Women around 5'7 trying to bulk

I'm not ready for my bulk just yet (need to shed another 2-3% body fat), but I'm around the same height and weight as you. I maintain on around 2100-2200 (but not this week, incapacitated with strep infection, bleh). If you have a good idea what your maintenance calories are (if it's the 2200), you'll probably want to shoot for at least a 300 calorie surplus, maybe more.

Too small a surplus, say 150-200, and you're in the "unintentional error" range--i.e. you very well may still be in maintenance (YMMV, but I've seen many a lady friend here spin their wheels before figuring out they needed several hundred more than they'd imagined for a good bulk). Too big a surplus (say 700+), and you're risking adding too much fat gain with the muscle gains (yes, some fat gain is inevitable, a little more so as females--can't fight science, but we can mitigate it somewhat).

TL;DR--if it were me (and it shall be in ~4-6 months), I'd start straight out the gate with a 300-400 calorie surplus, and then re-evaluate every 2-4 weeks as needed, not ever being afraid of adding another 100 to get things moving. And consistency and progression in whatever training program you've chosen.

JHM23 wrote: »

williams969 wrote: »

I'm not ready for my bulk just yet (need to shed another 2-3% body fat), but I'm around the same height and weight as you. I maintain on around 2100-2200 (but not this week, incapacitated with strep infection, bleh). If you have a good idea what your maintenance calories are (if it's the 2200), you'll probably want to shoot for at least a 300 calorie surplus, maybe more.

Too small a surplus, say 150-200, and you're in the "unintentional error" range--i.e. you very well may still be in maintenance (YMMV, but I've seen many a lady friend here spin their wheels before figuring out they needed several hundred more than they'd imagined for a good bulk). Too big a surplus (say 700+), and you're risking adding too much fat gain with the muscle gains (yes, some fat gain is inevitable, a little more so as females--can't fight science, but we can mitigate it somewhat).

TL;DR--if it were me (and it shall be in ~4-6 months), I'd start straight out the gate with a 300-400 calorie surplus, and then re-evaluate every 2-4 weeks as needed, not ever being afraid of adding another 100 to get things moving. And consistency and progression in whatever training program you've chosen.

I've always been told to maintain is about 1960 calories for my weight, but I decided to add more to it. I will probably slowly add more to see what happens. It's hard to find a good point when so many different things give different results. So I'm starting to see why I should just keep doing trial and error. Eventually I'll hit it on point and know what to do for later. I hope you feel better too!

Finding out your "true" and personal TDEE estimate is far more valuable than anything told to you (via a professional, this app, an online calculator, etc.). That was the best advice given to me, and it was incredible to "trial and error" my way to finding my TDEE is higher than any suggestion given anywhere (why higher? IDK, don't care, I only care about a useful number).

The point is, and it sounds like you're realizing it, is to trust the process in upping calories in an controlled and sustained way, take measurements (scale and tape, etc.), assess, tweak as necessary, repeat. Start with whatever you're eating at now, ignore any calculators (they're just estimates, yours sounds as good as any), and avoid switching it up too frequently (especially cutting back--no panic, just DO it and trust the process is the maintenance/bulking motto).

I slowly upped the cals from deficit adding about 100 cals per week to my total. Eventually I stopped losing, maintained, and then I eventually gained. It was a bit of trial and error but somewhere around 2900-3000 I finally saw the scale move up. The calculator will be a guide/estimate but everyone is different. Good luck!

Eat in a cal surplus -- train heavy -- profit