Making the most of a situation - unintentional bulk

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hbarraclough
hbarraclough Posts: 3 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hello! Ok so here's where I'm at. My main activity is usually running (with two strength sessions a week). I'm currently injured and not able to run for at least two weeks, probably more. My strength sessions don't aggravate the injury so I've decided I'm gonna up those to 5x per week. Currently working with a 10kg kettlebell for 60mins per session.

When I'm in my usual running routine I average out at 2800 cals per day to maintain (I'm a 5'4" 130lbs female). Basically, I don't want to stop eating that amount. So if I continue to eat that amount but increase strength training would that be ok? My current calorie burn, now I'm not running, is about 2600 per day so I'll be in a 200 calorie surplus. Is that too much, will I gain too much fat rather than muscle?

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  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
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    So you're only going to lift seriously for 4 to 6 weeks until your injury heals? (I'm a reformed runner. I know how the denial works, thinking it'll heal up in two weeks. :D )

    Let's assume your calorie estimate is correct, 200 calories surplus a day is 1400 calories surplus a week. If all of that surplus went to fat you'd gain about 1/3 of a pound of fat a week. In 6 weeks you'd gain about 2 pounds of fat. That's worst case, some of that weight gain will go to muscle, but be realistic, if you apply a well designed, progressive lifting program for only a month AND your diet is spot on, particularly protein intake, AND your genetics are good AND you recover between lifting sessions adequately AND you are essentially a beginner to strength training you'll be lucky to gain one pound of muscle in that time period. Muscle doesn't grow fast.

    To answer your question directly though, no you won't gain a lot of fat in 4-6 weeks with a 200 cal/day surplus, particularly if you're burning a small portion of that lifting.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    Why not do so e other conditioning that is appropriate?
  • sheena_shewell
    sheena_shewell Posts: 48 Member
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    If you want to maintain the weight you have whilst decreasing your normal amount of exercise you either need to increase the amount of exercise you do (including cardio) or decrease the amount of calories you are consuming. I'd suggest if you are injured take it easy and just eat a little less food.

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