Muscle gain.

danielwillis22

Hi guys, I am a bit confused and would appreciate some clarification.

I was on a low calorie diet over winter ( about 800 per day) and lost a lot of muscle mass. now its coming up to summer and i want to bulk up a hell of a lot. it wasnt until i looked at pictures of myself last summer that i realised how much muscle i had lost.

What is the best training and diet i should be on?

Im currently eating about 1400 calories a day, gym about 5 days a week working shoulders, chest, back/lats, biceps and abs every second day. I do 3/4 days of cardio a week, usually about 5km on the cross trainer for 30 mins.

Im 18, 162 pounds and 6 foot exactly.

Whats the quickest way for me to build muscle and avoid as much fat gain as possible from coming off a low calorie diet?

Any help/ oppinions will be greatly appreciated.

JenMc14

You're not going to build any muscle on 1400 calories a day. Even I as a 5'4, 139 pound female will lose on 1400 a day. The fastest way to gain muscle is to bulk, eat 200-300 calories over your maintenance. Lift heavy, cut back on the cardio or eat more to make up for it. But, that. Comes with fat gain as well. You could look into a recomp, which will have you eating around maintenance and lifting, but that's still more than 1400 calories, and is a longer, sometimes more frustrating process.

danielwillis22

I have done hundreds of research but its the same with anything, theres things saying certain things are good with reasons for it and then people going against it and saying the exact opposite, its all a bit too confusing.

Ive heard that doing cardio will prevent me building muscle mass if I dont have a enough calories?

Harrisonsauntie2005

... leaves thread

3laine75

There's really no way to avoid a bit of fat gain - but will it be noticeable on you? You look pretty lean.

You'll need to work out your TDEE then eat at surplus (I've heard 400 or 500 for guys). Get a good mix of macros. You'll either need to drop some of the cardio or make allowances for it,calorie wise. If you gain more fat than you'd like, you can always cut afterwards. You have youth and hormones on your side

I'm jealous btw, just came off my first bulk - you get to eat all the food.

SezxyStef

you aren't gonna gain muscle doing what you are doing either.

You eat less than me...

not sure how an 18 yo male who is 6 ft could even survive on 800 calories but eh.

JenMc14

It's not that cardio will prevent muscle gain, it's that you'll be burning extra calories which could otherwise go to building muscle, so you'd need to eat more.

gymkoala

I'm coming back from a bulk lasted a year and a half, i think i went to 4000 a day or more, i don't suggest that to you but if you exercise hard don't be afraid of calories, i gained a little fat but when you become a fuel burning machine it's easy to shred it down. 800 it seems like joke if you did that for real you have to slowly amp up your metabolism .

And if you are new to the game also building muscle at the beginning it's gonna be an easy game

bluetuesday5

1. You should train your legs. They are the biggest muscles in your body.
2. Add 250 calories a week until you start gaining weight, then keep eating that amount. Keep tracking so you don't begin to over/under eat and aim for around 1/2lb a week.
3. Personally I don't think 5 day splits are that great, I would go with something like Stronglifts or maybe 5/3/1.

BTW, for an idea of how many calories you should be eating, I am around 83kg and 20% bodyfat. I am getting 3500-4000 kcal a day, training 6DAW on upper/lower split, and am barely maintaining weight while my lifts are going up.

jonlfischer

you need to eat
i would shoot for at least 2000 calories a day. roughly 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight

Chieflrg

You want to up your calories quite a bit. Well into the 2000 cal range eventually depending on what you do for a living.

If you want to bulk clean quicker, best to cut out your cardio down to a couple days, I would replace the cardio with hill repeats as it is the only cardio that is proven to add muscle if you're eating at a surplus.

If you want mass, you want to go with the big compound lifts in the 4-5 sets of 8-12 rep range.

Make sure on your macros to eat enough protein.

Ashes_To_Beast

You want to up your calories quite a bit. Well into the 2000 cal range eventually depending on what you do for a living.

If you want to bulk clean quicker, best to cut out your cardio down to a couple days, I would replace the cardio with hill repeats as it is the only cardio that is proven to add muscle if you're eating at a surplus.

If you want mass, you want to go with the big compound lifts in the 4-5 sets of 8-12 rep range.

Make sure on your macros to eat enough protein.

^^^^^ This

We're about the same weight and height, you need between 2700 and 2900 Cals to gain muscle, At least 2400 to Maintain,

gymkoala

and continuous progressive overload !

6ronXtreme9

1.lift weights
2.eat 200-300 calories above the maintenance level
3.eat at least 2 gms. of protein / bodyweight in lbs
4.you're not going to gain muscles in few weeks so train hard.keep pateince and be consistent!

danielwillis22

wow, thanks for all the advice guys, definitely taking it all on board. nothing really contradicts itself which is perfect. the only thing im worried about is that if i eat the 2000 calories a day i will end up putting on more fat than muscle because my body is in starvation mode? I feel like such an idiot for putting myself through 800 calories a day but im just glad im doing the healthy thing now.

Im currently on soy protein isolate, but im a bit of a noob when it comes to protein shakes. Im only using them to try and bulk up quicker because getting protein on a vegetarian diet can be tricky sometimes, all I eat is fish and quorn. How many times should I be taking the shakes a day?

6ronXtreme9

wow, thanks for all the advice guys, definitely taking it all on board. nothing really contradicts itself which is perfect. the only thing im worried about is that if i eat the 2000 calories a day i will end up putting on more fat than muscle because my body is in starvation mode? I feel like such an idiot for putting myself through 800 calories a day but im just glad im doing the healthy thing now.

Im currently on soy protein isolate, but im a bit of a noob when it comes to protein shakes. Im only using them to try and bulk up quicker because getting protein on a vegetarian diet can be tricky sometimes, all I eat is fish and quorn. How many times should I be taking the shakes a day?

just fill your macros

Ashes_To_Beast

wow, thanks for all the advice guys, definitely taking it all on board. nothing really contradicts itself which is perfect. the only thing im worried about is that if i eat the 2000 calories a day i will end up putting on more fat than muscle because my body is in starvation mode? I feel like such an idiot for putting myself through 800 calories a day but im just glad im doing the healthy thing now.

Im currently on soy protein isolate, but im a bit of a noob when it comes to protein shakes. Im only using them to try and bulk up quicker because getting protein on a vegetarian diet can be tricky sometimes, all I eat is fish and quorn. How many times should I be taking the shakes a day?

Actually you can start gaining weight on too high of a deficit if your body hits starvation mode, like if you don't drink enough water your body will retain it.

And if you can switch to Whey protein isolate you would probably be better off... Soy can affect your testosterone levels. Google it though because It's been a while since I read up on it and could be mistaken. And train legs. Why are you not training legs?

3laine75

If you're happy with fish in your diet, would you consider using whey instead of soy protein? More complete and faster digested, as far as I'm aware.

Men, in general, can gain 0.5 lb muscle a week so if you shoot for anything between 0.5 and 1 lb a week gain your fat gains should be minimal. Don't forget, you'll need to be progressively loading too.

ETA: you're going to need more than 2000 cals - I'm a 5'6 female and my maintainence cals are around 2100. Work your way up to a sensible intake so it's not so scary.

JoRocka

wow, thanks for all the advice guys, definitely taking it all on board. nothing really contradicts itself which is perfect. the only thing im worried about is that if i eat the 2000 calories a day i will end up putting on more fat than muscle because my body is in starvation mode? I feel like such an idiot for putting myself through 800 calories a day but im just glad im doing the healthy thing now.

Im currently on soy protein isolate, but im a bit of a noob when it comes to protein shakes. Im only using them to try and bulk up quicker because getting protein on a vegetarian diet can be tricky sometimes, all I eat is fish and quorn. How many times should I be taking the shakes a day?

You're an 18 year old male.

You're in the prime of your life to be eating all the things and lifting all the things and making insane gains.

Eat no less than 2000- I was bulking on closer to 3000 by the time I got done with my bulk (remember as you gain- that number goes up)- you probably want to be eating 2000 to start- just to iron your body out- then start adding in 2-300 increments till you hitt a balance around 400-500 on surplus- do that for a couple months and get swole.

Seriously- you'll put on muscle like you've never seen before if you progressive lift and eat for it.

Eat. ALL. THE. THINGS.

LIFT. ALL.THE.THINGS.

Galatea_Stone

I'm a "skinny" female who got up to a whopping 134 pounds from 120 on my bulk, and it took 2600+ calories a day to do it. I did not gain an appreciable amount of fat. I barely gained any noticeable fat and I like the way I look at the top of a bulk, which surprised me. My protein intake hovered between 140 and 170 grams a day.

Eat, eat and eat some more. Do you eat any dairy or eggs? If so, then go with casein and whey proteins. Get used to downing the shakes. Eat as much plain greek yogurt (with fat) as you can.

Keep eating the fish. The fattier fishes are great. Get your omega-3s. Tilapia and Basa are way low calorie and hard to bulk on unless you eat a couple pounds of that a day, which is expensive, or you cook them in olive oils and Italian sauces. Eat avocados, oils, coconut oil, drink coconut milk, and work hard to get enough protein. 160-180 grams a day of protein would do you well.

danielwillis22

My legs are still pretty lean and muscly from when i played rugby a year ago and from downhill mountain biking.

I drink alpro milks, like the coconut milk, almond milk, soy milk. I eat peanut butter a lot. I blend almonds with water to make an almond paste which isnt as good as shop bought almond butter but its a hell of a lot cheaper.

I appreciate all the help, you guys are awesome. I just feel like i eating 24/7 but its probably just because i was eating so little before and i got used to it, that now it feels like im eating my body weight in food, haha.