increase calories to gain muscle?
karenboy29687
Posts: 61 Member
After reaching my weightloss goal in October, I've developed a real interest in gaining muscle mass. Everything I read tells me that I have to increase my calories ABOVE MAINTENANCE to be able to accomplish this, and I am scared to death to do that! I am 5feet, 2 inches, and weight about 119 lbs. I work out 6 days a week, and eat between 1500-160" calories per day.
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**1500-1600 calories0
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So is 1500-1600 your maintenance? I use Scooby's calculator to work out my TDEE (http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) which seems to work for me. To bulk somewhere around 200 to 300 cals above TDEE is often recommended. This gives enough surplus to gain muscle without putting on too much fat. Some fat gain is inevitable but being controlled with the calorie surplus can limit this. The maximum muscle gain a woman can expect is around 1lb per month.0
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So is 1500-1600 your maintenance? I use Scooby's calculator to work out my TDEE (http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/) which seems to work for me. To bulk somewhere around 200 to 300 cals above TDEE is often recommended. This gives enough surplus to gain muscle without putting on too much fat. Some fat gain is inevitable but being controlled with the calorie surplus can limit this. The maximum muscle gain a woman can expect is around 1lb per month.
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Also, if you are really scared of gaining fat, you can aim for very low surplus, try to stay somewhere between TDEE and TDEE +100 for a while (a month or two) until you are ready. You will gain some muscle just very little and make progress with your lifts even on a modest surplus
1600 for somebody who works out 6 times a week seems a bit low. My TDEE is 2200- 2300, I work out 3-4 times a week plus walk around a bit, I'm 5'70
