Calories and building muscle?

momoisgorgeousss · August 2017

Hello everyone! I have a question. I have recently started a gym membership, I'm starting out 4 days a week. My goal is to build muscle and have a more 'toned' body. I weigh around 120, am 20 female, and 5'3. I do 20 minutes of cardio on gym days, and then I break up my weight training 4 days a week (back and biceps, abs and legs, shoulders and triceps, abs and legs) I do 3 sets of 10, some free weights some machines.
As far as calories, my maintain weight is 1700 calories a day. SO my question is, do I eat at maintain, deficit, or a surplus? I have cleaned up my eating, cut out soda, sweets, drinking more water, eating wheat, smaller meals smaller portions, etc. just kind of confused how many calories I need to eat to build muscle.

Please keep in mind my GOAL is to not lose weight, it's to BUILD muscle, losing weight is just a plus! This is also my grim routine STARTING, I will progressively add more weight, reps etc. Any input to make my routine better is encouraged, Thanks everyone!

usmcmp · August 2017

My suggestion is to consider following a program that is already built rather than making your own.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
As for calories, I would consider eating at maintenance for now.

cdahl383 · August 2017

If you want to build muscle I would eat at a slight surplus (like 300 cal over, 500 cal tops) and then monitor your weight over a couple weeks to see if it's going up at all. Gaining 0.5-1lb a week would be the goal. But if you're new to weightlifting, you might be able to build some muscle just eating at maintenance too.

I would skip all the ab work. Try to do some compound lifts, like squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, etc and then add in some assistance exercises like chin ups, pull ups, dips, dumbbell flys, etc. The compound exercises will work lots of muscles all at once. Your core will tighten up big time by doing squats and deadlifts alone.

Most of the girls I've seen that do squats on a regular basis have some pretty wicked legs and butt. Just make sure you're using good form. Starting Strength is a great book for learning the major compound lifts and there are countless Youtube videos out there as well showing proper form. Just make sure they are from credible sources as there are many out there with people using horrible form.

jlw91709 · August 2017

Dynamic sets. Light weight 15 reps. Heavier weight 12 reps heavier weight 8 reps. Lighter weight 8 reps. Mix up exercises in the groups you identified. E.g. Chest and triceps, back and biceps etc. after a month or so. Increase weight with fewer reps but still go up and down in weights during a set.

sewbank2934 · August 2017

I am the same lose weight build muscle. I'm down to about 2200cals a day, but very high on protein. Ie protein is about 60 % of my diet. I train 5 days a week. With 10min x trainer warm up, then stretch then onto 1hr - 1 1/2hrs of weights. On different muscle groups each day. Losing weight nicely and building muscle as well. So it does work, weekends off but still watching the diet. Best meal friends are tuna and chicken. Lol

sewbank2934 · August 2017

By the way there are several types of training. 5x5 for strength, or the Arnie way which is set 30 warm up. Then sets of 12,10,8,6,4.

rybo · August 2017

I'd move to a full body routine over a traditional BB split routine. It will be more effective. You can either eat at maintenance or slightly above. In your situation it's easier to eat at a particular level and monitor you weight over time, adjusting as needed.

Rusty740 · August 2017

rybo wrote: »

I'd move to a full body routine over a traditional BB split routine. It will be more effective. You can either eat at maintenance or slightly above. In your situation it's easier to eat at a particular level and monitor you weight over time, adjusting as needed.

All good advice above, but this is the best. You'll maximize your time with full-body 3 day per week and you will need some type of a calorie (doesn't matter what kind) surplus to build muscle. If you try maintenance calories you may get results, just not as fast as with a surplus. Of course the more you eat, the more percentage of what you gain will be fat. Just getting that out there so you aren't surprised

I'd also suggest that you not aim for 1 lb gain per week (500 extra calories per day). That's assuming maximum muscle growth of 2 lbs per month which is about what an untrained young male (high testosterone) can achieve. Shoot for 0.25 - 0.5 lbs per week is my thinking for you and your situation. This would be about 125 - 250 extra calories per day.

Mileage varies, check your weight often, average it, and adjust weekly or so.

deputy_randolph · August 2017

Just to give you perspective on calories...

I'm 5'3, 37, started at 127lbs and bulked for a year to add muscle. I started out at about 2100 calories. I worked up to about 2600 calories. I had to take a couple of breaks and lower calories to about 2300 calories for a couple of weeks at a time. I felt fat and got sick of eating so much. I added 10lbs in a year...mostly muscle (also competed in 2 powerlifting competitions). Training was pretty intense, which probably skews my caloric needs higher.

Your calorie intake will be more specific to you based on your activity level. If you want to build muscle (actually put on size vs. gain strength only), you really have to eat, work hard, and be patient.

Calories and building muscle?

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