Noob bulking question

siv1979

OK I'm 6 foot 5....200 pounds

I wanna put on some muscle

My maintenence is around 3500 calories.

So 3800 with slow bulk

But mfp calculates with my fitbit someday 1400 additional calories

Making my total around 5200

Do I need to eat all of them?

Makes sense that I do but don't wanna get too much fat......

Thanks guys

trigden1991

If your average maintenance is 3500 then stick with a small surplus 250-300 cals. It's unlikely you burn an extra 1400 unless you are extremely active.

Rusty740

Fitbit has a reputation for over-estimating. Eat your 250-500 surplus on the 3500 and watch your weight. Adjust as necessary.

siv1979

Thanks a lot..... I did 5000 for 3 days..... Seemed a LOT

siv1979

Will reduce

heybales

How are you measuring the lifting workouts for calories?

Because if Fitbit model using HR-based calorie burn - inappropriate use of the calculations.
If model using step-based that's obviously very wrong other direction.

Should manually log them on Fitbit as Weights - it may seem small compared to cardio, but that is correct.

Still start an activity so you have the start and end time.
Just manually log it so your better calorie estimate replaces the activity one Fitbit came up with.

siv1979

It's measuring steps..... Today for example I've walked 12100 so far...... 10km

Calorie estimate for that is around 1000 calories

Don't know if I should eat them?!?!!

siv1979

I want to be in surplus..... But not a big surplus

heybales

All the Fitbits track steps - but during exercise if you have a HR-based device it's using HR-based calorie burn.

In either case, the requirement is to manually log lifting workouts for better accuracy.

And MFP is set to estimate daily non-exercise calorie burn based on YOUR selection of activity level.
If you picked Sedentary then you are no where near that with that many steps - so the corrections MFP is attempting to do based on Fitbit better data - is correct and means you eat more.

But - don't change from Sedentary since syncing, because generally it works better for the end of the day adjustments that happen. Unless you stay up until midnight and eat until then to meet your goal.

After a few days you should generally have a good idea of total amount to eat so you can plan well, so the fact adjustments are big and increase doesn't really matter until near the end of the day and you want to confirm eating enough.

Only thing that could be badly wrong with calories Fitbit estimates is if you get that many steps - is if Fitbit has a set stride length that is way off from reality for your average daily pace.

You can easily test that - go do a known distance walk at average daily pace - not grocery store shuffle, not exercise pace - and confirm the distance is correct.
If not it should be adjusted.

Because actually most people find Fitbit's estimates are right on (5%) when they take into account known workouts it'll be bad at estimating, and getting stride length correct if it's way off.
Go check out topics in the Fitbit group to see those comments.
People that are way off usually have a very good expected reason - health problems or meds effects.

trigden1991

Pick a number, eat that many calories for 2-4 weeks, see what your weight does, reassess.

Chieflrg

trigden1991 wrote: »

Pick a number, eat that many calories for 2-4 weeks, see what your weight does, reassess.

This is it.

Gadgets might get you in the ball park, but what your weight change is will tell you what to do.

siv1979

Alright cool..... I picked a number.... We'll see

Thx

siv1979

Hi guys

Another quick question.... Ok I picked 3700 calories.... I'm pretty happy I'm gaining and not too fast.... So all good

I have my macros set at Carb 60... Protein 25...fat 15%

So once I hit my protein..... Is it important to hit the carbon and fat..... I would love 500grams of chocolate now but my fat is maxed......

So I'm stuck with fruit pasta etc..... Zzzz

Is that number of 0.3gr fat per pound body weight important...... Is it a max or a minimum you should aim for

Thanks again

dieselbyte

siv1979 wrote: »

Hi guys

Another quick question.... Ok I picked 3700 calories.... I'm pretty happy I'm gaining and not too fast.... So all good

I have my macros set at Carb 60... Protein 25...fat 15%

So once I hit my protein..... Is it important to hit the carbon and fat..... I would love 500grams of chocolate now but my fat is maxed......

So I'm stuck with fruit pasta etc..... Zzzz

Is that number of 0.3gr fat per pound body weight important...... Is it a max or a minimum you should aim for

Thanks again

.3g/lb for fat is the minimum # you should be aiming for. There isn't a minimum for carb intake, save personal preference - you may find that you function better/have more energy at x amount of carbs/day. Have the chocolate.

siv1979

Cheers mate!