Gaining/Bulking?

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LewisNunn
LewisNunn Posts: 7
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
So I've lost thirty five pounds and near enough hit my target all but a pound. As I've been so set on losing weight and jumped right in I kind of made it hard on myself by lowering my calories too quickly so I don't want to make the same mistakes when gaining/bulking.

If anyone has any tips on what my nutritional intakes should be and how I could work into gaining then it would be most appreciated!:D

I'm still on a 1200 calorie diet if that helps and I find it hard to eat more than that a day:/
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Replies

  • justinproulx1
    justinproulx1 Posts: 335
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    you want to gain weight?? triple the cals your eating now cause 1200 cals is a 90 lb girl cutting diet......and quit counting cals and start counting macros. Lift Heavy and sleep. Youll grow.......... it aint hard
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    Yea, you are going to have to eat a lot more. Start adding oils, butter, nuts, peanut butter into your diet. They can add up quick.
  • linorang1
    linorang1 Posts: 18
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    Do you know you TDEE(Maintenance calories)?. If so, i recommend you eat 300-400 calories in surplus in order to accumulate less fat gain.
  • timbrom
    timbrom Posts: 303 Member
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    Read this: http://thefitcoach.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/584/

    Buy and read this: http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388785209&sr=8-1&keywords=starting+strength
  • justinproulx1
    justinproulx1 Posts: 335
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    Also people need to know the macro amounts you eat is more important than cals. You cant eat 2500 cals of fat and gain muscle. Easy way to start is 1 gram Protein per lb of lean mass, .5 grams of fat per lb of lean mass. Find out your dail;y maintence and add 300-500 cals on top of that. So whatver is left after the P and F fill up with carb calories. pretty simple stuff brah
  • linorang1
    linorang1 Posts: 18
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    I believe this would create a larger margin for fat gain, i would highly recommend a slight caloric increase weekly or bi-weekly, according to your weight.
  • justinproulx1
    justinproulx1 Posts: 335
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    sorry wrong
    I believe this would create a larger margin for fat gain, i would highly recommend a slight caloric increase weekly or bi-weekly, according to your weight.
  • RaeLB
    RaeLB Posts: 1,216 Member
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    I'm a 118lb girl and I'm eating almost double you.

    I am currently bulking so I am eating 390 calories over my maintenance which puts me at 2000 calories.

    As others said, find out your TDEE and eat a surplus of a few hundred.

    If you find it difficult, introduce a lot of calorie dense foods to your diet and you can also drink your calories: protein shakes!
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    Also people need to know the macro amounts you eat is more important than cals. You cant eat 2500 cals of fat and gain muscle. Easy way to start is 1 gram Protein per lb of lean mass, .5 grams of fat per lb of lean mass. Find out your dail;y maintence and add 300-500 cals on top of that. So whatver is left after the P and F fill up with carb calories. pretty simple stuff brah

    Right! But you have to make sure you get both sufficient calories and macros. I think what you were saying is if you get your macros the calories will take care of themselves. While that's true, most newbies have no clue how many macros they need, so counting calories is easier initially. With 26% of the diet being protein, it's not that hard to get the right amount of fat and carbs by counting calories.

    And to the OP: you may wish to increase your calories slowly, by incremements of 500 initially. It might be hard to stomach 2500-3500 right away, but chances are that's what you will need considering your age and accounting for maintenance, exercise cals, and a slight or moderate surplus on top of that. I'm almost ten years older than you, and according to MFP I eat a 300-350 cal surplus per day, which brings me to 3000 on an average day. A quarter or so of that is protein, at least half is carbs, and the rest is fats.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
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    Start raising your calories by a 100-200 calories per week. Do this until you start gaining weight. If weight gain stalls increase it again.

    Try to get a minimum of 1 gram of protein/pound of body weight and .35 grams of fat/pound of body weight. The rest of your calories can be whatever you want.


    Of course you need to be doing some form of resistance training or a lot of the weight gain will be fat.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    I believe this would create a larger margin for fat gain, i would highly recommend a slight caloric increase weekly or bi-weekly, according to your weight.

    sorry wrong

    Actually, I agree with the first poster.

    I would suggest that you gradually increase your calories by about 100 per week and monitor your weight; keep creeping up the cals until you find you've hit maintenance - you may gain a couple pounds and then stabilize when you reach that point. Hang out in maintenance for a couple of weeks, and then add another 300-500 calories to bulk. You can add these gradually as well. Creeping the calories up this way will likely be easier for you to stomach. It's not hard to add 100 calories (a glass of milk, tablespoon of peanut butter) but adding 1000 is. Also, a lot of people find that creeping the cals up actually sets you up to be able to eat more in the long run, which makes it easier to cut again (you won't have to do anything so drastic as 1200). The suggestion to aim for 1g protein per lb lean body mass is a good one.
  • justinproulx1
    justinproulx1 Posts: 335
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    yes exactly what im saying and good point on the not all people would know that. +1
    Also people need to know the macro amounts you eat is more important than cals. You cant eat 2500 cals of fat and gain muscle. Easy way to start is 1 gram Protein per lb of lean mass, .5 grams of fat per lb of lean mass. Find out your dail;y maintence and add 300-500 cals on top of that. So whatver is left after the P and F fill up with carb calories. pretty simple stuff brah

    Right! But you have to make sure you get both sufficient calories and macros. I think what you were saying is if you get your macros the calories will take care of themselves. While that's true, most newbies have no clue how many macros they need, so counting calories is easier initially. With 26% of the diet being protein, it's not that hard to get the right amount of fat and carbs by counting calories.

    And to the OP: you may wish to increase your calories slowly, by incremements of 500 initially. It might be hard to stomach 2500-3500 right away, but chances are that's what you will need considering your age and accounting for maintenance, exercise cals, and a slight or moderate surplus on top of that. I'm almost ten years older than you, and according to MFP I eat a 300-350 cal surplus per day, which brings me to 3000 on an average day. A quarter or so of that is protein, at least half is carbs, and the rest is fats.
  • LewisNunn
    LewisNunn Posts: 7
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    I know all of you are trying to help but only a couple of you are saying things that I understand the rest is just foreign..
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Of course you need to be doing some form of resistance training or a lot of the weight gain will be fat.

    Also this. Very much. Lift heavy, find a good progressive program.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    I know all of you are trying to help but only a couple of you are saying things that I understand the rest is just foreign..

    What are you struggling with?

    Or, what information, specifically, do you need to make this easier for you?
  • justinproulx1
    justinproulx1 Posts: 335
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    well have to agree to disagree on that one, you know damn well his maintence is no where near 1200 why waste the time going up 100 a week wasting months before you even get close to his maintence and then another month to go over it. Just figure out the number tweak and monitor from there. People so scared about losing there little beiber abs are scared to grow.
    I believe this would create a larger margin for fat gain, i would highly recommend a slight caloric increase weekly or bi-weekly, according to your weight.

    sorry wrong

    Actually, I agree with the first poster.

    I would suggest that you gradually increase your calories by about 100 per week and monitor your weight; keep creeping up the cals until you find you've hit maintenance - you may gain a couple pounds and then stabilize when you reach that point. Hang out in maintenance for a couple of weeks, and then add another 300-500 calories to bulk. You can add these gradually as well. Creeping the calories up this way will likely be easier for you to stomach. It's not hard to add 100 calories (a glass of milk, tablespoon of peanut butter) but adding 1000 is. Also, a lot of people find that creeping the cals up actually sets you up to be able to eat more in the long run, which makes it easier to cut again (you won't have to do anything so drastic as 1200). The suggestion to aim for 1g protein per lb lean body mass is a good one.
  • LewisNunn
    LewisNunn Posts: 7
    Options
    I believe this would create a larger margin for fat gain, i would highly recommend a slight caloric increase weekly or bi-weekly, according to your weight.

    sorry wrong

    Actually, I agree with the first poster.

    I would suggest that you gradually increase your calories by about 100 per week and monitor your weight; keep creeping up the cals until you find you've hit maintenance - you may gain a couple pounds and then stabilize when you reach that point. Hang out in maintenance for a couple of weeks, and then add another 300-500 calories to bulk. You can add these gradually as well. Creeping the calories up this way will likely be easier for you to stomach. It's not hard to add 100 calories (a glass of milk, tablespoon of peanut butter) but adding 1000 is. Also, a lot of people find that creeping the cals up actually sets you up to be able to eat more in the long run, which makes it easier to cut again (you won't have to do anything so drastic as 1200). The suggestion to aim for 1g protein per lb lean body mass is a good one.

    This makes sense and fits what I know I can handle perfectly. Thank you.
  • Fithealthyforlife
    Fithealthyforlife Posts: 866 Member
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    I know all of you are trying to help but only a couple of you are saying things that I understand the rest is just foreign..

    Are you tracking calories now? Or is 1200 a guesstimate?

    Macros are macro nutrients: protein, carbs, and fat. We need mostly carbs, and the least amount of fat. MFP gives a good breakdown to shoot for if you track using the diary.

    Exercise calories are what you burn off. Eventually you will have to account for those and eat that much extra per day to maintain a stable weight.

    Gaining weight requires a few hundred more calories above this. That's called the dietary surplus.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    I know all of you are trying to help but only a couple of you are saying things that I understand the rest is just foreign..

    You're not eating enough...eat more.
    1200 calories is way to low for you...eat more.
    Lift weights.

    Does that sum it up for you?
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    well have to agree to disagree on that one, you know damn well his maintence is no where near 1200 why waste the time going up 100 a week wasting months before you even get close to his maintence and then another month to go over it. Just figure out the number tweak and monitor from there. People so scared about losing there little beiber abs are scared to grow.

    I suggested the gradual intake because a) he says it's hard to eat more than that and b) he says he's been in super-diet mode and bulking is kinda scary, so why on earth would you make it more difficult by making the experience more stressful and adherence less likely? What's the rush? People think bulking is easy/fun - it has its high points, yes, but it can be psychologically/mentally challenging (and yes, I'm speaking from experience. I am heading into my 5th months of a bulk - first one - after having finally dieted down to a place where I was confident/comfortable for the first time).

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