Calories for Bulking

dpr73

Hey Guys,

I am trying to bulk (yet again) by strictly counting my calories and weighing everything. I have tried and failed bulks before by just falling off the wagon and being (I think) too cautious with my food intake. I tend to undereat and since I have been weighing now know that I definitely eat under 2100 when not counting closely.

With that said, I want to try to limit the trial and error that is counting calories at the beginning stages of the bulk. For this reason, I want to start off with a semi-accurate number to start eating for my bulk and adjust from there. I am trying to use online calculators, but I am getting hung up on figuring out what activity level I am.

I lift 4 days a week (5 mins cardio about 1 hour of lifting, all lifts are supersets--5 sets of 12 reps), then on the fifth day I do HIIT Cardio for about 30-40 mins (5 mins cardio warm up). I also walk every day between 4 and 6 miles between classes and around the city in general.

Am I considered moderately active? Or lightly active? Or even active? This seems to change my maintenance by a good 200 calories depending on what I choose.

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cnvaughn93

Hello fellow lifter.....I'm no doctor, fitness instructor, nor do i have anything that makes me official in the fitness world...however i know a little bit about the struggle to bulk. I have always had a hard time gaining weight even if i ate my 3500 calories and was weightlifting. What i learned was that lifting above 8 repa in a set, doing super seta, and anything remotely resembling a light jog burns too many calories for me. I switched to a straight strength program and cut out most cardio....at least when bulking. So my advice is to burn as little calories as possible. Get on a weight training program that promotes muscle growth and burns as few calories as possible, no HIIT

sskly48

it's good you have a lot of questions, you got that hunger for knowledge!

The calculators give you a good 'general' idea of where you should be. But it's impossible to be entirely correct just off calculations. You need to observe and experiment on your body and see what is your true caloric requirement.

I don't know your body type but you are doing too much cardio on a bulk. As a hardgainer myself, It's very easy to lose weight if I do cardio, so I personally cut it all out. The weight increase is a lot better

Wheelhouse15

The best way to approach this is to take your current intake and add about 250 calories a day and see what happens in two weeks then up your calories slowly until you hit your target rate. Calculators are a decent guide for BMR but the multipliers aren't very accurate at all. You'll just have to wing it but an activity monitor can help.

Side note, HIIT doesn't last 30 to 40 mins so not sure what you are doing there unless it's an interval running program but if you are trying to do a true HIIT and you are going over 20 mins, with warm up and cool down, you should up your intensity and lower your time.