How much should I eat to start bulking?

[albert30103]

Okay, so I'm a 5'2" guy. I have tremendous appetite and I was weighing about 136 lbs. In 7.5 months I went down to 112 lbs. After, I went on vacation for one whole month and ate like crap. I went to 120 lbs. I now went down to 117 lbs and I am about 20% body fat. I will try to go back to where I started 112-113 lbs, at which point it's almost impossible to lose more, and then I want to start bulking. Right now, I look skinny fat and I know I will look skinnier when I lose more weight. I have gone to the gym about 2-3 times per week in the past (not in the past 2 months) but have not made major muscle gain since I typically am on a calorie deficit and do mostly cardio. My maintenance calories are 1600-1700 calories (there is obesity in my family, plus I am way below my natural weight, so I gain weight/fat very fast) and I really want to go way over since I've been losing weight for so long and am always eating little calories. Of course, I will be eating healthy and mostly protein and healthy fats. My concern is how much over can I go without gaining significant fat. I can easily eat 3000 calories in a day. I heard that if you haven't trained before, you need a greater surplus. I plan on going to the gym daily and in maybe 2 days of the week going twice.

[AdamWW]

Okay, so I'm a 5'2" guy. I have tremendous appetite and I was weighing about 136 lbs. In 7.5 months I went down to 112 lbs. After, I went on vacation for one whole month and ate like crap. I went to 120 lbs. I now went down to 117 lbs and I am about 20% body fat. I will try to go back to where I started 112-113 lbs, at which point it's almost impossible to lose more, and then I want to start bulking. Right now, I look skinny fat and I know I will look skinnier when I lose more weight. I have gone to the gym about 2-3 times per week in the past (not in the past 2 months) but have not made major muscle gain since I typically am on a calorie deficit and do mostly cardio. My maintenance calories are 1600-1700 calories (there is obesity in my family, plus I am way below my natural weight, so I gain weight/fat very fast) and I really want to go way over since I've been losing weight for so long and am always eating little calories. Of course, I will be eating healthy and mostly protein and healthy fats. My concern is how much over can I go without gaining significant fat. I can easily eat 3000 calories in a day. I heard that if you haven't trained before, you need a greater surplus. I plan on going to the gym daily and in maybe 2 days of the week going twice.

How old are you

[albert30103]

How old are you

I’m 20

[Grizvok]

Your “plan” reads as an excellent way to spin your wheels and make absolutely no progress.

[albert30103]

Your “plan” reads as an excellent way to spin your wheels and make absolutely no progress.

Thank you for your input, but maybe you can suggest what would work better and why is my “plan” wrong? I would appreciate that more

[SuffolkPunch]

If you were counting calories when losing weight, you should have an idea of your maintenance level. Add 300 calories to that.

If you have a list of weigh-ins and calorie intakes then post them here and we can help if you aren't sure.

[albert30103]

If you were counting calories when losing weight, you should have an idea of your maintenance level. Add 300 calories to that.

If you have a list of weigh-ins and calorie intakes then post them here and we can help if you aren't sure.

As I mentioned, my maintenance calories are 1600-1700, that’s when I don’t lose/gain weight. I typically eat 1200-1300 to lose weight. My question was, what if I eat >500 over, will I gain muscle faster? Does the fact that I am way under my normal weight mean that I will build muscle faster to compensate?

[rtpmarine]

As I mentioned, my maintenance calories are 1600-1700, that’s when I don’t lose/gain weight. I typically eat 1200-1300 to lose weight. My question was, what if I eat >500 over, will I gain muscle faster? Does the fact that I am way under my normal weight mean that I will build muscle faster to compensate?

No, it means the opposite. Just like obese people need to lose weight slowly if they want to avoid excessive muscle loss, very lean people need to gain weight slowly if they want to avoid excessive fat gain.

I recommend a 250 calorie surplus for the first couple weeks, adjust from there to achieve weight gain of 1-1.5 lbs per month.

[Grizvok]

Thank you for your input, but maybe you can suggest what would work better and why is my “plan” wrong? I would appreciate that more

I mean, it’s kind of self-explanatory. You just mentioned your maintenance is 1600-1700 calories and you are talking about eating 3000 calories a day which is a HUGE surplus. And you say this right after noting that you gain fat very easily. You are also obviously aware of the what was once typical 500 cals over maintenance suggestion for bulking (we now know less than that is actually more desireable) but you are contemplating more than doubling and almost tripling that? You probably wouldn’t even spin your wheels but would likely make your physique worse than it currently is.

You also admit to essentially doing minimal if any weight training and focusing on cardio which is never the correct path to efficient physique changes. Your weight training is a priority whether you are cutting or bulking. Always.