How to determine correct Macro and Calorie amounts

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I'm becoming discouraged with trying to determine my Macros and Calories. I read so many contradictory articles and had an appointment with a Registered Dietician which was practically useless. She gave me a bunch of links to look at protein smoothie recipes that I could have easily Google'd myself. I am 135lbs and looking to gain muscle. I work out about 5+ days a week for about 60+ min (depending on what type of workout I'm doing). I think I'm putting in the hard work, but I'm not seeing the results (I'm pretty sure it's because of nutrition). I've been doing this since March. It seems nearly impossible to find a nutritionist that will help develop a meal plan to gain muscle. I am lost. Where should I turn for competent help? Anyone struggled with this? Suggestions?

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  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
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    The short answer:

    To gain muscle, eat at or slightly above maintenance and consume a generous quantity of protein in addition to your strength training.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    I'm becoming discouraged with trying to determine my Macros and Calories. I read so many contradictory articles and had an appointment with a Registered Dietician which was practically useless. She gave me a bunch of links to look at protein smoothie recipes that I could have easily Google'd myself. I am 135lbs and looking to gain muscle. I work out about 5+ days a week for about 60+ min (depending on what type of workout I'm doing). I think I'm putting in the hard work, but I'm not seeing the results (I'm pretty sure it's because of nutrition). I've been doing this since March. It seems nearly impossible to find a nutritionist that will help develop a meal plan to gain muscle. I am lost. Where should I turn for competent help? Anyone struggled with this? Suggestions?

    So, some questions: are you eating enough protein? Do you eat sufficiently pre workout to have enough energy to push yourself? Are your weights progressing weekly, biweekly, etc? What does your weight workout look like? What app are you using to track reps, weight, sets, etc? Are you consuming protein post workout? Are you tracking your calorie intake (you need to eat at a surplus and have enough protein each day)?

    If you go to the gym and do 4 sets of 12 reps of a 50 lb bench press and that’s what you do EACH TIME, of course you won’t progress. Wouldn’t matter how much protein you ate.... part of building muscle is about progressive overload; hence many of my questions above. We can’t help you without some more info.
  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
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    Are you following a program?
    What does your 60 min entail?
  • tinaamir3
    tinaamir3 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi everyone, can someone please help with this. I am trying to set up my macros as 120g Protein, 50g fat and 150g carb. By my calculations this should add up to 2030 calories a day. However, MFP is calculating 1530 calories. Why? How do I change this? nwojl8uqsk6j.png
  • MarttaHP
    MarttaHP Posts: 68 Member
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    tinaamir3 wrote: »
    Hi everyone, can someone please help with this. I am trying to set up my macros as 120g Protein, 50g fat and 150g carb. By my calculations this should add up to 2030 calories a day. However, MFP is calculating 1530 calories. Why? How do I change this?

    Carbs and protein are 4 kcal/g and fats are 9 kcal/g.

    150 g x 4 kcal/g + 50 g x 9 kcal/g + 120 g x 4 kcal/g = 1530 kcal

    Looks right to me.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
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    I tried to reproduce your calculation. Have you multiplied protein by 9 as well as the fat? (Though if I do that I get to 2130 kcal.)