How many calories OVER if trying to add muscle

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DaveRCF
DaveRCF Posts: 266
in Fitness and Exercise
If you are at your target weight but would not mind being a bit heavier as long as that increase in weight came from adding muscle, how many calories over your maintainence calories should you be targeting? I am currently at 2,150 calories for maintainence excluding "earned" calories through exercise. Thanks!

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  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
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    Start low and work your way up if you stall trying to increase the amount of weight lifted.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    I'd start around 200 cals or so over, and maybe taper up towards 500 cals over maintenance depending on how you want to do it.

    If you aren't in a hurry (best way) then just eat somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 cals over every day and take your time. Should be able to slowly add muscle without putting on fat.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
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    I can't find the article right now, but I recall reading on Lyle McDonald's site that for muscle gain he recommends about the same amount over TDEE as he recommends under for fat loss... that is around 15-20% of TDEE.

    Take this with a pinch of salt though, I'm not a trainer or bodybuilder. Double check that info before you use it.
  • DaveRCF
    DaveRCF Posts: 266
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    Thanks guys. 200 over seems doable. But it is amazing, if you are eating healthy, just how much food you need to eat to consume, say, 2,700-3,000 calories per day (taking into account maintainance calories, exercise calories and then over, that's about where I will be.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    I never really counted my excercise calories, but if you wanna do that it wouldn't hurt.
    I did always try to eat a bit more on squat days.

    I added whole milk to help get extra cals. another great option is adding olive oil to a meal or two every day. easy way to add a few hundred cals
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
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    Yeah as long as you're meeting your protein goals you can add the extra cals in healthy fats and you won't have to stuff yourself full of voluminous food to get there... raw nuts, peanut butter, olive oil etc. will all push your cals up REAL fast.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    Yeah as long as you're meeting your protein goals you can add the extra cals in healthy fats and you won't have to stuff yourself full of voluminous food to get there... raw nuts, peanut butter, olive oil etc. will all push your cals up REAL fast.

    this.
    if you add some olive oil to a salad, and have a handful of peanuts or something during the day, you've added another 400 cals right there.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,708 Member
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    250 is a good goal. But remember that muscle is built from protein, so up your protein. I'd shoot for 2 grams per lb of body weight.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
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    250 is a good goal. But remember that muscle is built from protein, so up your protein. I'd shoot for 2 grams per lb of body weight.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    ^^ listen to this guy, he rocks.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    According to the studies we read in one of my nutrition classes (sorry, I don't have my notes to be able to look them up to give you specific studies), going over too much will promote fat gain along with muscle gain. Based on that, and the fact that a pound of muscle is only about 600 Calories, we were taught to only recommend an increase of protein by 20-25 grams per pound of lean muscle you are attempting to gain per week. So, if you are set at 2150 Calories and add 20 grams of protein, that is only an increase of 80 Calories to 2230 and if you go with 25 grams of additional protein then it is 2250 Calories. You can't really expect to gain more then a pound of muscle a week, if that, so anything over that will likely be stored as body fat.
  • DaveRCF
    DaveRCF Posts: 266
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    250 is a good goal. But remember that muscle is built from protein, so up your protein. I'd shoot for 2 grams per lb of body weight.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    ^^ listen to this guy, he rocks.

    Wow, two grams per pound of body weight is 340g/day for me. Should I just eat steak three times a day then die from clogged arteries? I eat a lot of chicken, greek yogurt, peanut butter, in short, the typical protein dense foods, but any other options, happy to hear.

    Dave
  • eayal002
    eayal002 Posts: 186
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    250 is a good goal. But remember that muscle is built from protein, so up your protein. I'd shoot for 2 grams per lb of body weight.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    ^^ listen to this guy, he rocks.

    Wow, two grams per pound of body weight is 340g/day for me. Should I just eat steak three times a day then die from clogged arteries? I eat a lot of chicken, greek yogurt, peanut butter, in short, the typical protein dense foods, but any other options, happy to hear.

    Dave

    Try to have at least 40 to 50 grams per meal and add a protein shakes. Make sure you have at least two types of protein shakes, whey and casein. Casein is slow release and will keep delivering protein to your system. There are proteins that contain a slow, mid and rapid release with one shake. As a meal replacement or to add more protein to the day this is the one I would go for. After your workout fast release.

    Stay away from processed stuff, get chicken breast, fish, steak and lots of egg whites. I've been way down on my protein intake so preaching to myself too
  • Seppron
    Seppron Posts: 11
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    I weight 82kg and my daily intake is 200g protein without dinner(220-250 with dinner). That is 2,43g for every kg, more when I count in the dinner. I drink 2 shakes with protein powder and 3-4dl milk(drink with milk for more protein)


    To maintain your body you need 1g per kg.
    So for one who gonna build muscles I would recomend 1,5-2g per kg body weight

    And they say between 250-500 calories extra a day if you want to gain a bit more weight. The reason why I want more calories is to have more energy so I can have harder workouts.

    So if you weight 78kg(170lbs) then you need between 117-156g protein to gain more muscles.
  • DaveRCF
    DaveRCF Posts: 266
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    Excellent advice everyone. Thanks very much.
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    Wow, two grams per pound of body weight is 340g/day for me. Should I just eat steak three times a day then die from clogged arteries? I eat a lot of chicken, greek yogurt, peanut butter, in short, the typical protein dense foods, but any other options, happy to hear.

    You'd probably be okay with anything over 200 grams.
    Lots of people put on muscle without going overboard on the protein.
    That being said, you need to eat a lot of meat.

    It's tough to pack on mass without eating a little dirty. If you're concerned with clogged arteries or high blood pressure, this might not be the hobbie for you :p

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