New Lifter - Need Advice

skstuddard
skstuddard Posts: 19 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hi everyone! So I am new to lifting and wanting to build my upper body. I found a MWFS workout plan that targets the entire body with focus on the upper body that I like. My question is how many calories and how much protein should I be consuming each day? If you need more information just ask and thanks in advance.

Replies

  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    If you are looking to build and maintain your current weight you could recomp (using maintenance calories, but can take a while for results) or you could bulk (eating at a surplus while progressively overloading). It would be difficult to tell you how many calories or how much protein without any stats, but there are also plenty of online calculators that could give you this information as well.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    For calorie level you can also set MFP to maintain, or gain weight if that is plan, besides the lose weight option.
    Be honest with activity level so not causing a deficit or extra deficit when not desired.
    If family responsibilities nights/weekends then a desk job makes it Lightly-Active. Go up from there if job more active.

    Log the workouts from the exercise database with time and accept their calorie burn.
    It's smallish compared to like cardio - but that is true.
    But you'll want to eat more as you do more so no extra deficit impacting the results.

    If maintenance or gain the default levels for macros good enough though if you go over do it on protein.
    If weight loss mode then use 0.91 grams per lb per day. That'll work for maintenance and gain too.
  • fitnessguy266
    fitnessguy266 Posts: 150 Member
    edited January 2020
    I cannot stress enough to get familiar with compound lifts being the core of your routine/s.....as a new lifter it is expected that you have quite a few muscle imbalances to correct, that will in turn increase the efficiency, form, and results. I won't recommend a specific routine, as almost everything works with proper form and progressive overload. As you become more experienced, it would be wise to educate yourself further on terms like hypertrophy, type 2 fiber activation, etc. in how they play a role in strength and muscle development.

    But please, baby steps first! Incremental progress is the name of the game.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    You can pretty much let MFP set your calorie goal for you based on what you tell it as far as gaining or losing weight and how fast you want to do it. You will likely need to adjust your macros to suit your desire to gain muscle because often MFP sets protein too low. The rule of thumb is 0.8-1.0 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. For example, if you weigh 200lbs you should aim for 160 to 200 grams of protein per day.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    fitnessguy266 wrote: »
    I cannot stress enough to get familiar with compound lifts being the core of your routine/s.....as a new lifter it is expected that you have quite a few muscle imbalances to correct, that will in turn increase the efficiency, form, and results. I won't recommend a specific routine, as almost everything works with proper form and progressive overload. As you become more experienced, it would be wise to educate yourself further on terms like hypertrophy, type 2 fiber activation, etc. in how they play a role in strength and muscle development.

    But please, baby steps first! Incremental progress is the name of the game.

    I definitely spent a good deal of time working on these imbalances before moving on to focusing on the compound lifts, I think it really helped!

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