my BMR with my calories, which is around 1,480 calories daily, but if I'm looking to build muscle shouldn't this be higher? I read that my calories should be 18x my body weight in lbs, but this seems like a lot... I'm already reaching an average of 140g protein per day on my calorie deficit. I can visually see a small difference in my muscles, but I'm not sure if I'm delaying muscle gain by limiting my calorie intake.

Please help!

Emilia777

I’m not particularly knowledgeable on this, but I also want to add muscle. I do Rippetoe’s Starting Strength and lift heavy three times a week. I’m tuning in for what others might add.

What I gather thus far is that it’s very hard to add muscle while at a calorie deficit. When adding muscle is the goal, one would usually (1) eat well over the BMR while doing strength training (bulking) and then (2) reduce calories to lose any added fat (cutting). How this would work for women, I have no idea. I look forward to seeing what people have to say.

sdado1013

you shouldn't be eating your BMR. this is the number your body needs to survive with no added activity. you need to calculate your TDEE. then you use your TDEE and what your goal is to determine how many calories to eat.

SezxyStef

you might get a better response for this on the "gaining weight" board.

For me I would so lose on 1480...that's what MFP had me on to when I started...I lift heavy am 42 and I would personally bulk on 2250-2750 depending on the season.

HiImTomHardy

I hope this gets more responses because this is also something I'm navigating. I'm not doing any cutting, but trying to stay within a calorie deficit while eating mostly proteins. I'm totally ignorant (though working on it) to how this stuff works. I haven't been bothering with cardio, but strength train 3x a week. This is the first time I've actually stuck to a routine so I haven't experienced the plateau yet, and I have no idea what I'll actually do when I get there.

Morgaath

You will need to adjust over time as you figure out what your real TDEE is, as all of these are just a best guess, given the vagueness of what the activity levels are. But it is at least a ballpark figure.
http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

By vagueness I mean what is "Workout 3/week" -- What is a workout? 20 minutes of cardio? 2 hrs heavy lifting (with heavy being a vague term)? Trail running for 10 miles? 50 laps in the pool?

AliceDark

Most people won't gain muscle on a deficit. There are exceptions (newbies to lifting, people who are over-fat, etc.), but most people will eventually need to choose between adding muscle and losing weight. To gain any significant amount of muscle, you need to be eating at a surplus.

livijane07

SezxyStef wrote: »

I would personally bulk on 2250-2750 depending on the season.

Do you find that an excess in calories leads to fat gain as well as muscle? I seem to be one of these people who puts on fat quite easily, so I'm concerned any increase in calories beyond my TDEE will just lead to fat gain.

nicolekrystine2484 wrote: »

I'm not doing any cutting, but trying to stay within a calorie deficit while eating mostly proteins.

This is exactly what I've been doing too, but currently finding muscle/strength gains very hard to achieve!

SezxyStef

livijane07 wrote: »

SezxyStef wrote: »

I would personally bulk on 2250-2750 depending on the season.

Do you find that an excess in calories leads to fat gain as well as muscle? I seem to be one of these people who puts on fat quite easily, so I'm concerned any increase in calories beyond my TDEE will just lead to fat gain.

nicolekrystine2484 wrote: »

I'm not doing any cutting, but trying to stay within a calorie deficit while eating mostly proteins.

This is exactly what I've been doing too, but currently finding muscle/strength gains very hard to achieve!

With extra weight there has to be some fat unless you bulk perfectly...and we as humans can't do that...there will always be some fat.

If you are in a deficit even with lots of proteins you will not gain muscle unless as noted prior you are new to lifting or over fat.

Strength gains depending on how long you've been lifting shouldn't stop you just need to adjust your weights (go up slower I personally use 2.5 for upper body lifts)...or reps or do accessory lifts to work on individual muscles. I personally lower my weights when I stall and go again (doing 5/3/1) and then I up my reps as well if I hit a wall 2x (did that once with my squats doing SL 5x5 @ 200lb)

I prefer to do a slow recomp where I am at maintenance, lifting, getting my protein in and in a year or two I might put some muscle on but I am okay even if I don't and just lose more fat...

Maggieba

I've been doing a lot of research and reading on the same topic.

This article is about realistic muscle gains. It proposes that women can gain 10-12.5 pounds of muscle in the first year of proper training.

http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-build-naturally/

Other research I've read indicates it takes 2500-2800 calories to build a pound of muscle. So: 12 pounds per year is roughly 1 pound per month= 1/4 pound per week = approx 700 calories more each week.

My plan is to calculate my maintenance TDEE without exercise. Then I'll eat back all my exercise calories plus split the 700 "muscle" calories between the 3 days I lift. I'm also following the IIFYM eating and will keep my protein % high at 35-40%.

As someone else mentioned, fat gain is inevitably going to happen during a bulk. But a 700 calorie surplus would hopefully minimize that gain.

My disclaimer is that I haven't tried this yet so it could be a load of bogus.... :-) but hopefully I'll be able to report back in a few months with positive results.

livijane07

Maggieba wrote: »

I've been doing a lot of research and reading on the same topic.

This article is about realistic muscle gains. It proposes that women can gain 10-12.5 pounds of muscle in the first year of proper training.

http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-build-naturally/

That's a really informative article, thank you! It's a shame women can't gain muscle as efficiently as men can naturally. Please do report back. I will increase my calories into a surplus and see how things go.

Thank you to everyone who replied