Need some advice on my lean bulk.

kevinliang5098
kevinliang5098 Posts: 1 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
This sounds like a simple question but I've been having trouble with gaining weight recently. I've had a bad history with weight when I was young and I am afraid to overshoot my bulk. But I have cut down to a pretty lean state, where I have began to lose muscle mass. Because of this, I have been slowly plateauing and losing strength on some of my lifts.
I'm currently a 5 ft 8, 133 lbs male 18 y/o student who walks around 6-7 miles a day for class on campus. I lift 4-5x/week and play tennis ~ 3-4x/week. I try to run 2x/week just to maintain my fitness (but not for too long, I usually do sprints or recovery jogs), but I never workout more than twice a day.

I want a bulk without gaining too much fat. I just started tracking my calories to make sure I am eating enough and I have been trying to go for 2700 calories when I play tennis and around 2500 calories on lifting days. 3000 when I do both in one day. I don't know if this is overshooting.
I can't really weigh myself and track my progress since accessible scales at the gym on campus is around half a mile from my dorm. So it's fairly inconvenient to weigh myself first thing in the morning.
How many calories should I eat on days I play tennis? On lifting days? Days I do both? And what about rest days?

Replies

  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    edited September 2018
    If you are pretty consistent with your workout s you may do better using a TDEE calculator.
    https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
    This will have you eating the same amount of calories each day.

    Otherwise just use the MFP entries for all exercises and adjust according to perceived gain. (Clothes slowly getting tighter)

    As you gain you will have to adjust your MFP goal up every 5-10 lbs.

    How much are you aiming at gaining a week?

    Cheers, h.
  • pinggolfer96
    pinggolfer96 Posts: 2,248 Member
    If you’re not gaining eat more. Be comfortable with the fact you will gain fat when trying to build muscle. Ask yourself...are you stepping on stage soon? Does your body image pay the bills? No? Then why worry.....do a sensible lean bulk
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    You'll have to try it and see. It's doubtful you maintain on less than 2500 cals though given the amount of walking you do.
  • jdog022
    jdog022 Posts: 693 Member
    Embrace the bulk. Accept what the process is.
    You can always dial it back if you think your gaining to much fat.
  • edickson76
    edickson76 Posts: 107 Member
    You don’t need to regulate calories to that high a degree of specificity. Just aim for the same number of calories every day regardless of activity. Up a little one day down the next is fine. Of far greater importance is consistently maintaining a caloric surplus and following a well-designed training program.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited September 2018
    I would buy a body weight scale, they are relatively cheap and you can keep it in your dorm and have a better understanding what changes are taking place.

    Eating the same amount of calories daily might work better for you. If you fall short a couple hundred cals one day just tack it on the next day, no biggie.

    Whole milk is an easy way to consume calories. Start with one glass a day and monitor weight to get desired gain on average. Once the weight stalls for a couple weeks drink two glasses a day. It's really not too complicated or anything to worry about.

    Upping your volume slightly will drive your lifts in almost all cases. If you are losing muscle when on a bulk I would surely up the volume as well. I very rarely lose strength on my lifts when losing weight and never when gaining. If your programming is on point, this is rare. Of course stress from school and tennis can attribute to off days or weeks when training and you might have to adjust once you check some things I mentioned off the list.

    Don't sweat the fat bud, it comes off.
  • poopybut1
    poopybut1 Posts: 1 Member
    I think your overdoing it on the activity. I would increase calories alot more if your doing all that
  • GreatApe2017
    GreatApe2017 Posts: 15 Member
    Body needs excess calories to be anabolic you will gain fat along with muscle but you can always cut the fat back. So for instance you might try aiming for +20 pounds weight over 6 months followed by 8 week cut of 8 pounds. So by month 8 you should be roughly +10 pounds muscle +2 pounds fat which would be a good ratio

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