Need help gaining muscle.

chloepaulino
chloepaulino Posts: 35 Member
edited March 2019 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hello MyFitnessPal Community!

I have recently started a Journey on trying to gain muscle (bulking season). Except I have no idea where to start.To start off I do not know what my activity level is to even began to think about how many calories I should be eating, maybe you can help me? What my current week looks like is I do light activity: Mon-Thursday ( not including exercise), Friday-Sunday I work as a cashier, (mainly standing). Exercise: Mon - Friday I lift heavy ( 5 days). Age: 18, weight: 124 pounds, height: 5 foot 6 inches and no, I do not have a fast metabolism.. Also, specifically how many more calories I should be consuming on training days? (100+ calories more?) and should I consume less on off days? ( for maintenance mode)

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited March 2019
    There are sticky threads pinned to the top of the various forums that have loads of useful information.
    Suggest you start with those at the top of the "Getting Started" forum which explain the fundamentals of how to use this tool to set your calorie goal.

    The part that explains that your chosen activity setting excludes exercise and exercise is accounted for separately after the event will make things a lot clearer.
    (BTW - log strength training duration slightly confusingly under the CV part of your exercise diary.)

    I'm a bit confused that you say you don't have a fast metabolism - have you had it tested?

    The other confusing part is that you say "bulking season" but later say eating at maintenance levels? You need to decide if you intend gaining weight or staying the same weight to get the correct calorie level to aim for.
  • chloepaulino
    chloepaulino Posts: 35 Member
    Metabolism- I say I do not have a fast metabolism because I gain weight easily ( I cannot just eat whatever I want and stay the same weight, I have to monitor closely my carb / added sugar intake . Most of my family is like this too. and no I have not been tested.

    I say "bulking season", for eating a surplus of calories on days that I train and "maintenance" on the days I do not train, to just eat the recommended amount of calories that Myfitness Pal recommends for maintenance.

    My purpose is to gain muscle, would I eat a surplus of calories all throughout the week (even when not training)?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    chloepaulino wrote: »
    Metabolism- I say I do not have a fast metabolism because I gain weight easily ( I cannot just eat whatever I want and stay the same weight, I have to monitor closely my carb / added sugar intake . Most of my family is like this too. and no I have not been tested.

    I say "bulking season", for eating a surplus of calories on days that I train and "maintenance" on the days I do not train, to just eat the recommended amount of calories that Myfitness Pal recommends for maintenance.

    My purpose is to gain muscle, would I eat a surplus of calories all throughout the week (even when not training)?

    Not sure you quite understand what the calorie goal on MyFitnessPal means.
    If you set your goal to be "maintain current weight" the goal is maintenance for a non-exercise day only.

    On a day with exercise you estimate your exercise burn and that gets added to your goal. For example you burn 250 in exercise and eat 250 more that day. But that's not a surplus - it's maintenance but a higher number because you burned more that day.

    By the way you do realise you don't actually need a calorie surplus to build muscle I assume?
    Eat in a surplus if you want to gain weight, don't if you don't!
  • chloepaulino
    chloepaulino Posts: 35 Member
    Aww I had no idea. So I should be eating the extra amount that I burn. Because if I eat more than I burn I will theoretically gain fat?
  • CowboySar
    CowboySar Posts: 404 Member
    OP, I find the easiest way is to find a TDEE calculator and find your total daily expenditure based on your current activity level. This will be the number that you need to eat to maintain your current weight. Add a couple hundred calories per day to this number. Keep your macros in check and lift and ensure you are lifting progressively, meaning that you are increasing weight, sets, or reps. As your body weight (hopefully LBM) comes up you should recalculate your TDEE and adjust accordingly.

    A side bar on TDEE calculators; they are not perfect nor accurate. They will however give you a rough idea where to start. Monitor what you eat and how you are progressing. If you still drop weight add more cals, if you are gaining to quickly or adding fat adjust cals down. Everyone is different you just have to find what works for you through trial and error
  • carsforsalebklyn
    carsforsalebklyn Posts: 12 Member
    Since it seems like just started working now it’s going to be a lot easier for you to gain muscle Compared to someone that has been doing it for years and years.
    https://www.muscleforlife.com/tdee-calculator/
    That is a calculator to help you figure out how many calories you should be consuming to pretty much the same weight.
    No only someone will go 200 cal over what they need daily to be able to gain muscle. But since you’re so noon should be able to gain muscle even while on a calorie maintenance.
    What I would suggest is if you have some fat to lose but also want to gain muscle and Stevia maintenance for a few weeks since you’ll be capable of doing both.
    If you are skinny and don’t have any fat to lose then you could just add about 200 cal over your maintenance to give your body extra calories to build muscle
  • MichelleMcKeeRN
    MichelleMcKeeRN Posts: 450 Member
    This is what I am doing:
    AM: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 scoop protein powder
    Meals (Eat 2-4 times): 6 oz protein, 6 oz veggies, 1tsp fat
    PM: less than 200 calories fruit (aiming for melon and berries but whatever fruit I want), 1/4 cup nuts/seeds
    I can’t imagine gaining weight on this diet. It also gives me flexibility to add in extra meals when I workout heavier.

  • Cahgetsfit
    Cahgetsfit Posts: 1,912 Member
    MichelleMcKeeRN wrote: »
    This is what I am doing:
    AM: 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 scoop protein powder
    Meals (Eat 2-4 times): 6 oz protein, 6 oz veggies, 1tsp fat
    PM: less than 200 calories fruit (aiming for melon and berries but whatever fruit I want), 1/4 cup nuts/seeds
    I can’t imagine gaining weight on this diet. It also gives me flexibility to add in extra meals when I workout heavier.

    Hm. I eat more than that and I'm a 43 year old lady.

    I second the TDEE calculators mentioned above. enter 1 calorie burnt in MFP - don't worry about the eating back calories or any of that. Keep the same number of calories consistent over the week to make life easier.

    Also the tend app.

    It will take a bit of time to see how the gainz are going - as in are you maintaining, losing or gaining. Also take photos.

    I'm currently bulking too - just started today. It will be a good couple of weeks before I manage to pin down the exact calories I'll need to be consuming for various reasons, including the fact that I'm a few days before my period atm so my weight is all over the place.

    Also, are you afraid of carbs? I don't see any rice, bread, pasta in the mix up there. Do not be afraid of the carbs.

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