Confusion: How many calories to build muscle but avoid fat

Options
Rowlsty
Rowlsty Posts: 20
in Food and Nutrition
I weigh roughly 152 pounds, am 5 foot 10 inches tall and am 23 years old. At the moment I am cycling to work - roughly 6 miles each way, then working out in the gym for around 30-40 minutes before work - I'm a scientist. I do this 5 days a week then attempt to rest at the weekends.

I've attempted to split my training of specific muscles 48 hours apart across the five days in order to rest. I'm fairly happy with the exercise part, its more of the actual eating. Generally I am looking to gain muscle and lose as much of the fat that I have as possible.

Looking across a few different websites/calculators I have become confused about how many calories I should be eating. For example, on some websites I have read that I should be eating just over my BMR in calories - making sure that I eat approximately 1g of protein per pound of body weight, and have put me in the realms of 1800-2100 calories a day.

A calculator such as the one on Muscletech (http://www.muscletech.com/resources/tools/calculators/caloric.shtml) tells me that with the options "gain muscle" and "moderate activity" selected I should be eating around 2962 calories including 152g of protein.

I'm quite confused about what direction I should be eating in - I understand that in order for muscle growth I obviously need to eat more than my BMR, but to what scale? I don't want to put on weight as fat.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Replies

  • Rowlsty
    Rowlsty Posts: 20
    Options
    Bump.
  • PercivalHackworth
    PercivalHackworth Posts: 1,437 Member
    Options
    Your TDEE is more around 2800-2900 than 2100 ;-)
    In order to figure out how much amount you need to eat for muscle gain, target an average gain of 1 pound per week. If you gain more, that would likely be fat, and less means you could safely eat more.
    I usually add/ remove 250 calories.

    Start to eat 2900 calories and see how your body reacts, and adjust :-)
  • VMarkV
    VMarkV Posts: 522 Member
    Options
    You've got the 1g/lb bodyweight down, look into "IIFYMs" to calculate your other macro goals. I would titrate your calories up very slowly until you reach around 250 above TDEE. Keep in mind you are going to need to recalculate TDEE and macros as your weight goes up...be conservative and very patient, no need to just stuff yourself going 500-1000+/day eating junk food
  • LexyDB
    LexyDB Posts: 261
    Options
    Your TDEE is more around 2800-2900 than 2100 ;-)
    In order to figure out how much amount you need to eat for muscle gain, target an average gain of 1 pound per week. If you gain more, that would likely be fat, and less means you could safely eat more.
    I usually add/ remove 250 calories.

    Start to eat 2900 calories and see how your body reacts, and adjust :-)

    Unless you are chemically enhanced or very gifted genetically, you will only gain half a pound muscle a week at the most with heavy muscle stimuli and correct nutrition.
  • Rowlsty
    Rowlsty Posts: 20
    Options
    Thanks guys. I really appreciate the help =)
  • PercivalHackworth
    PercivalHackworth Posts: 1,437 Member
    Options
    Your TDEE is more around 2800-2900 than 2100 ;-)
    In order to figure out how much amount you need to eat for muscle gain, target an average gain of 1 pound per week. If you gain more, that would likely be fat, and less means you could safely eat more.
    I usually add/ remove 250 calories.

    Start to eat 2900 calories and see how your body reacts, and adjust :-)

    Unless you are chemically enhanced or very gifted genetically, you will only gain half a pound muscle a week at the most with heavy muscle stimuli and correct nutrition.

    Yes you are right Lexy, thanks for the precision. That pound would be a mix betwen fat and lean tissue :smile:
    For the starters though, the muscles gain come faster and quicker
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
    Options
    Your TDEE is more around 2800-2900 than 2100 ;-)
    In order to figure out how much amount you need to eat for muscle gain, target an average gain of 1 pound per week. If you gain more, that would likely be fat, and less means you could safely eat more.
    I usually add/ remove 250 calories.

    Start to eat 2900 calories and see how your body reacts, and adjust :-)

    Unless you are chemically enhanced or very gifted genetically, you will only gain half a pound muscle a week at the most with heavy muscle stimuli and correct nutrition.

    Half a pound of muscle a week ASSISTED would be massive TBH.

Categories