[REPS] Help with weight gain macro's

[was_guy]

Firstly, some stats on me:

I am 5'7" and weigh around 133 pounds and around 15-16% body fat ( using calipers).

I exercise 3 times a week, and end of my session, I do around 10 mins rowing for my cardio.

I work in an office, and occasionally visit clients on site, so this means, that maybe around 1-2/week, I have to walk to the client side 10-15 mins each way.

To maintain my weight, calculator reports the following:

Around 2000 - 2100 calories.

To gain weight, I add another 10-20% to the total of BMR which gives me between 2200-2400 calories to gain weight.

So if I take the 2400 number and break it down into macro's of say 40/40/20, I come up with these figures for the day:

Protein: 240g
Carbs: 240g
Fat: 53g

Now I got some questions ( assuming my above calculations are right):

1) Shall I eat the same on my workout and non workout days?
2) I have read the excess protein will get wasted, where as excess carbs lead to weight gain and muscle too? If that is right, shall I adjust my macro's?
3) So meal timing doesn't really matter? Meaning, If I wanted, I could actually consume 2400 cals in the one go and not eat anything else for the rest of the whole day?
4) How much should I aim to gain per week?
5) Please HELP!!!!!

Thanks

[igglesphan]

A few things:

Your maintenance is not the same as your BMR, so you're adding calories to your maintenance, not your BMR.

Don't use ratios for your macros. Get in at least .45g of fat per bodyweight and 1g of protein per LBM, then fill the remaining calories with whatever you want.

1) Yes, you can eat the same on lifting days as non lifting days.
2) Excess protein does NOT get wasted... what makes you think that?
3) Yes, I eat all my calories in one meal every day
4) Unless you're new to lifting, you should look to gain about 2 lbs per month.

[was_guy]

A few things:

Your maintenance is not the same as your BMR, so you're adding calories to your maintenance, not your BMR.

Don't use ratios for your macros. Get in at least .45g of fat per bodyweight and 1g of protein per LBM, then fill the remaining calories with whatever you want.

1) Yes, you can eat the same on lifting days as non lifting days.
2) Excess protein does NOT get wasted... what makes you think that?
3) Yes, I eat all my calories in one meal every day
4) Unless you're new to lifting, you should look to gain about 2 lbs per month.

Cheers igglesphan, whats the best method to find maintenance level?

Also, when you mention to get in at least .45g of fat per bodyweight and 1g of protein per LBM, does that apply to my maintenance level or my preferred weight gain goal level?

[was_guy]

Just redid some calculations:

LBM: 51 kgs/112 pounds ( based on 16% BF)

Maintenance calories - 2080

To gain: 2080*15% = 2390 cals

Protein: 1.3* 133 (total body weight in pounds) = 173g = total of 692 cals (1-1.5g per pound LEAN weight, chose 1.3g/pound bodyweight)
Fat: 1.7 * 60.5 (total body weight in kgs) = 102g = total of 918 cals (1 - 2g fat/ kg body weight [between 0.45 - 1g total weight/ pounds], chose 1.7g/kg)
Carbs = Leftover cals from total of (protein + fat) cals

Does the above look some what correct?

[igglesphan]

Just redid some calculations:

LBM: 51 kgs/112 pounds ( based on 16% BF)

Maintenance calories - 2080

To gain: 2080*15% = 2390 cals

Protein: 1.3* 133 (total body weight in pounds) = 173g = total of 692 cals (1-1.5g per pound LEAN weight, chose 1.3g/pound bodyweight)
Fat: 1.7 * 60.5 (total body weight in kgs) = 102g = total of 918 cals (1 - 2g fat/ kg body weight [between 0.45 - 1g total weight/ pounds], chose 1.7g/kg)
Carbs = Leftover cals from total of (protein + fat) cals

Does the above look some what correct?

300 calorie surplus per week is close to 4lbs gain per month... might be a little on the high side but you can try it. If your LBM is 112lbs, get in a minimum of 112g of protein per day. Your current weight is 133lbs, so get in a minimum of 60g of fat. The remaining cals do not have to be carbs... add more protein and fat to the minimum requirements to your preference.

Edit: 300 cal surplus is ~ 2.5 lbs per month. Looks good.

[was_guy]

300 calorie surplus per week is close to 4lbs gain per month... might be a little on the high side but you can try it. If your LBM is 112lbs, get in a minimum of 112g of protein per day. Your current weight is 133lbs, so get in a minimum of 60g of fat. The remaining cals do not have to be carbs... add more protein and fat to the minimum requirements to your preference.

Edit: 300 cal surplus is ~ 2.5 lbs per month. Looks good.

Thanks mate, so I'll just confirm the stats once again:

To gain around 2.5 pounds per month, I'll have to add around 300 cals to my maintenance cals everyday ,which is 2080, so addding 300 gives us around 2400 cals per day.

Minimum protein: 112 grams per day = 448 cals
Minimum fat: 60g = 540 cals
Remaining cals can come from fat and protein + carbs

So this is what I am thinking:

Protein: 228 g = 912 cals
Fat: 70 g = 630g
Carbs: 214 g = 856 cals

The above gives close to 2400 cals.

I think that is fine, what do you think?

Cheers

[asdfman123]

I am 5'7" and weigh around 133 pounds and around 15-16% body fat ( using calipers).

I exercise 3 times a week, and end of my session, I do around 10 mins rowing for my cardio.

When you're saying "exercise 3 times a week", is this your weight training? If it is, then in my opinion you need to bump that up a bit. If you're doing full-body during those, it's tough to hit each body part with the required intensity. If not full-body, then you're not hitting body parts frequently enough. It is within the scope of this forum to make this point because your nutritional effort will arguably go to waste if you don't get the training right.

1) Shall I eat the same on my workout and non workout days?

It depends on the relative level of activity across days. If you have the exact same daily activity level (walking etc.) everyday excluding workouts, then you need more calories on workout days. Just take your BMR and try to factor in all activity.

4) How much should I aim to gain per week?

It depends HUGELY on height (and also age, race etc.). For someone your height, in terms of 100% pure muscle tissue, max of around 10-15lb per year. That is with excellent nutrition, training, sleep. In fact some may say that's unrealistic. That's not to say you aim for that amount of weight gain - you've got to aim for more than that because you can't gain that kind of muscle without eating big and gaining some fat.

[FormerSkinnyGuy]

why are you doing cardio if you are trying to gain?