Who many extra calories on lift days?

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Meg_78
Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
A little advice please: (I'm a gainer who has started lifting)

I currently eat a deficit of -500 (2160) and gain on average 1/2-1 lb a week, if I eat less, for example a deficit of -250 (1910) I just seem to maintain. So how much should I add on my lift days to be sure I eat enough? Right now I wear my HRM and it usually has me at a 200-270cal burn for around 40-60 min...but I have heard they should not be used for lifting, at the moment I use it just to give me a rough guide of how much to eat back...does anyone else have a better suggestion of an amount? Oh BTW 5'4"/100 lbs)

Thanks people!

Meg

Replies

  • Meg_78
    Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
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    Oh yeah, and that should be 'HOW* not who LOL I'll blame it being Saturday night!
  • Montanarush
    Montanarush Posts: 76
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    at your weight, you should burn about 275-300 cal. for 60 minutes. Make sure you get plenty of protein after your workout.
  • Meg_78
    Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
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    at your weight, you should burn about 275-300 cal. for 60 minutes. Make sure you get plenty of protein after your workout.

    Great, Thank you!!! So I'm doing pretty ok then! Yeah I usually have a protein shake (with milk) after, so around 30g protein 240 calories, plus a snack.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    Or you could just a level amount. I find I'm not as hungry on lifting days, so I actually eat more on rest days. And really a lot of the nutrition you have currently came from the food you ate yesterday. This is also why it's not as important to get protein immediately after a work out as was once thought.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    I was gaining last year, and ate around 2800 + exercise cals. I could maintain on around 2400 + exercise cals. I used my HRM as a rough guide to how many cals I was burning through exercise and that worked fairly well :smile:

    From my experience, I've found that MFP's estimates of what a deficit/surplus is, aren't always accurate. I'm losing on 2000 net at the moment and MFP says I should be gaining on that! haha I find it's more trial and error. Find an amount you gain on, and stick to it.

    You can either eat a certain amount + extra on workout days like I did (using HRM for the burn) or you can pick a higher calorie amount, and eat that amount every day, it's up to you, and what works best for you. As long as your gaining the amount you want, it's good :drinker:
  • SVMR17
    SVMR17 Posts: 33
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    This might sound ridiculous, but please help me understand... I am attempting to lower body fat percentage, but more importantly increase muscle. I might be at a point where I need to significantly up my calories and I'm trying to understand why... building muscle requires more calories??? Increasing calories just seems counter-intuitive when you're trying to lower fat, and I am struggling with the idea of eating more.
  • SVMR17
    SVMR17 Posts: 33
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    If I increased calorie intake and wasn't exercising, the extra cals would turn to fat. So, with exercising it will turn to muscle?? I guess it also depends on the quality of food, whole grain and high protein and low sugar.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    This might sound ridiculous, but please help me understand... I am attempting to lower body fat percentage, but more importantly increase muscle. I might be at a point where I need to significantly up my calories and I'm trying to understand why... building muscle requires more calories??? Increasing calories just seems counter-intuitive when you're trying to lower fat, and I am struggling with the idea of eating more.

    For most people you cannot build muscle and removed fat at the same time (obese people, people new to weight lifting, and those returning can gain a small amount of muscle while dieting). Basically, you'll have to decide what you want to do first. If you want to build muscle first, then yes, you eat more than maintenance and lift weights. If you are lifting weights your body will use some of the excess calories to build muscle, some will still go to fat storage though, but hopefully less than that going to muscles. What most body builders do is bulk/cut cycles where they work on building muscles for a few months, then work on cutting fat, and repeat. You can also eat around maintenance and hope your body will build muscle and cut fat at the same time but it's a much slower process.
  • Meg_78
    Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
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    IF you want to gain muscle you have to eat to gain. And eat A LOT! I have been eating around 2000 cals for 4 weeks now, I have only gained 3 lbs, and I'm nor really sure If it has changed my BF% which at 14-17% depending on different sources is stupidly low anyway. You want to be at at least 18% BF I would think to be healthy as a woman, and you need some fat to turn into muscle. So you need good quality calories, not heaps of sugar and fat calories, but good fats (nuts olive oils, avocados dairy), and lots of protein. You also need to eat back your exercise calories.

    I eat and drink a lot of dairy too (about 1/2 a liter a day. you have to fuel your body if you want it to preform, eating little and trying to gain muscle is really just impossible. I'm not saying its always a walk in the park to eat 2000+ in a healthy manner, and sometimes you may add a cheat, like ice-cream, or a mega shake just to up them if you are down. But really it seems like the only way to get muscle results

    Meg

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