Increasing calories but not gaining / losing weight?

GainingTheGains
GainingTheGains Posts: 6 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Im a 5'10 - 5'11, 18 year old male. Currently I am doing the PPL program six days a week. For the first couple weeks of the program I gained nearly 6 pounds, but for the past couple months I have either remained stagnant or lose a little weight. Originally I started out at 2650 cals, but as I increased to my current cals of 3000 I am still not gaining weight. I checked out the TDEE calculator featured on r/gainit just now, and according to that I need to eat about 3700 cals a day which seems pretty high. Does this sound about right for my specifications or should I continue to gradually increase my cals like I am now? I'd also like to add that I am trying to clean bulk as much as possible. So I purposely avoid foods with lots of empty carbs, saturated fats, additive sugars, etc. Is this necessary do keeping body fat to a minimum?

Replies

  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    If you haven't gained any weight, and have actually lost some, then you are not in a surplus. It's time to increase calories. Bump them up 250 a day for a week or two to start. Track your weight with something like libra or happy scale. Watch what the graph and trend do. Aim for about .5lb a week gain. Keep adjusting calories as needed. Keeping your surplus low is more important than avoiding "empty" calories.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    GainingTheGains wrote: »
    I'd also like to add that I am trying to clean bulk as much as possible. So I purposely avoid foods with lots of empty carbs, saturated fats, additive sugars, etc. Is this necessary do keeping body fat to a minimum?

    You are in a deficit and the above is bro-science. An excess of calories causes body fat, not sugar or fats.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    If you're losing weight you need to add more calories.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    "Does this sound about right for my specifications or should I continue to gradually increase my cals like I am now?"
    Keep it simple - you aren't gaining (or even maintaining) on 3,000 so eat more. Adjust based on results not calculators.

    "I'd also like to add that I am trying to clean bulk as much as possible. So I purposely avoid foods with lots of empty carbs, saturated fats, additive sugars, etc. Is this necessary do keeping body fat to a minimum?"
    What a load of cobblers!
    Your rate of fat gain is in relation to the size of your calorie surplus (if you manage to be in a surplus!) not particular kinds of foods.

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,420 MFP Moderator
    If you aren't gaining on 3000, add another 300 to 500 calories. You don't need to use an online calculator to understand you just need a few more calories.

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