Calories for bulking

jasveersingh925

I have read many posts as well as other sources and the advice seems to be all over the place. I'm 5'11" and 162 lbs. I don't have much lean mass on me and have a little bit of body fat on my stomach and love handles. I was losing weight up until I made the decision to bulk. I think it would be more effective for me to bulk and add lean mass, and then cut again later. I've seen a lot of advice to do a clean/lean bulk where your calories are only about 200-300 above maintenance and enough to gain .5lb/week. People claim that doing it this way minimizes fat gain. Then, I have read advice that states that clean bulking is BS and you need to eat more calories, i.e. don't be afraid of eating 3000 calories per day. To me that just seems like you would gain fat at a faster rate.

Basically, what I want to know is the best way to gain muscle and minimize fat gains. Thanks for your help!

ryanwood935

Eating at a surplus of 250 calories will cause you to gain half a pound per week. You will put on some fat and some muscle. Eating at a 500 calorie surplus will cause you to gain one pound a week. You will gain slightly more muscle, but much more fat, too. If you don't like cutting, stick with 250 calories. Sounds like this is probably what you want. If you want all the muscle you can get, eat at a 500 calorie surplus.

I think people gravitate to eating 250 calorie surplus because studies generally show you can't build more than half a pound a muscle per week, so why would you eat to gain more than that. The fallacy in their argument is that a 250 calorie surus, you aren't actually gaining half a pound of muscle as some of your gains are fat. Turned into a long answer. Sorry! Hope it helps.

16shelz

Eating 250 a day over maintenance will minimize fat gains, but will also minimize muscle gains. Eating 500 over maintence will maximize both fat and muscle gains It all comes down to the amount fat you are comfortable with gaining.

Brolympus

Eating at a surplus of 250 calories will cause you to gain half a pound per week. You will put on some fat and some muscle. Eating at a 500 calorie surplus will cause you to gain one pound a week. You will gain slightly more muscle, but much more fat, too. If you don't like cutting, stick with 250 calories. Sounds like this is probably what you want. If you want all the muscle you can get, eat at a 500 calorie surplus.

I think people gravitate to eating 250 calorie surplus because studies generally show you can't build more than half a pound a muscle per week, so why would you eat to gain more than that. The fallacy in their argument is that a 250 calorie surus, you aren't actually gaining half a pound of muscle as some of your gains are fat. Turned into a long answer. Sorry! Hope it helps.

Pretty much exactly this. I would eat slightly higher at the 500 calorie range. Yes, it is depressing getting a soft belly, but dropping fat is umpteen times easier than building muscle.

Ex: To gain about 5 lbs of muscle, is going to take you roughly 5 months. Men synthesize muscle fibers in the range of 0.25lbs per week (although, when first starting a training program, you can gain up to 0.5 lbs per week for about 2 months and also simultaneously loose fat at the same time. These are called "newbie gains".) Women are sadly stuck at about 0.125lbs of muscle per week. However, to lose 5 lbs of fat, it might take you just 1 month. Hence why most people start a 6-9 month bulk right around this time of year, and then cut for about 12 weeks during the spring to drop fat for summer.

To answer your last question, yes you can gain weight extremely fast if you don't train right. You need to provide your body with the signals to send the calories into muscle synthesis instead of fat storage by training for hypertrophy in the gym. Lift weights in the range of 8-12 reps, 3-4 sets, where you are failing hard on the last rep each set. Add either more reps or more weight every time you come back to the gym and repeat and exercise, this is called progressive overload. You will also need to vary your workouts; you will typically plateau out every 3-4 weeks, and will need to provide your muscles with new stimuli to continue to keep them growing. Having a nice "bank" of different exercises to cycle through is good, typically I would have 3-4 different rotations you can do, ex. using free weights/dumbells instead of barbells; doing isolated exercises when a particular muscle group is being stubborn and won't grow, etc.

chrisdavey

Option A. Not the eat well over maintenance option.

Also, 250 cals is easy to mis-log. I suggest picking a number, sticking with it and assess if that number is too high, low or just right every fortnight or so.

dieselbyte

Their are many variables to muscle gain outside of caloric intake, but unfortunately many people focus solely on eating more to gain more muscle. The reality is genetics is king. While training programming, progressive overload, daily energy expenditure, rest etc. all play a role, the ratio of fat gain vs muscle gain in some individuals when in a surplus, or the ratio of fat loss vs muscle loss when in a deficit is genetically predetermined (Look up Lyle McDonald P-ratio).

That being said, I recommend starting at 250cals over maintenance to see how your body responds first. It's easier mentally and physically to add more calories through your bulk, than to realize you are too aggressive and start to decrease calories in the middle of bulking. To me it makes more sense to minimize fat gain, then do a short cut to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. Agressive bulking may lead to an agressive cut, where you sacrifice more muscle because you want to get the weight off quicker.

SideSteel

dieselbyte wrote: »

Their are many variables to muscle gain outside of caloric intake, but unfortunately many people focus solely on eating more to gain more muscle. The reality is genetics is king. While training programming, progressive overload, daily energy expenditure, rest etc. all play a role, the ratio of fat gain vs muscle gain in some individuals when in a surplus, or the ratio of fat loss vs muscle loss when in a deficit is genetically predetermined (Look up Lyle McDonald P-ratio).

That being said, I recommend starting at 250cals over maintenance to see how your body responds first. It's easier mentally and physically to add more calories through your bulk, than to realize you are too aggressive and start to decrease calories in the middle of bulking. To me it makes more sense to minimize fat gain, then do a short cut to maintain as much muscle mass as possible. Agressive bulking may lead to an agressive cut, where you sacrifice more muscle because you want to get the weight off quicker.

^ This, and in addition to this, faster bulking may lead to spending less overall time in an energy surplus since you're likely to turn around and go back into a deficit sooner.

MityMax96

What was said above.

And I would just add, that you are starting from a place where you know you have some excess body fat, so I would say start with the 250 calorie surplus, cause you have body fat already, and you are gonna add to it....

To much body fat (you are probably not at this point) at some point can impeded muscle growth
Your body is not as responsive to certain hormones when there is excess body fat.

Good luck with your goals.