Making gains

markyboy1979
markyboy1979 Posts: 13 Member
Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.
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Replies

  • grantevans11
    grantevans11 Posts: 114 Member
    Did you enter your activity level correctly when signing up? 4,700 calories is a lot of food, are you sure that's right?
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Was there a question in there? Or were you just making a statement?
  • letsgain01
    letsgain01 Posts: 106 Member
    What's the question? Add long add you work out enough to burn the calories into muscle instead of of turning into day it's not a big deal anyway
  • breonn_clark
    breonn_clark Posts: 11 Member
    To be honest, if you wanna make gains your biggest concern should be to just make sure your not taking in the wrong kinds of foods. If you stick to a fairly healthy diet without a ludicrous number of calories and lift 5 days a week your gains should be excellent. I recommend supplements too as a added boost. Hope I could help
  • This content has been removed.
  • jenglish712
    jenglish712 Posts: 497 Member
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.
  • markyboy1979
    markyboy1979 Posts: 13 Member

    Did you enter your activity level correctly when signing up? 4,700 calories is a lot of food, are you sure that's right?

    I entered very active and scan in my meals and that's the amount it showed.
  • markyboy1979
    markyboy1979 Posts: 13 Member
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.

    I weigh all my food. I work in construction so I'm burning cal all day then hit the gym. If eat the amount of cal MFP are suggesting I wail start losing weight.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.

    I weigh all my food. I work in construction so I'm burning cal all day then hit the gym. If eat the amount of cal MFP are suggesting I wail start losing weight.

    then you need to eat 1200 less calories and eat to 3500...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    To be honest, if you wanna make gains your biggest concern should be to just make sure your not taking in the wrong kinds of foods. If you stick to a fairly healthy diet without a ludicrous number of calories and lift 5 days a week your gains should be excellent. I recommend supplements too as a added boost. Hope I could help

    nope…

    just hit your macro/micro/calorie goal.

    type of food does not matter…

    good luck hitting 3500 calories a day on chicken, fish, vegetables, and rice…

    nothing wrong with adding in some calorie dense foods like bagels, ice cream, cookies, etc, in the the context of hitting your overall calorie/macro/micro goal...
  • breonn_clark
    breonn_clark Posts: 11 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    To be honest, if you wanna make gains your biggest concern should be to just make sure your not taking in the wrong kinds of foods. If you stick to a fairly healthy diet without a ludicrous number of calories and lift 5 days a week your gains should be excellent. I recommend supplements too as a added boost. Hope I could help

    nope…

    just hit your macro/micro/calorie goal.

    type of food does not matter…

    good luck hitting 3500 calories a day on chicken, fish, vegetables, and rice…

    nothing wrong with adding in some calorie dense foods like bagels, ice cream, cookies, etc, in the the context of hitting your overall calorie/macro/micro goal...

    Didn't know if he was trying to gain weight or muscles gains.. My bad and I didn't mean a strict diet I was just saying make sure it's well rounded

  • This content has been removed.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    To be honest, if you wanna make gains your biggest concern should be to just make sure your not taking in the wrong kinds of foods. If you stick to a fairly healthy diet without a ludicrous number of calories and lift 5 days a week your gains should be excellent. I recommend supplements too as a added boost. Hope I could help

    nope…

    just hit your macro/micro/calorie goal.

    type of food does not matter…

    good luck hitting 3500 calories a day on chicken, fish, vegetables, and rice…

    nothing wrong with adding in some calorie dense foods like bagels, ice cream, cookies, etc, in the the context of hitting your overall calorie/macro/micro goal...

    Didn't know if he was trying to gain weight or muscles gains.. My bad and I didn't mean a strict diet I was just saying make sure it's well rounded

    I don't think there would be a difference...

    if you eat "the right foods", are in a surplus, and don't lift then you would just gain mostly fat anyway ...?

    progressive lifting + caloric surplus + hit macros/micros = muscle gain ...right?
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.

    Does the 4700 you entered reflect a normal day? If so, you're going to have to overshoot it by 500 to gain a lb a week.

    Increase gradually till you find your maintenance, maybe sit there for a few weeks then gradually increase again till you get the gains you're looking for.

    You'll probably need to set your goals manually, I can't help you with that, I'm depressingly average.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    To be honest, if you wanna make gains your biggest concern should be to just make sure your not taking in the wrong kinds of foods. If you stick to a fairly healthy diet without a ludicrous number of calories and lift 5 days a week your gains should be excellent. I recommend supplements too as a added boost. Hope I could help

    nope…

    just hit your macro/micro/calorie goal.

    type of food does not matter…

    good luck hitting 3500 calories a day on chicken, fish, vegetables, and rice…

    nothing wrong with adding in some calorie dense foods like bagels, ice cream, cookies, etc, in the the context of hitting your overall calorie/macro/micro goal...

    Didn't know if he was trying to gain weight or muscles gains.. My bad and I didn't mean a strict diet I was just saying make sure it's well rounded

    It'd be pretty hard for it not to be well rounded if it comes in at over 5000 (damn near impossible to keep it 'clean').

  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    edited March 2015
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    3laine75 wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.

    Does the 4700 you entered reflect a normal day? If so, you're going to have to overshoot it by 500 to gain a lb a week.

    Increase gradually till you find your maintenance, maybe sit there for a few weeks then gradually increase again till you get the gains you're looking for.

    You'll probably need to set your goals manually, I can't help you with that, I'm depressingly average.

    I think he said that MFP gave him 3500 to gain but when he logged in all his food he is at 4700 for the day ..so he is 1200 calories over....or did I miss something???
  • lucygoesrawr
    lucygoesrawr Posts: 184 Member
    edited March 2015
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I think he said that MFP gave him 3500 to gain but when he logged in all his food he is at 4700 for the day ..so he is 1200 calories over....or did I miss something???
    I got the impression he was saying he checked how much he had already been eating and found it was over what MFP would recommend for weight gain (and presumably hadn't been gaining) - so the calorie estimate is wrong.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    3laine75 wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.

    Does the 4700 you entered reflect a normal day? If so, you're going to have to overshoot it by 500 to gain a lb a week.

    Increase gradually till you find your maintenance, maybe sit there for a few weeks then gradually increase again till you get the gains you're looking for.

    You'll probably need to set your goals manually, I can't help you with that, I'm depressingly average.

    I think he said that MFP gave him 3500 to gain but when he logged in all his food he is at 4700 for the day ..so he is 1200 calories over....or did I miss something???

    Oh, I thought he was doing the thing we do (I did anyway) when we first join. Set it all up for what you want then log a typical day, out of interest. Assuming day is typical and he's not currently gaining, I thought he'd need to customise.

    I could be wrong, it's happened before (it is RARE though XD).

  • RoToQ
    RoToQ Posts: 93 Member
    The whole formula is a guideline. Pick a number between 3500 and 4700 and stick to that for a month or two, recording your weight fluctuation. Then adjust by +-250 accordingly.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    I think he said that MFP gave him 3500 to gain but when he logged in all his food he is at 4700 for the day ..so he is 1200 calories over....or did I miss something???
    I got the impression he was saying he checked how much he had already been eating and found it was over what MFP would recommend for weight gain (and presumably hadn't been gaining) - so the calorie estimate is wrong.


    That's how I took it, based on his stating, "So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal."

    I guess I could have taken it incorrectly, but that's what it sounds like he's saying.
  • markyboy1979
    markyboy1979 Posts: 13 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.

    I weigh all my food. I work in construction so I'm burning cal all day then hit the gym. If eat the amount of cal MFP are suggesting I wail start losing weight.

    then you need to eat 1200 less calories and eat to 3500...

    Lol but I'm trying to gain muscle mass ??
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.

    I weigh all my food. I work in construction so I'm burning cal all day then hit the gym. If eat the amount of cal MFP are suggesting I wail start losing weight.

    then you need to eat 1200 less calories and eat to 3500...

    Lol but I'm trying to gain muscle mass ??

    He is under the assumption that you would be gaining too rapidly at that level of intake. That's a 1200 calorie surplus.
  • markyboy1979
    markyboy1979 Posts: 13 Member
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
    I set my goal to gain weight 1 lb per week that's when MFP said to eat 3500 cal. I think your right tho 4700 or around that is maintenance for me I think I have to increase my cal by 500 see what happens after a few weeks. I did make my dairy public so yous can have a look. Thanks for your time.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
    I set my goal to gain weight 1 lb per week that's when MFP said to eat 3500 cal. I think your right tho 4700 or around that is maintenance for me I think I have to increase my cal by 500 see what happens after a few weeks. I did make my dairy public so yous can have a look. Thanks for your time.

    I am massively confused now...

    OP - please answer the following..

    is 3500 the number that MFP gave you to gain one pound per week..Yes/NO
    is4500 the number that you get when you enter all your food for the day...yes/no

  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
    I set my goal to gain weight 1 lb per week that's when MFP said to eat 3500 cal. I think your right tho 4700 or around that is maintenance for me I think I have to increase my cal by 500 see what happens after a few weeks. I did make my dairy public so yous can have a look. Thanks for your time.

    Holy protein intake, Batman!
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    auddii wrote: »
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
    I set my goal to gain weight 1 lb per week that's when MFP said to eat 3500 cal. I think your right tho 4700 or around that is maintenance for me I think I have to increase my cal by 500 see what happens after a few weeks. I did make my dairy public so yous can have a look. Thanks for your time.

    Holy protein intake, Batman!

    Indeed. Raise carbs, drop protein.
  • markyboy1979
    markyboy1979 Posts: 13 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.

    I weigh all my food. I work in construction so I'm burning cal all day then hit the gym. If eat the amount of cal MFP are suggesting I wail start losing weight.

    then you need to eat 1200 less calories and eat to 3500...

    Lol but I'm trying to gain muscle mass ??

    He is under the assumption that you would be gaining too rapidly at that level of intake. That's a 1200 calorie surplus.
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
    I set my goal to gain weight 1 lb per week that's when MFP said to eat 3500 cal. I think your right tho 4700 or around that is maintenance for me I think I have to increase my cal by 500 see what happens after a few weeks. I did make my dairy public so yous can have a look. Thanks for your time.

    I am massively confused now...

    OP - please answer the following..

    is 3500 the number that MFP gave you to gain one pound per week..Yes/NO
    is4500 the number that you get when you enter all your food for the day...yes/no
    YES.......YES
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.

    I weigh all my food. I work in construction so I'm burning cal all day then hit the gym. If eat the amount of cal MFP are suggesting I wail start losing weight.

    then you need to eat 1200 less calories and eat to 3500...

    Lol but I'm trying to gain muscle mass ??

    He is under the assumption that you would be gaining too rapidly at that level of intake. That's a 1200 calorie surplus.
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
    I set my goal to gain weight 1 lb per week that's when MFP said to eat 3500 cal. I think your right tho 4700 or around that is maintenance for me I think I have to increase my cal by 500 see what happens after a few weeks. I did make my dairy public so yous can have a look. Thanks for your time.

    I am massively confused now...

    OP - please answer the following..

    is 3500 the number that MFP gave you to gain one pound per week..Yes/NO
    is4500 the number that you get when you enter all your food for the day...yes/no
    YES.......YES

    Ok then you need to eat to the 3500 number for about three to four weeks and see how it goes. If you do not gain enough then add in another 100 calories and reassess...if you gain too much then back off, you gain a pound a week then change nothing...

    if you eat 4500 a day then you are going to gain like two pounds a week....

  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    How are you measuring your food?

    People trying to lose routinely underestimate what they eat and those trying to gain routinely overestimate. If you aren't weighing solids theres a good chance your estimate is off.

    But a calculator is just an estimate. If you are accurately weighing and logging and not gaining... add more calories.

    I weigh all my food. I work in construction so I'm burning cal all day then hit the gym. If eat the amount of cal MFP are suggesting I wail start losing weight.

    then you need to eat 1200 less calories and eat to 3500...

    Lol but I'm trying to gain muscle mass ??

    He is under the assumption that you would be gaining too rapidly at that level of intake. That's a 1200 calorie surplus.
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    TR0berts wrote: »
    Can anyone clear this up for me. Just sign up to MFP set my goals which is to gain weight by gaining 1lb per week and it says to eat 3500 cal a day. So I scan in the normal food I eat on a Daliy basis and it added up to 4700 cal so I'm 1200 cal over what it recommends.



    OK? MFP's goals are just estimates based upon simple calculations of averages. For many people, those numbers are fine. For others - apparently, you'd be one of these others - the estimates don't work. They/you would have to track for a while and see what, exactly, happens when you eat X amount of Calories and adjust as necessary.

    What happens when you eat the 4700 Cals per day? Do you lose, maintain, or gain weight? And if it's lose or gain, how much? If you maintain at 4700, but want to gain weight, add anywhere from 250-500 Calories.

    If you go to your MFP home page, click "Goals," then "Change Goals," you can manually change your Calorie and nutrient goals.


    edit: I see 3laine75 has already addressed this, as I was replying.
    I set my goal to gain weight 1 lb per week that's when MFP said to eat 3500 cal. I think your right tho 4700 or around that is maintenance for me I think I have to increase my cal by 500 see what happens after a few weeks. I did make my dairy public so yous can have a look. Thanks for your time.

    I am massively confused now...

    OP - please answer the following..

    is 3500 the number that MFP gave you to gain one pound per week..Yes/NO
    is4500 the number that you get when you enter all your food for the day...yes/no
    YES.......YES

    Ok then you need to eat to the 3500 number for about three to four weeks and see how it goes. If you do not gain enough then add in another 100 calories and reassess...if you gain too much then back off, you gain a pound a week then change nothing...

    if you eat 4500 a day then you are going to gain like two pounds a week....

    Exactly...

    You're making this far to confusing....

    If your TDEE is 3500 eat slightly above it to gain.
    If your TDEE is 4500 eat slightly above it to gain.

    You have to find out what your actual TDEE is. The 3500 given by MFP is an estimate based upon the info you input.
This discussion has been closed.