Lost the weight; now I need to gain the muscle!

acaciasteele

Okay so I've lost all the weight I need to lose, now I want to make some gainz lol, what the *kitten* do I do now? I can't keep eating 1200 calories and doing cardio; I'll just keep losing, if my BMR is around 1110 and I want to gain muscle how much should I be eating? And how do I do this in a healthy way? I don't want to gain in fat, I want to gain but remain healthy; how do I do that? Do I stay away from cardio, or not work out or what

TnTWalter

if you need muscle, you need to weight train. bodybuilding.com has great free workouts to follow. Congrats on the weight loss. best of luck.

cdahl383

Figure out your TDEE, then gross that number up by 20%. So if your TDEE is 2000 calories, start eating 2400 calories a day and lift weights 3-4 times a week with a day of rest in between. You want to put on around 0.5-1.0lb per week, preferably on the lower end of the spectrum. You can adjust your calories accordingly after a few weeks of seeing how much you gain. Around 2-3 lbs a month would be a good start.

When you are first starting out you can do full body workouts every other day. Eventually you'll want to break your workouts up into sections like chest/triceps/abs and back/biceps/shoulders, etc.

You don't need to eat a ton to put on muscle, but you do need to eat more than your TDEE as your body needs additional calories to build new muscle.

It's also important to get enough protein while weight training. At a minimum you want 0.5g per 1lb of bodyweight. If you can get closer to 0.7-1.0g per 1lb of bodyweight that would be better.

Good luck to you!

jswede1149

Does this apply to women as well?

AsISmile

jswede1149 wrote: »

Does this apply to women as well?

Absolutely!
Although I'm not a 100% agreeing with cdahl's advice.
Figure out your TDEE (is bmr+activity level+exercise calories) and eat 250 calories above that, for a 0.5 pound weightgain a week. Any more than that and you will be gaining a lot more fat than muscle.

I suggest both of you to read this and the post it links to, since it has a ton of advice on bulking
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10226536/bulking-for-beginners

psuLemon

OP, the first thing I would do is read the bulking for beginners that Aslsmile posted. Second, I would read Bulking, a complete guide.

Third, since you haven't really lifted, I probably eat around maintenance for a few months and start with a good program such as Strong Curves, New Rules of Lifting for Women, Starting Strength, Strong Lift. From my readings, it generally isn't beneficial to start bulking when you just start lifting as your body is more inclined to start with muscular efficiency prior to adding mass, which is why I said eat at maintenance. Also, over the next few months while you are learning form and getting down a solid lifting routine, it will allow you to adjust your intake enough to find your true maintenance.

_Bropollo_

psulemon wrote: »

OP, the first thing I would do is read the bulking for beginners that Aslsmile posted. Second, I would read Bulking, a complete guide.

Third, since you haven't really lifted, I probably eat around maintenance for a few months and start with a good program such as Strong Curves, New Rules of Lifting for Women, Starting Strength, Strong Lift. From my readings, it generally isn't beneficial to start bulking when you just start lifting as your body is more inclined to start with muscular efficiency prior to adding mass, which is why I said eat at maintenance. Also, over the next few months while you are learning form and getting down a solid lifting routine, it will allow you to adjust your intake enough to find your true maintenance.

+1. A program is essential when you are new to lifting. And most of your gainz in the beginning come from neural adaptation (what psulemon called muscular efficiency) where your body is getting better at recruiting already existing muscle fiber. It won't really add any new muscle until this process has essentially maxed out. Don't be tempted to start a surplus yet OP. Wait about 2-3 months and just eat at your maintenance level. Once you start to stall, THEN start ramping your cals up; add 100, wait two weeks, see if you gain the correct amount of weight. If yes, stay put at that new calorie level. If no, add 100 more and rinse, repeat.

I disagree with cdahl's split suggestion (break your workouts up into sections like chest/triceps/abs and back/biceps/shoulders, etc). This is not ideal. You will get best results from training the same muscles multiple times per week (high frequency). A fullbody workout every other day, or a upper/lower/upper/lower/rest pattern where you are hitting muscles 3 or more times per week will give you great results, and will continue to do so, for several years into weight training. Isolation splits like cdahl described really only are effective for people who are starting to approach their genetic potential (3+ years of strict weight training).

morkiemama

Read up on these threads to get a grip on your calories:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants?hl=sexypants

(Note: There may be more updated threads regarding calories than the ones above. These are just the old ones I have bookmarked )

Also, this group is great:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-


For beginner weight training programs:

You can look into one of these equipment-required programs:

--Stronglifts 5x5
--Starting Strength
--New Rules of Lifting for Women

I love NROL4W. SL 5x5 is another popular program, but I do like the information put forth in the NROL4W book even if you do not follow the routine. There is also a book called Starting Strength that is great for beginners (it has a lot of good information).

I would recommend really reading up/watching videos on form though. I also HIGHLY recommend getting a trainer for a few sessions just to make sure your form is proper (you don't need to keep them long term).


You can also look into these non-equipment-required things:

--You Are Your Own Gym
--www.nerdfitness.com
--Convict Conditioning


Good luck!

psuLemon

_Bropollo_ wrote: »

psulemon wrote: »

OP, the first thing I would do is read the bulking for beginners that Aslsmile posted. Second, I would read Bulking, a complete guide.

Third, since you haven't really lifted, I probably eat around maintenance for a few months and start with a good program such as Strong Curves, New Rules of Lifting for Women, Starting Strength, Strong Lift. From my readings, it generally isn't beneficial to start bulking when you just start lifting as your body is more inclined to start with muscular efficiency prior to adding mass, which is why I said eat at maintenance. Also, over the next few months while you are learning form and getting down a solid lifting routine, it will allow you to adjust your intake enough to find your true maintenance.

+1. A program is essential when you are new to lifting. And most of your gainz in the beginning come from neural adaptation (what psulemon called muscular efficiency) where your body is getting better at recruiting already existing muscle fiber. It won't really add any new muscle until this process has essentially maxed out. Don't be tempted to start a surplus yet OP. Wait about 2-3 months and just eat at your maintenance level. Once you start to stall, THEN start ramping your cals up; add 100, wait two weeks, see if you gain the correct amount of weight. If yes, stay put at that new calorie level. If no, add 100 more and rinse, repeat.

I disagree with cdahl's split suggestion (break your workouts up into sections like chest/triceps/abs and back/biceps/shoulders, etc). This is not ideal. You will get best results from training the same muscles multiple times per week (high frequency). A fullbody workout every other day, or a upper/lower/upper/lower/rest pattern where you are hitting muscles 3 or more times per week will give you great results, and will continue to do so, for several years into weight training. Isolation splits like cdahl described really only are effective for people who are starting to approach their genetic potential (3+ years of strict weight training).

I would also agree that as a newbie, it's much more beneficial to start with a full body program.