How many calories?

ebesley1
ebesley1 Posts: 8 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Would anyone be able to offer some advice.... I'm trying to gain weight, and want to do it 'clean '. To do this it seems the most commonly suggested surplus is 250 cals. Should I use the figure that my Garmin device gives me for calorie burn then +250 Or choose a figure and stick with it? Sometimes it feels as if my calorie burn figure is so high and I don't feel like eating! Any advice?

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    Would anyone be able to offer some advice.... I'm trying to gain weight, and want to do it 'clean '. To do this it seems the most commonly suggested surplus is 250 cals. Should I use the figure that my Garmin device gives me for calorie burn then +250 Or choose a figure and stick with it? Sometimes it feels as if my calorie burn figure is so high and I don't feel like eating! Any advice?

    It's not a bad place to start. You can monitor your weight over 2 or 3 weeks and adjust based on actual results.
  • ebesley1
    ebesley1 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks guys.... I don't want to do a too fast bulk to avoid putting on too much fat, but as a result of me being too wary I'm still losing.
  • ebesley1
    ebesley1 Posts: 8 Member
    One thing that put me off was an I ritual spike of about 3 lbs at least - however I understand this could be your glycogen and water tanks being restored . Is this true?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    One thing that put me off was an I ritual spike of about 3 lbs at least - however I understand this could be your glycogen and water tanks being restored . Is this true?

    Glycogen, food storage, sodium, increases in blood flow, etc.... Look at trends over time.
  • ebesley1
    ebesley1 Posts: 8 Member
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    One thing that put me off was an I ritual spike of about 3 lbs at least - however I understand this could be your glycogen and water tanks being restored . Is this true?

    Sorry meant and initial spike
  • shaf238
    shaf238 Posts: 4,022 Member
    Like you, I wanted to minimise fat gains while bulking so went into a 200 calorie surplus. I used a number of different sites to calculate my TDEE and went from there to formulate a diet plan.
  • ebesley1
    ebesley1 Posts: 8 Member
    Cheers guys
  • ebesley1
    ebesley1 Posts: 8 Member
    Has anyone else found fitness tracker calorie burn figures to be accurate? Or are they v out?
  • moogie_fit
    moogie_fit Posts: 280 Member
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    Has anyone else found fitness tracker calorie burn figures to be accurate? Or are they v out?

    I find fitness tracker calories unnecessarily stressful. I tried to do it once, but found myself always trying to figure out how much I would burn by the end of the day to see how much I could eat (targets would change) and would also find myself walking more and exercising extra to burn more calories to justify eating more
  • ebesley1
    ebesley1 Posts: 8 Member
    moogie_fit wrote: »
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    Has anyone else found fitness tracker calorie burn figures to be accurate? Or are they v out?

    I find fitness tracker calories unnecessarily stressful. I tried to do it once, but found myself always trying to figure out how much I would burn by the end of the day to see how much I could eat (targets would change) and would also find myself walking more and exercising extra to burn more calories to justify eating more

    Exercising more is a good thing though surely?
  • moogie_fit
    moogie_fit Posts: 280 Member
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    moogie_fit wrote: »
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    Has anyone else found fitness tracker calorie burn figures to be accurate? Or are they v out?

    I find fitness tracker calories unnecessarily stressful. I tried to do it once, but found myself always trying to figure out how much I would burn by the end of the day to see how much I could eat (targets would change) and would also find myself walking more and exercising extra to burn more calories to justify eating more

    Exercising more is a good thing though surely?

    Not when your doing 25k + steps a day on top of weight lifting and your goal is not to lose weight, but rather maintain
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    edited August 2018
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    moogie_fit wrote: »
    ebesley1 wrote: »
    Has anyone else found fitness tracker calorie burn figures to be accurate? Or are they v out?

    I find fitness tracker calories unnecessarily stressful. I tried to do it once, but found myself always trying to figure out how much I would burn by the end of the day to see how much I could eat (targets would change) and would also find myself walking more and exercising extra to burn more calories to justify eating more

    Exercising more is a good thing though surely?

    No it's not actually. Ideally, you want a good balance of exercise, rest and recovery and nutrition. More isn't always better once you are at a certain level. More exercise just burns more calories and works against your goal of gaining.

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