eating too little to bulk or eating too much to cut

need2belean

Hi.
This is my first time posting on the forums and I'm nervous about it because of how much OP's get bashed sometimes but I have a question that I'm hoping someone can answer.
My question is this:
Am I eating too little to bulk and too much to cut?
My stats:
6'0" tall female
29 yrs old
184-187 lbs give or take some water weight.

I'm always on the move, always exercising, and I love to play sports.
I'm not training for a triathlon at the moment but I will be at the start of the new year. So, I started Jamie Eason's LivFit plan 7 weeks ago. I'm on week 3 of Phase 2 if anybody is familiar with her program. The first phase is only muscle building with no cardio (4 weeks). This second phase is the same type of workouts (I try to up it 5lbs every week) but you add 30 minutes of the cardio of your choice after each workout.
My question is concerning the muscle gains I've been making. I'm not sure if 7 weeks is too small of a time-frame to notice significant progress but I'm curious if I'm not seeing the progress I was hoping for because I'm not eating enough for bulk. Typically when I hear of bulking, you're supposed to eat at least 2k calories daily. Well, typically, I only eat around 2k when it's on the weekends because it's easier to snack. But during the week, I'm more around 1600-1700cal. I'm not losing very much weight so I am sure I'm eating too much to cut, but am I eating too little to bulk?
And when I am ready to cut, does anybody know how many calories I should be eating? Since I'm taller than the average female, my calorie ranges usually differ. I see the 5'3" girls cutting on 1200 calories a day, but that just won't work for me so maybe it's not possible after all. I certainly want something sustainable.
PS, I inputted my stats into this calculator (http://vonblancofitness.com/how-to-calculate-calories-needed-for-fat-loss-muscle-gain-or-maintenance/) and it says to lose weight for a moderately active individual I should be eating 2,146 calories a day which seems excessive. BTW, I put my BF as 24% in the calculator. I don't know how the heck I could eat that every single day and cut but some of you are experts so your advice is very much needed. I just want to know am I doing anything at 1700 calories a day if I can't bulk on that amount and can't cut on that amount.

Thanks a bunch.
Rachel

TavistockToad

Sounds like you are slowly losing weight, so you are cutting by definition.

What makes you be able to eat more on a weekend then you can during the week?

need2belean

TavistockToad wrote: »

Sounds like you are slowly losing weight, so you are cutting by definition.

What makes you be able to eat more on a weekend then you can during the week?

I plan my weekly meals in mfp on Sunday night. I atleast plan up to Wednesday and then Tuesday, I plan the rest according to what food I have to make in the house. On weekends, stuff happens, so I can't always plan ahead. Like yesterday, I did plan to bake the chicken in the fridge for dinner after my vball double header, but since it was the first game of the season, I was beat when we got home, so we bought Jersey Mikes subs. 95% of the time, that only happens on the weekends. I plan pretty well during the week so that doesn't happen. I also lower my calories during the week so I can do that on the weekend and not feel guilty about it.

TavistockToad

tri_gal_87 wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

Sounds like you are slowly losing weight, so you are cutting by definition.

What makes you be able to eat more on a weekend then you can during the week?

I plan my weekly meals in mfp on Sunday night. I atleast plan up to Wednesday and then Tuesday, I plan the rest according to what food I have to make in the house. On weekends, stuff happens, so I can't always plan ahead. Like yesterday, I did plan to bake the chicken in the fridge for dinner after my vball double header, but since it was the first game of the season, I was beat when we got home, so we bought Jersey Mikes subs. 95% of the time, that only happens on the weekends. I plan pretty well during the week so that doesn't happen. I also lower my calories during the week so I can do that on the weekend and not feel guilty about it.

So actually you could plan an extra snack to eat more on weekdays?

Michael190lbs

I'm 6' tall and 178-182 eat 2700-3200 a day and have maintain weight for 6 months- weekly calories daily Macro's is a must for me as I have bad and good days. After reading what you have written sounds like Maintenance to me if you want to lose cut calories if you want to gain raise them.

I personally would rather exercise more than eat less so My calories are staying in my happy range of 2800-3200

californiagirl2012

Hi Rachel!

We are all different but the biggest factor is actually amount of body fat and amount of stress. Your body will always give you the best answer and sometimes you won't totally understand until you reach a lower range of body fat to see. Everyone will have their opinion on how much you should eat, but really the best answer is IN YOUR BODY and not really in any calculator or opinion of even a guru.

I personally don't believe in bulking, but I proved what I know with my own body so I will never trust someone to tell me otherwise.

Your body tells you if you eat enough, listen to it. Your body tells you if you have too much fat to see the muscle. Sometimes you won't see the muscle mass until you lose enough body fat. If you want to really know how much body fat you have, get a DXA scan. All other tests fall short.

Just because someone else your height says they must eat X amount does not mean it will work for you, but your body will tell you.

The bottom line on eating enough; Do you have enough energy for your workouts? Do you recover? Do you sleep well? Do you have enough energy to meet your responsibilities in life? Are you binging? And most of all, if you want to lose fat but it's not going away, no matter what anyone tells you - its too much food energy for fat loss while balancing out the other questions right here about energy.

Keep going and you will figure it out, and it won't be by the opinions here, or any calculator, although they can give you some clues.

need2belean

Ok. Thanks everyone! I will continue to do what I'm doing because it's sustainable. If I get to a point where I want to cut, I'll cut my calories more. ugh. Not looking forward to that!!