How many calories

Liftinglex

I reached maintenance a few weeks ago but I keep losing, I lost 5 pounds in maintenance. Now that I lost the weight I want to start building muscle. My question is should I be eating in surplus? And if so what should I set my goal to? My stats :
5’4 & 135
My goal weight was 140
I’m also 25 if that matters
Thank you!

AnnPT77

If you feel like that 5 pound loss is real (not a temporary weight fluctuation), that would imply that your maintenance calories are higher than you'd estimated.

It's not super unusual for people to find that that's true: Some people, when eating at a calorie deficit, have subtly lower energy leading to less daily-life activity, which leads to lower calorie expenditure (lower TDEE). When those people add back calories to get to maintenance, their energy perks up, they do a little more in daily life, maybe even get a little more intensity in their exercise, and burn more calories than they'd expected.

To gain strength/muscle, there are two different general paths: Recomposition, or bulking/cutting.

Recomposition means trying to stay at about the same weight, but slowly gain muscle and slowly lose fat. Both are slow, but this method can be good for people who are anxious about regaining weight, or don't like being in a deficit, or variations on that theme. Good nutrition (especially adequate protein) and a good weight training program are part of this approach. Recomposition is pretty much a synonym for training sensibly/hard to maintain weight and add muscle.

Bulking/cutting is cycles of eating in a managed surplus, gaining muscle and a bit of fat for a while; then eating in a deficit for a while to lose mostly fat and keep most of the muscle. Repetitions of those cycles will usually result in faster muscle gain (with proper nutrition and training program, of course) than recomposition.

You can learn more about recomposition here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

Weight training programs here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you

And bulking/cutting basics here: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10226536/bulking-for-beginners , https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10320115/cutting-techniques-post-bulk