Suggestions please!!

ankitnrb

I recently accomplished my target weight 152 lbs. My height is 5' 6".
Now I am going on maintaince, My next goal is to build leam muscles. I am targeting around 2200 calories a day ( is this number good - I know I will have to experiment a little with my body, but just need an approx/starting point?)
Moreover, I am thinking of getting on a low carb diet (paleo) - I have seen people going on low carb diet getting lean muscles quickly. Please suggest if it is a good idea? And yes you can call me a looser coz I am a vegetarian

kommodevaran

Welcome to maintenance!

To build muscle, you need a good strength training program. I suggest you search/ask the Exercise forum for that.

Your calorie goal sounds good. Great that you're aware of it's being a starting point. But it's a good starting point.

Having a good diet is important, but diet type is not that important. What's important is that you get in enough nutrition, including appropriate calories. Combining vegetarian and low carb or paleo sounds very difficult, because they are practically opposite nutritional philosophies. Please keep in mind that you're not getting extra karma points for doing it the hard way, but anything that will keep things interesting and fresh, will help you stick to your plan.

livingleanlivingclean

I wouldn't suggest going low carb to build muscles... Whilst overall calories are important for growth, I think carbs are beneficial to the muscle building process.

sijomial

Maintenance calories - may take you a while to fine tune.
Low carb - bad idea for muscle building. Carbs are protein sparing and give you energy for your workouts.
Low carb when a vegetarian - sounds very difficult! Guess that would have to be very high fat.
Lean muscle building - that's a function of a good training regime and calories for weight control, not really macros (apart from getting adequate protein).

misnomer1

ankitnrb wrote: »

I recently accomplished my target weight 152 lbs. My height is 5' 6".
Now I am going on maintaince, My next goal is to build leam muscles. I am targeting around 2200 calories a day ( is this number good - I know I will have to experiment a little with my body, but just need an approx/starting point?)
Moreover, I am thinking of getting on a low carb diet (paleo) - I have seen people going on low carb diet getting lean muscles quickly. Please suggest if it is a good idea? And yes you can call me a looser coz I am a vegetarian

I dont think one can have a low carb diet being vegetarian and indian. Anyway, carbs in right amounts are good to replenish energy stores. 45-50% of your cals coming from carbs is alright. 0.8-1gm protein per lean body weight in pounds daily is recommended by most.

Need2Exerc1se

2200 sounds low for a man. I eat almost that much for maintenance and I'm a 5'6" post-menopausal woman.

misnomer1

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

2200 sounds low for a man. I eat almost that much for maintenance and I'm a 5'6" post-menopausal woman.

2200 is my maintenance at 82kg 5'11 male, sedentary..

Need2Exerc1se

misnomer1 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

2200 sounds low for a man. I eat almost that much for maintenance and I'm a 5'6" post-menopausal woman.

2200 is my maintenance at 82kg 5'11 male, sedentary..

OP says he's trying to gain muscle so I assume he's not sedentary.

jemhh

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

misnomer1 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

2200 sounds low for a man. I eat almost that much for maintenance and I'm a 5'6" post-menopausal woman.

2200 is my maintenance at 82kg 5'11 male, sedentary..

OP says he's trying to gain muscle so I assume he's not sedentary.

I'll agree it sounds low and you (OP) will need to work up to find your maintenance. It's not going to hurt to start at 2200 and work up though. I'd forget the low carb idea unless you have some sort of medical condition that requires it.

misnomer1

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

misnomer1 wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

2200 sounds low for a man. I eat almost that much for maintenance and I'm a 5'6" post-menopausal woman.

2200 is my maintenance at 82kg 5'11 male, sedentary..

OP says he's trying to gain muscle so I assume he's not sedentary.

if i do cardio every day once, but sit in office for 10 hrs otherwise and do small household chores. i will select sedentary in MFP, and manually log my exercise (or through fitbit etc) to net off my exercise calories against intake. Choosing ''active'' etc. will be double counting if i manually log my exercise anyway.
that said, my bmr is 1850, sedentary gives 2200 maintenance, lightly active gives 2500, and so on.

OP, 2200 is perfectly acceptable. OP, try IIFYM and scoobys calculator etc to confirm.