Eating extra after lifting

RoyalMoose11

Hey all,
For adding muscle weight and slowly trying to gain some of the good weight I'm curious if folks include that extra 10-20% in calorie intake to cover weight lifting or do they eat additional? After I log other work outs like running or times I play hockey I try to eat back the calories it says I've burned but when I add lifting to my diary it doesn't give calorie loss so I have just been including that in my regular calorie allotment. I'm doing StrongLifts in case people have suggestions for calories to account for.

explosivedonut

Paradoxically, there is a calorie loss for weightlifting if you search for it under "cardiovascular." How accurate this is, is impossible to say. I'm lifting way more weight now than I did 6 months ago. In theory, I am burning more calories during that time than I was back then, despite my workouts taking the same mount of time. I enter it in, and eat back the ~200 calories it gives for an hour of lifting. I know I am probably burning more than that most days, but I am losing weight right now, so I might as well stick with what I know is working.

cwolfman13

Are you trying to lose weight? You aren't going to add muscle weight if you are cutting (dieting)...you will not add any significant muscle while you are in a deficit of calories. To bulk muscle you have to be in a small calorie surplus...note that in addition to putting on muscle, you will put on fat...it is inevitable. The smaller the surplus, the better that ratio of LBM:fat mass will be...kinda like the reverse of losing...when you diet you lose fat and muscle, but proper training and reasonable calorie deficits make that ratio more favorable.

If you're talking about eating exercise calories back for lifting, it's pretty hard to determine that with any accuracy. I personally used to just log an extra 250 calories for about 60 minutes of strength training...you don't burn a whole lot while you're lifting.

tyrsnbdr

I assume you are lifting regularly. At some point, it becomes your usually activity level and therefore your TDEE. no need to eat back the calories. On a Bulk you should be eating, eating, lifting and sleeping. IF you are playing sports at the same time. I would eat more.