Eating over my cals and lifting

Honeycat89

Hi there,

My daily calorie intake without exercise is 1600 a day for maintenance, I usually do 4 cardio sessions a week burning around 500 cals each time. I eat back all my cals. However I quite often eat over my daily allowance because i'm always hungry. (I'm 23, 5ft5 and weigh about 123lb). Now I also lift and do weights about 3 times a week. My question is if i'm eating over my cals and lifting will I put on fat or muscle? The last time I checked my body fat was 18% which I was told was slightly low, but since I eat well and exercise my trainer told me it was fine as I was athletic. Can I continue to eat over my cals without gaining fat or will it eventually catch up with me? I'm fine putting on a few lb as long as it's muscle!

Thanks

Honeycat89

(fyi in the last few months I've put on approx 2-4lb but my body fat has decreased and I've stayed the same clothes size)

JoshD8705

When you eat a surplus you gain both muscle and fat. The point of a calorie surplus is to bulk up. When you finsh a bulk you switch to eating under your calories with a higher protien intake to maintain the new muscle, but lose the new fat.

Honeycat89

I know if I do it every day I'd get weight but is it ok to go over every so often and not have to worry about making it up?

la_te_ra_lus

as long as you notice you're not putting on any extra fluff.. keep doing what you're doing.

JoshD8705

If it's ocassional it won't matter. It all comes down to if there is a surplus, or deficit over an extended amount of time. Alot of people on here use a system where they eat high, and low over the week, where the week still finishes in a deficit.