Eating when lifting

Farburnfred
Farburnfred Posts: 333 Member
edited December 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
So I have done a ton of reading about lifting over the weekend. i am convinced, my calling the gym this morning! Everything seems to point to the importance of eating plenty when doing a heavy lifting programme, but how much more? I am just 3 lbs off my goal weight and really want to gain muscle. I realise that gaining weight whilst gaining muscle is not an issue but how does one judge how many more calories to eat? i realise that this is a case of what you eat as much as calories but still how much more do you factor in?

Replies

  • T34418l3angel
    T34418l3angel Posts: 474 Member
    I really think it depends how much your burning off, how intense your work out is. you must eat back your work out calories! Some days I eat over 2400 calories on my work out days when I've had a killer day at the gym. I think it's also very important to get some protein in you 30 minutes or under after your work out to help heal those muscles you just beasted on.

    Edited to say: I've been lifting for about 2 1/2 months and have lost 2% bf and have gained 8lbs of muscle (not an estimate, facts provided by bod pod!). I'm on a 3 day split with weights and I only do cardio about 10 minutes a day as I hate it and find it useless to me (not to say its bad, just saying not for me)
  • Farburnfred
    Farburnfred Posts: 333 Member
    but how do you log your lifting calories? do you have to use a HRM?
  • T34418l3angel
    T34418l3angel Posts: 474 Member
    You could, but you don't necessarily need one. http://www.livestrong.com/article/338469-how-to-calculate-calories-burned-weight-lifting/
  • Farburnfred
    Farburnfred Posts: 333 Member
    You could, but you don't necessarily need one. http://www.livestrong.com/article/338469-how-to-calculate-calories-burned-weight-lifting/

    Thank you
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
    If you need some numbers find the calculators for Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Basic Energy Expenditure (BEE). You don't really need to monitor heart rate to determine the calorie expenditure.

    Easiest way is take the numbers you working with now and increase by 200-300 calories. See how it goes in a few weeks, if youre not progressing then go higher.

    Generally I aim for 2400-2600 on training days during maintenance phase or a slow cut. I know my BMR lies around 1850 so do the math on the deficit. During weight gain Im upwards of 3500. Maybe 4000.
  • 05suu
    05suu Posts: 90 Member
    Thank you for that link..will be very useful...been wondering how many calories I burn whilst lifting myself!!!! Even tho I'm abit of a weed!!!
  • JenKillough
    JenKillough Posts: 474 Member
    When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that 200-300 translates to about 2-3 Tablespoons of peanut butter... not very much in the grand scheme. I'm guessing lots of lifters are overeating.
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
    When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that 200-300 translates to about 2-3 Tablespoons of peanut butter... not very much in the grand scheme. I'm guessing lots of lifters are overeating.
    Highly debatable. You're really not going to see much gains on 200-300 calories above maintenance. To be practical, 500 is the usual increase I was just being conservative as I really don't know much about the OP. In addition, WHERE those calories come from matters greatly as to the overall body compositon. Those calories are better suited coming from protein sources if you want to provide building blocks for lean mass where carbs will just end up hanging around the gut. Don't forget the anabolic process of building lean body mass requires a continual energy stream - the growth phase uses up calories and lots of em.
  • JenKillough
    JenKillough Posts: 474 Member
    When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that 200-300 translates to about 2-3 Tablespoons of peanut butter... not very much in the grand scheme. I'm guessing lots of lifters are overeating.
    Highly debatable.

    Oh, I'm sure of it. There are lifters who are getting fat as we speak. Eating too many calories. It's very easy to do.
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392

    Oh, I'm sure of it. There are lifters who are getting fat as we speak. Eating too many calories. It's very easy to do.

    You're absolutely right! Because you cannot gain muscle mass without gaining some amount of fat unless using anabolics. How much fat? Well, that depends on how liberal your eating habits get.
  • T34418l3angel
    T34418l3angel Posts: 474 Member
    When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that 200-300 translates to about 2-3 Tablespoons of peanut butter... not very much in the grand scheme. I'm guessing lots of lifters are overeating.
    Highly debatable.

    Oh, I'm sure of it. There are lifters who are getting fat as we speak. Eating too many calories. It's very easy to do.

    People doing cardio only based exercise are getting fat too! It all comes down to diet, then exercise. if you want to be skinny do mass amounts of cardio, drop the fat along with the muscle if that's the look your going for. But if you want to drop fat and gain muscle weight training is where is at. Abs are built in the kitchen, definition is made in the gym.
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
    People doing cardio only based exercise are getting fat too! It all comes down to diet, then exercise. if you want to be skinny do mass amounts of cardio, drop the fat along with the muscle if that's the look your going for. But if you want to drop fat and gain muscle weight training is where is at. *****Abs are built in the kitchen, definition is made in the gym.

    Oh I love you. Not in that creep online-stalker kind of way, but that way-to-pull-an-awesome-quote kinda way.
  • JenKillough
    JenKillough Posts: 474 Member
    When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that 200-300 translates to about 2-3 Tablespoons of peanut butter... not very much in the grand scheme. I'm guessing lots of lifters are overeating.
    Highly debatable.

    Oh, I'm sure of it. There are lifters who are getting fat as we speak. Eating too many calories. It's very easy to do.

    People doing cardio only based exercise are getting fat too! It all comes down to diet, then exercise. if you want to be skinny do mass amounts of cardio, drop the fat along with the muscle if that's the look your going for. But if you want to drop fat and gain muscle weight training is where is at. Abs are built in the kitchen, definition is made in the gym.

    I love it when people assume I don't know s*** about weightlifting. Wonder why that is? Cause I'm a chick, I guess. My point is... when you exercise it's easy to overeat. Boom, that's it. And it's especially easy to overeat when you only need to increase you calorie intake a few hundred kcals... the illustration was the spoonfuls of peanut butter. Another great example is one of pregnant women... the hunger they experience, I would think it's similar to strenuous weightlifting hunger... you suddenly need to increase your energy intake... was just a bit of advice or heads up for the OP, nothing more.
  • Determinednoob
    Determinednoob Posts: 2,001 Member
    200-300 is a reasonable absolute number for a woman. 500 for a man. or you can go with 10-20% over maintenance. It's all estimates anyway. Start somewhere and adjust as needed.

    as a side note i am eating 4000 cals per day and i only weigh ~180. Might be slightly overdoing it, but another week should tell me more.
  • T34418l3angel
    T34418l3angel Posts: 474 Member
    When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that 200-300 translates to about 2-3 Tablespoons of peanut butter... not very much in the grand scheme. I'm guessing lots of lifters are overeating.
    Highly debatable.

    Oh, I'm sure of it. There are lifters who are getting fat as we speak. Eating too many calories. It's very easy to do.

    People doing cardio only based exercise are getting fat too! It all comes down to diet, then exercise. if you want to be skinny do mass amounts of cardio, drop the fat along with the muscle if that's the look your going for. But if you want to drop fat and gain muscle weight training is where is at. Abs are built in the kitchen, definition is made in the gym.

    I love it when people assume I don't know s*** about weightlifting. Wonder why that is? Cause I'm a chick, I guess. My point is... when you exercise it's easy to overeat. Boom, that's it. And it's especially easy to overeat when you only need to increase you calorie intake a few hundred kcals... the illustration was the spoonfuls of peanut butter. Another great example is one of pregnant women... the hunger they experience, I would think it's similar to strenuous weightlifting hunger... you suddenly need to increase your energy intake... was just a bit of advice or heads up for the OP, nothing more.

    Lol you quote me (a chick) and then say people think you don't know *kitten* about weight lifting because your a chick?? Makes sense....

    Weight training is increasingly recommended as a fat-busting tool because some experts say extra muscle burns more energy than body fat at rest, so if you develop more muscle and have a higher muscle to fat ratio than before, you must burn extra energy and more stored fat as a result. This is true and has been shown in metabolic studies. You also experience an afterburn, The 'afterburn', or the amount of energy you use after you stop exercising, has been promoted as an important slimming idea. If you can get afterburn, which is really another way of saying your metabolism increases for several hours or longer after a particular exercise, then thats a bonus because you burn fat during the exercise and after you cease as well
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    So I have done a ton of reading about lifting over the weekend. i am convinced, my calling the gym this morning! Everything seems to point to the importance of eating plenty when doing a heavy lifting programme, but how much more? I am just 3 lbs off my goal weight and really want to gain muscle. I realise that gaining weight whilst gaining muscle is not an issue but how does one judge how many more calories to eat? i realise that this is a case of what you eat as much as calories but still how much more do you factor in?

    For the most part it is a myth that you need to eat more when you lift. If you have significant fat to loose especially because your body has plenty of energy to draw from.

    But give it a try. Eat more, eat less, see what happens. You body is the end game, not a calorie counter or calculator or any advice anyone gives you. If you know you are gaining fat, simply notch down the calories or if you don't have enough energy then notch it up.

    I ate less while I was in a deficit and also lifted quite heavy for a girl. I still built muscle. I know many guys who have done this same process successfully. My full story of how it worked for me and my experiment with Rusty Moore's procedure:

    Story about doing the Vacation Body Blueprint; http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/745151-i-got-a-compliment-from-rusty-moore-from-fitness-black-book

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout
  • paijing
    paijing Posts: 184 Member
    Different trainers have different recommendations. Some suggest eating 100 cals above maintenance while putting on muscle, and others stand by 250-500 cals. Those who recommend carb or calorie cycling say to eat 750-1000 cals above maintenance on training days (3x/week) and at a 100- 200 cal deficit on rest days.

    Some bodybuilders eat incredible amounts when bulking, but end up gaining a lot of fat, too. Most amateurs prefer to take more of a 'body recomposition' middle road. If you're not planning to compete, then you probably aren't looking to do intense bulk/cut cycles.

    MuscleHack has a calculator that will tell you how much extra to eat based on your weight and % body fat, but I can't say how useful it is.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
    It really comes down to how much muscle can a person synthesis in a given time. This is really going to depend on a lot of different factors. Sex, age, program, diet, health level, experience and so on.

    Most lifters do over eat. Say a person can only gain one pound per month of lean muscle. (I would bet this is pretty average for most males) This will not change even if they eat more than is required to build it. So many lifters think they squeeze in more protein or more calories and it will translate into a bit more muscle but most of the time this is just not the case. All the excess is simply converted into energy and either used up or stored.

    It is not realistic to expect to gain muscle without gaining some fat. I would guess 50/50 ratio is probably realistic. So if you can only synthesis 1 pounds of muscle it would not be necessary to gain more than about 2 pounds total in a month. Anything over that is most likely going to be fat.

    Women might gain a little less and newbies and young adults might gain a little more. It is really going to come down to adjusting calories based on results or over eat to assure maximum synthesis and then cut later. Most lifters choose to over eat because it is difficult to accurately measure calories and TDEE and relatively easy to cut later on.

    Couple good videos on this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC0hSwBq3zk

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLhtjYoU9aQ
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member

    I love it when people assume I don't know s*** about weightlifting. Wonder why that is? Cause I'm a chick, I guess. My point is... when you exercise it's easy to overeat. Boom, that's it. And it's especially easy to overeat when you only need to increase you calorie intake a few hundred kcals... the illustration was the spoonfuls of peanut butter. Another great example is one of pregnant women... the hunger they experience, I would think it's similar to strenuous weightlifting hunger... you suddenly need to increase your energy intake... was just a bit of advice or heads up for the OP, nothing more.

    Jen, it's not that people are assuming you don't know what you're talking about because you're a woman or any other reason like that. It's just that you original contribution "lifters are overeating and getting fat" really should read " *people* are overeating and getting fat", because overeating is overeating. I think people were just reacted to an overly simplified statement.

    It's actually pretty hard to gain weight while training hard. The for me to actually gain mass, I'd have to multiply the 300 odd calories that MFP gives me for 60 mins of lifting by 3. I'd have to be a minimum of 500 cals over each day and 800-1000 would be in the realm of possibility depending on the type of training program I am on.

    Anyways, back to the OP. I don't know what type of training you're doing and even if you listed the exercises, the actual intensity level that you're working at would have to be seen. In these cases I err on the low side. Since you are just starting out, even when you feel you are lifting hard, your intensity level (as measured by weight lifted in relation to max weight possible to lift) is actually very low. I would keep eating the same way you're eating right now. Definitely don't add a bunch of calories at this stage of the game. MFP will probably give you 200 cals or so, and it's fine if you want to eat that.

    I'm glad you added strength training to your regimen. I'm positive that if you stick with it you'll be ecstatic about your results. At this beginning stage, I'd rather you spend your time making sure you know how to safely perform each exercise in your routine and increasing weight used. We'll sweat these and other details later. See you in 60-90 days.

    Best of luck!
  • JenKillough
    JenKillough Posts: 474 Member
    Jen, it's not that people are assuming you don't know what you're talking about because you're a woman or any other reason like that. It's just that you original contribution "lifters are overeating and getting fat" really should read " *people* are overeating and getting fat", because overeating is overeating. I think people were just reacted to an overly simplified statement.

    I said that because the OP is asking about calorie consumption specifically related to his/her (sorry, have no idea of OP's gender) addition of weightlifting into the exercise regimen. Maybe it was overly simplified, but I was aiming for specificity.
  • JenKillough
    JenKillough Posts: 474 Member
    Lol you quote me (a chick) and then say people think you don't know *kitten* about weight lifting because your a chick?? Makes sense....

    Women might be even quicker to assume such, sure.
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