Eat BMR + Workout + More???

DarthH8
DarthH8 Posts: 298 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So my BMR is 1800, and I've been burning 400-600 calories per day weight lifting or running, depending on the day.

I've been eating exactly 2200-2400 calories per day on the mark from what MFP gives me for calories/macros.

Should I be pushing this up to like 2500-2700 a day? I'm building muscle that's for sure, but am I really get enough energy to build all that my body could? Seems like I need to figure in a few hundred extra calories for the actual energy expenditure to repair the muscle.

Replies

  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    What are your goals?
  • DarthH8
    DarthH8 Posts: 298 Member
    Bulk, I need bulk. So... little...
  • chubby_checkers
    chubby_checkers Posts: 2,352 Member
    If you're wanting bulk, you need to be eating at a surplus; BMR + exercise cals isn't that. Check out bodybuilding.com. I did a quick search of "bulking" and they had all kinds of articles. I posted the link to one below:

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark64.htm
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    Yup, you need to eat above maintenance to build muscles.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    To give you some perspective, I'm 22 and eating between 2500-2700 a day to CUT.

    Eat more man :P

    Easiest way to do it is TDEE + 10% (any more and you're heading more into a dirty bulk), with macros at 40P:30F:30C.

    Edit; you're complicating things with the running as well. If you want to pack on lean mass more quickly, consider dropping the cardio or at least cutting back on it.
  • Glucocorticoid
    Glucocorticoid Posts: 867 Member
    Your BMR does not equal your maintenance caloric intake
  • DarthH8
    DarthH8 Posts: 298 Member
    Great info, I don't know why it was such a complicated question for me to find an answer to.. I'm usually pretty good at figuring these things out. Nothing was accurate but the bodybuilding.com site is amazing I read a lot of stuff there. I decided to sign up it really does hook you up with some really good info based on what you are trying to do...

    Thanks for all the awesome info! I'll be pushing it to like 2800-3000 calories a day probably. And no more running, just mountain biking and hiking on the weekends :-D
  • DarthH8
    DarthH8 Posts: 298 Member
    Sooooo I have some more questions about this lol.

    So BMR + TDEE + ~10%. That makes more sense, I was just following what MFP gave me for calories. I knew I was doing something wrong.

    What about days where I'm not working out at all? Just BMR + ~?% of some kind?

    I have an issue where I can't avoid doing cardio on the weekends because I go Mountain Biking on Saturdays. I was hoping I could lift Monday through Thursday, rest Friday, ride Saturday, rest Sunday.

    And it might be hard to get out of doing strenuous activity on Sunday too! :-/ Really in a bind with this energy intake thing it seems.

    What it sounds like I need to do is eat the ~3k monday through thursday. Then eat a little less on rest days, and eat a ****LOAD on Mountain Biking day. No joke, my HRM says I burn 1000 calories an hour doing it. Sometimes we stay up for 5-6 hours. Should I kill an extra 5000 calories that day?

    Or, ultimately, should I only be doing 3 days of lifting because I can't get rid of the ride. So I can get an extra day to let my muscles repair as much as they are going to?
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    If you're doing serious lifting, you need rest days in between. So, you either have to adjust the workout days, or work different muscle groups each day to allow for rest and recovery. Typically, you only need to lift 3x a week.

    Also, TDEE includes your BMR. So, just eat TDEE + 10%. on off days, you could eat at TDEE.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    Sooooo I have some more questions about this lol.

    So BMR + TDEE + ~10%. That makes more sense, I was just following what MFP gave me for calories. I knew I was doing something wrong.

    What about days where I'm not working out at all? Just BMR + ~?% of some kind?

    I have an issue where I can't avoid doing cardio on the weekends because I go Mountain Biking on Saturdays. I was hoping I could lift Monday through Thursday, rest Friday, ride Saturday, rest Sunday.

    And it might be hard to get out of doing strenuous activity on Sunday too! :-/ Really in a bind with this energy intake thing it seems.

    What it sounds like I need to do is eat the ~3k monday through thursday. Then eat a little less on rest days, and eat a ****LOAD on Mountain Biking day. No joke, my HRM says I burn 1000 calories an hour doing it. Sometimes we stay up for 5-6 hours. Should I kill an extra 5000 calories that day?

    Or, ultimately, should I only be doing 3 days of lifting because I can't get rid of the ride. So I can get an extra day to let my muscles repair as much as they are going to?

    3 days of lifting - eat TDEE + 10% those days.
    Cardio days eat TDEE + whatever you can choke down from your massive burns. I'm not sure how accurate your HRM will be mountain biking though - does it have a potentiometer in it, or does it work it all out from heart rate?
    Rest days eat at TDEE.

    No need to ditch things you love doing. They make it more complicated, but you can deal with them.

Categories