Bulking question....do I add back in exercise calories?

rachelfetterley

Hi!
I am trying to recover from being a cardio queen and work on lifting heavy. For those of you on a bulk, do you just eat above your maintenance calories regardless if it is a rest or workout day? Do you put in MFP as a goal to gain .5 lb week or 1 lb a week or just maintain?
My maintenance calories are 1690-1900 depending on if I put I am lightly active or active (I am a teacher so that would be "lightly" but really think as I never sit down and have three kids I am much more like "active." If I put in "lightly active" but goal is to gain .5 lb a week then it puts me at 1900 calories a day. So I think I will stick with around 1900 a day and see how I do with that. It feels like plenty of food yet I want to be in a surplus enough that I will gain muscle. (I know fat comes along with it, obviously trying to minimize that.) I am 5'7" and 114 now (I gained a little before trying to bulk--I was way too thin). I am happier eating and lifting rather than hours upon hours of spin and running. And I am making volume gains in the gym. So how much should I be gaining a week to make sure that 1900 is enough but not too much? I read women really can only gain .5 lb muscle a month. But that 1/2 of what I will gain is fat. So that is really only 1 lb a month??? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

psuLemon

Woman can roughly gain 1 lb of muscle a month. For a surplus, just pick a calorie range and monitor over a month period. So if you maintenance is about 1800, start at 2100. You can adjust as necessary and dont eat back exercise calories.

The bigger thing is, what is your lifting program?

rachelfetterley

I am lifting 5x a week, focusing on lower body 3x a week and upper 2x a week. I am happy with my workout progress.

psuLemon

rachelfetterley wrote: »

I am lifting 5x a week, focusing on lower body 3x a week and upper 2x a week. I am happy with my workout progress.

Is it self designed or was it designed for you?

sijomial

If you are in a calorie surplus and exercising then you must be eating them back - whether you label them as exercise calories or not.
Both the MFP and TDEE methods work and should end up in roughly the same place over an extended period of time.

rachelfetterley

psuLemon wrote: »

rachelfetterley wrote: »

I am lifting 5x a week, focusing on lower body 3x a week and upper 2x a week. I am happy with my workout progress.

Is it self designed or was it designed for you?

It was designed for me.
As far as TDEE method, it says I need 1800 maintenance. Right now I am eating about 1950 and doing about 60 min. of strength 5x a week. Little cardio--or just 10 min on incline treadmill to warm up or after strength. Also go for walks with the baby in stroller 3-4 times a week. I am a teacher but I don't sit down all day except on commute. I don't even sit down to eat.

psuLemon

rachelfetterley wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

rachelfetterley wrote: »

I am lifting 5x a week, focusing on lower body 3x a week and upper 2x a week. I am happy with my workout progress.

Is it self designed or was it designed for you?

It was designed for me.
As far as TDEE method, it says I need 1800 maintenance. Right now I am eating about 1950 and doing about 60 min. of strength 5x a week. Little cardio--or just 10 min on incline treadmill to warm up or after strength. Also go for walks with the baby in stroller 3-4 times a week. I am a teacher but I don't sit down all day except on commute. I don't even sit down to eat.

Whats your program look like?

Also, since you are eating 1900, what has your weight been doing? If its maintaining add another 250 to 300 calories.

rachelfetterley

My weight has been the same for a couple weeks but at first I gained about 3 pounds because I was malnourishing myself and doing too much cardio. It's stayed at 114 for three weeks but I just started tracking again.
My program is pretty heavy lifting and mostly free weights with a few machines. Compound exercises and focused muscle work too.

Fitness01_

I'm the same height as you but I weigh 125ish lbs. I started at 120. I've been gaining weight eating at 1,900 cals. You are underweight right now so I would suggest you eat back your exercise calories. My body was used to eating very little so now that I'm eating more I'm gaining even though 1900cals is considered maintenance for me. I think you should be gaining .25 per week to make it 1lbs per month.

psuLemon

rachelfetterley wrote: »

My weight has been the same for a couple weeks but at first I gained about 3 pounds because I was malnourishing myself and doing too much cardio. It's stayed at 114 for three weeks but I just started tracking again.
My program is pretty heavy lifting and mostly free weights with a few machines. Compound exercises and focused muscle work too.

If you dont gain in a few weeks, id add 200 to 300 calories.

Also, unless you have a ton of experience designed programs and are educated in the field, id highly recommend a structured program if you are looking to maximize your results.

rachelfetterley

Fitness01_ wrote: »

I'm the same height as you but I weigh 125ish lbs. I started at 120. I've been gaining weight eating at 1,900 cals. You are underweight right now so I would suggest you eat back your exercise calories. My body was used to eating very little so now that I'm eating more I'm gaining even though 1900cals is considered maintenance for me. I think you should be gaining .25 per week to make it 1lbs per month.

Yes thanks for answering the question. I see the scale go up but I know it also might be water weight from reintroducing carbs into my diet. I was limiting them severely and doing too much intense cardio. Today I was 116 on the scale but I know the numbers on the scale don't mean a ton. It is not like I really gained 2 pounds in a day
I am going to stick to 1900 for another week and see how I do. I certainly am not losing weight. Been tracking just for about a week but eating more for a month.....have gained 5 pounds just by doing that.

psuLemon wrote: »

rachelfetterley wrote: »

My weight has been the same for a couple weeks but at first I gained about 3 pounds because I was malnourishing myself and doing too much cardio. It's stayed at 114 for three weeks but I just started tracking again.
My program is pretty heavy lifting and mostly free weights with a few machines. Compound exercises and focused muscle work too.

If you dont gain in a few weeks, id add 200 to 300 calories.

Also, unless you have a ton of experience designed programs and are educated in the field, id highly recommend a structured program if you are looking to maximize your results.

I am doing a structured program for the workouts, nutrition as well, but we are playing with my numbers because not sure how I will respond since I was underfeeding myself. I just posed the question on here because I want to make sure I am eating enough and wondered if others added back in exercise calories on a bulk. Thanks!

psuLemon

Cool. Yea, when you first reintroduce foods you will replish glycogen, increase waste and water storage from exercise and sodium increases. The biggest thing is monitor adjustments over a 3 or 4 week period. Personally, i like weighing in every day and taking an average over the week.

LiftHeavyThings27105

Absolutely.....weigh yourself every day, on the same scale, at the same time (usually, just after you wake up and go to the bathroom) and take the average over seven days.

And being patient is sooooo important. So, making small calculated changes over time is indeed the way to go - for most people, anyway. I shy away from making HUGE changes at one time (well, again, generally speaking).

It is soooooo refreshing to hear of someone (not being sexist....but a female) who was a cardio queen and eating way too little to realize that there is a different way to doing things....and to realize that she was doing immense damage to her body using said methods.

If only more people would stop the cookie-cutter methods and look at this as a long-term life-style instead of a fad.

Did you do a reverse diet once you realized things? Your story might help a TON of people.....

rachelfetterley

CWShultz27105 wrote: »

Absolutely.....weigh yourself every day, on the same scale, at the same time (usually, just after you wake up and go to the bathroom) and take the average over seven days.

And being patient is sooooo important. So, making small calculated changes over time is indeed the way to go - for most people, anyway. I shy away from making HUGE changes at one time (well, again, generally speaking).

It is soooooo refreshing to hear of someone (not being sexist....but a female) who was a cardio queen and eating way too little to realize that there is a different way to doing things....and to realize that she was doing immense damage to her body using said methods.

If only more people would stop the cookie-cutter methods and look at this as a long-term life-style instead of a fad.

Did you do a reverse diet once you realized things? Your story might help a TON of people.....

Thanks for the encouragement! Once I realized (Ok I had realized things for a while but could not come to terms with my own addiction) that I needed to stop with the insane cardio and the fact that I could actually be harming myself with overexercise I turn to just lifting and then was investigating bulking more. I did not really do reverse dieting I just kind of switched up how I did things. We went on a vacation so that was a good start to just refeeding myself. I don't like the number going up on the scale but I know that is just my head. I am loving eating more and lifting heavy. Excited about the recomp process and know it takes time!

LiftHeavyThings27105

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!! Keep up the work. Stay active in the forums. Ask away. I am going to work on being "less wordy"!

rachelfetterley

I don't mind the wordiness at all! I really appreciate the support. I'm doing pretty well with the whole mind game thing, and actually kind of surprised that I can do this on my own because it was kind of a mental battle.

LiftHeavyThings27105

Mindset is absolutely everything. You know the saying, right? If you think you can, well, you are right! However, if you think that you can not, well, you are right as well!