Ideal amount of calories to bulk
mitchell196
Posts: 15 Member
Hi Everyone,
I am sorry if this question has been asked and answered a million time, I am fairly new to the community section of the site.
A bit of a back story:
I use to be very heavy, weighing in at 242 at my heaviest. This was completely attributed to poor eating habits (fast food all the time), binge drinking (younger days) and getting terrible sleep (worked midnight shift for a few years). One day I decided I needed to change and started a low carb diet that consisted of mostly meat and veggies. I lost a good amount of weight, about 40 pounds this way without exercise at all. I figured that I would need to add exercise to lose the last little bit, so I started a CrossFit style workout at a gym near my work. I did that for 3-4 months, and then decided to see their nutritionist. She got me on a good path of macros that still focused on low carb, with the max allowance to be 1 whole grain carb a day, and a strong focus on healthy fats, starchy and non starchy vegetables and quality protein sources. I continued doing the CrossFit style workout and brought my weight loss to a total of 75 pounds and 12% body fat. I continued to push to go lower with body fat because I have some lose skin that I wrongfully thought was fat.
Anyways, onto my question.
Now I am looking to make some lean gains. I would say bulk, but I don't know if that's the right context (when I hear bulk I picture bodybuilder style physique). I have a solid workout plan that is weight training 5 days a week, with some cardio (less then an hour a week). Can anyone point me in a good direction of how many calories I should be consuming in a day? Right now, I am anywhere between 1950-2100. My nutritionist suggested taking it up to 2200, however I read on here people eating in excess of 3500+. I recently added quinoa into my diet, as I struggle to eat carbs based on my past and fear of gaining back weight.
Because I figure it will come up, some stats:
Current weight: 166 lbs
Age: 23
Height: 6' 2"
BMR: 2134
Body fat %: 12.9
Fat free mass:151 lbs
Muscle Mass: 87.1 lbs
This is all based on a bioimpedance test my nutrionist does. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advanced!
I am sorry if this question has been asked and answered a million time, I am fairly new to the community section of the site.
A bit of a back story:
I use to be very heavy, weighing in at 242 at my heaviest. This was completely attributed to poor eating habits (fast food all the time), binge drinking (younger days) and getting terrible sleep (worked midnight shift for a few years). One day I decided I needed to change and started a low carb diet that consisted of mostly meat and veggies. I lost a good amount of weight, about 40 pounds this way without exercise at all. I figured that I would need to add exercise to lose the last little bit, so I started a CrossFit style workout at a gym near my work. I did that for 3-4 months, and then decided to see their nutritionist. She got me on a good path of macros that still focused on low carb, with the max allowance to be 1 whole grain carb a day, and a strong focus on healthy fats, starchy and non starchy vegetables and quality protein sources. I continued doing the CrossFit style workout and brought my weight loss to a total of 75 pounds and 12% body fat. I continued to push to go lower with body fat because I have some lose skin that I wrongfully thought was fat.
Anyways, onto my question.
Now I am looking to make some lean gains. I would say bulk, but I don't know if that's the right context (when I hear bulk I picture bodybuilder style physique). I have a solid workout plan that is weight training 5 days a week, with some cardio (less then an hour a week). Can anyone point me in a good direction of how many calories I should be consuming in a day? Right now, I am anywhere between 1950-2100. My nutritionist suggested taking it up to 2200, however I read on here people eating in excess of 3500+. I recently added quinoa into my diet, as I struggle to eat carbs based on my past and fear of gaining back weight.
Because I figure it will come up, some stats:
Current weight: 166 lbs
Age: 23
Height: 6' 2"
BMR: 2134
Body fat %: 12.9
Fat free mass:151 lbs
Muscle Mass: 87.1 lbs
This is all based on a bioimpedance test my nutrionist does. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advanced!
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Replies
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One part about adding the quinoa that I didn't add - I added it because on MFP it suggests eating more carbs, I was at about half of what it suggested so I added in the grain (where as before I seldom ate grains) just to get my carbs up. I believe my food journal is public, so if anyone wants to look feel free to.0
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What are your current maintenance calories?
Does your crossfit style workout have progressive overload factored in? Could you give us an idea or a typical week for it.
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Would my maintenance be my BMR (Basal metabolic rate)? Also, I have cut down on the CrossFit style workouts as they were mostly conditioning focused. I have since started doing weight training, where I do 3-4 sets with reps of 12-15 (doing basic free weights with a focus on arms/chest/back/core/legs).0
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mitchell196 wrote: »Would my maintenance be my BMR (Basal metabolic rate)? Also, I have cut down on the CrossFit style workouts as they were mostly conditioning focused. I have since started doing weight training, where I do 3-4 sets with reps of 12-15 (doing basic free weights with a focus on arms/chest/back/core/legs).
No, your maintenance is your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expendeture) and includes all activities plus your BMR and food absorbtion overhead. You can find good calculators at IIFYM.com or Scoobysworkshop.com.0 -
mitchell196 wrote: »Would my maintenance be my BMR (Basal metabolic rate)? Also, I have cut down on the CrossFit style workouts as they were mostly conditioning focused. I have since started doing weight training, where I do 3-4 sets with reps of 12-15 (doing basic free weights with a focus on arms/chest/back/core/legs).
Its how many calories you maintain your weight at. You can estimate it based on your actual results. Have you been maintaining recently or losing?
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According to IIFYM.com, my TDEE is 2661, but it says that my BMR is 1819. When I do the bio-impedance test it calculates my BMR which is higher. Now I am even more confused. I have been maintaining the weight for about 2 weeks (plus or minus a pound on the scale).0
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mitchell196 wrote: »According to IIFYM.com, my TDEE is 2661, but it says that my BMR is 1819. When I do the bio-impedance test it calculates my BMR which is higher. Now I am even more confused. I have been maintaining the weight for about 2 weeks (plus or minus a pound on the scale).
IIFYM can use your body fat if you know what it is and that's probalby what the bioimpendence says. Don't worry. They are both estimates so just choose one and then adjust as you go.0 -
So does that mean I should be eating around 2600 calories a day or 2600 AND a surplus of 3-500?0
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mitchell196 wrote: »So does that mean I should be eating around 2600 calories a day or 2600 AND a surplus of 3-500?
Yes, if you want to bulk you need to eat above your TDEE.0 -
Thank you0
This discussion has been closed.
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