Am I eating too much?

Wesleybrandt

Hello all,

This summer I want to put on 10 lbs of muscle weight so I switched up my diet and hit the gym. I started at 158lbs and I am 5'11". I am on week 4 and I lift pretty hard for about 45 min for four days a week. Also, I've been tracking my calories and such and average at 3,000 a day. I have been meal prepping and such, so the food is all rice, meats, veggies, and eggs and such. No junk food, no alcohol. I'm concerned I am eating too much because the app says I should be eating closer to 2,600 calories a day; however, my appetite has increased because of my more active lifestyle. Should I be worried and/or should I restrict my calorie intake?

deannalfisher

Is your weight stable?

Also the MFP calorie recommendations don’t include purposeful exercise

rose2_0

Did you set the app to gain .5 lbs per week? How long have you been eating 3000 and how much have you gained?

Wesleybrandt

I do have the app set on 0.5 lbs a week. For the last two weeks I have been averaging 161-162.5 lbs, so I think I've gained 3-4 lbs over the course of 4 weeks. Otherwise, I have been eating 3,000 calories for about two weeks now.

pinggolfer96

What does the mirror say?

CowboySar

pinggolfer96 wrote: »

What does the mirror say?

This

Wesleybrandt

I think the mirror looks alright. Just concerned about whether there is a risk of putting on a bit of gut if I'm not lifting enough to compensate for the excess calories. Thanks everyone!

typehack

3000 seems high if you're starting out on a change. I'd let the app guide for the first few weeks at least.
I find appetite to be a really misleading indicator of whether your body actually needs more nutrition or not.
In my case I tend to err on the side of "well it can eat another couple of bf% off my abs then".

TavistockToad

Wesleybrandt wrote: »

Hello all,

This summer I want to put on 10 lbs of muscle weight so I switched up my diet and hit the gym. I started at 158lbs and I am 5'11". I am on week 4 and I lift pretty hard for about 45 min for four days a week. Also, I've been tracking my calories and such and average at 3,000 a day. I have been meal prepping and such, so the food is all rice, meats, veggies, and eggs and such. No junk food, no alcohol. I'm concerned I am eating too much because the app says I should be eating closer to 2,600 calories a day; however, my appetite has increased because of my more active lifestyle. Should I be worried and/or should I restrict my calorie intake?

What are the scales doing?

fb47

typehack wrote: »

3000 seems high if you're starting out on a change. I'd let the app guide for the first few weeks at least.
I find appetite to be a really misleading indicator of whether your body actually needs more nutrition or not.
In my case I tend to err on the side of "well it can eat another couple of bf% off my abs then".

How do you know it's high? I am 5'9, don't do cardio and I usually bulk between 3000-3200 calories on average. The OP is 5'11 and does more or less the same number of lifting days, so 3000 calories is possible, it could even be more considering he has a height advantage over me and therefore has a good chance of burning more calories than I do.


The only way for the OP to know if 3000 calories is too much or not is to weigh himself everyday and see the weight trend with an app like Libra or do it the old school way and average his weight on a weekly basis, then compare his weekly weight with his previous averages.

mutantspicy

Are you sure your appetite has increased because of lifestyle change or because of the food you are eating? If you are doing a lot of running/biking/swimming and/or other long duration steady state cardio, that can kill your diet because your always hungry if you are not used to it. You can easily over eat as a result. On the other hand changing your diet drastically to "healthier" options can cause you to be more hungry as well, because the foods you are eating may not be as filling / satiating as say a cheeseburger. Either way my quick assessment for your size, 3000 seems too high.

Tic78

You can’t really say what seems to high for someone else.

Everyone’s different, it’s all down to how much energy you as an individual expel.

I’m 5’10 currently on a cut, current weight 174lb bf estimate 10% cutting calories at the minute 2300.

Bulk calories were 3250/3500. Have since changed my workouts so I’d guess now I would be bulking at 4K.

My figures are exactly that though the figures that I personally need to bulk.

Op work out you’re tdee and add a small surplus so you gain slowly, that’s the best way to minimise fat gains.

Davidsdottir

typehack wrote: »

3000 seems high if you're starting out on a change. I'd let the app guide for the first few weeks at least.
I find appetite to be a really misleading indicator of whether your body actually needs more nutrition or not.
In my case I tend to err on the side of "well it can eat another couple of bf% off my abs then".

This made me LOL!

I'm a 5'5" woman who started my last bulk at 126 lbs. I bulked on 2600-3000 calories and maintained a lot of leaness. Pretty sure 3000 doesn't seem high for the OP, who is an almost 6' tall man.

seanlovegrove

I don’t think 3,000 is too high if youve only gained 3-4 lbs over 4 weeks. There’s nothing wrong with gaining at that rate, especially since if you’re coming off a cut your body will need to replenish glycogen stores which usually means you’ll gain a few lbs right off the bat. Just give it a few more weeks, weigh yourself every day, notate your daily weights and at the end of the week average out your weight for the past week to get an accurate measurement of what your real weight is. Doing that every week helps me keep track of exactly what I’m gaining.
On my current bulk I’m at 2,900 calories and I’m struggling to put weight on as quickly as I’d like so I’m going to likely be bumping my calories up to at least 3,000 next week. Good luck.

moogie_fit

I would slowly add more calories. You could eat WAY more at your size and not gain a lot of fat. I'm female, 150 lbs and 5 11 and I eat 2750 Cal's per day and I am in recomposition right now. I reverse dieted by adding 50 calories twice per week to my macros until my weight stopped dropping.

moogie_fit

Also, trying to eat too "clean" or healthy can be counterproductive to your goals and cause you to have larger appetite cues and binge urges, because whether your in a deficit or not, restriction is restriction when your not eating what you want

Wesleybrandt

Thanks a lot everyone! You all have helped me feel less conscientious about things. I'll keep track of my weight for the next few weeks and watch my mirror.

seanlovegrove

Do watch the mirror but things like waist measurements and body fat calibers are useful tools as well 👍🏻