Activity level, calorie intake, bulking

[slowlylearning]

Hey, I'm 5'11, 156 lb and I am trying to put on muscle doing a mostly clean bulk. Every calculator I use online says for my current size I should be taking in about 2300 calories a day if I want to gain muscle. Is that 2300 for a very active person or for a person who does his workouts and then sits around for most of the day?

One calculator said if I was working out very hard it should be about 2300 and if I wasn't working out that hard about 1400 a day. I do 30 mins of HIIT 3 - 4 times a week first thing in the morning without eating before and do a beginners workout which I got from this site and its 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday so it's not too intense.

I really don't want to put on alot of fat by going over the calories by loads. Should I class myself in the "not working out hard" and eat about 1400 a day or put myself in the "working out very hard" category and eat about 2400? I know I need extra calories left over and a gram of protein per pound of my bodyweight a day but at the end of the day I dont want to be left with too many extra calories that get stored as fat! After my cardio and workouts I am not active for the rest of that day. Im usually sitting for the rest of the day.Thanks for any advice!

[kris90]

Hey, I'm 5'11, 156 lb and I am trying to put on muscle doing a mostly clean bulk. Every calculator I use online says for my current size I should be taking in about 2300 calories a day if I want to gain muscle. Is that 2300 for a very active person or for a person who does his workouts and then sits around for most of the day?

One calculator said if I was working out very hard it should be about 2300 and if I wasn't working out that hard about 1400 a day. I do 30 mins of HIIT 3 - 4 times a week first thing in the morning without eating before and do a beginners workout which I got from this site and its 3 days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday so it's not too intense.

I really don't want to put on alot of fat by going over the calories by loads. Should I class myself in the "not working out hard" and eat about 1400 a day or put myself in the "working out very hard" category and eat about 2400? I know I need extra calories left over and a gram of protein per pound of my bodyweight a day but at the end of the day I dont want to be left with too many extra calories that get stored as fat! After my cardio and workouts I am not active for the rest of that day. Im usually sitting for the rest of the day.Thanks for any advice!

Calculator is probably wrong. Probably 2300 calories is your resting metabolic rate. so you'd probably need to eat 2300 + whatever you burn off working out + 500 (if you wanna bulk). So I'd say you're gunna be eating atleast 3000.

Also, some advice about the cardio. If you're doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach you want to keep the intensity level low. Here's why:

Our body's main source of energy is glycogen (carbohydrate storage), so whatever the exercise is that we're doing, our converts these glycogen stores into energy. Once the stores are depleted, the body then will burn off fat, or protein. The whole reason people do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach is that your glycogen stores are all used up in the morning on an empty stomach, so you will immediately start using up fat for fuel. We all know fat is the preferred source of energy for aerobic activity (low intensity), however, high intensity activity like sprinting, will require the use of muscle activity, which will then burn off proteins for fuel (your muscles). This puts you in a very catabolic state. This is the reason why you must consume carbs before weight training, so that you reload your glycogen stores so they can be used up as energy for lifting, that way it won't burn off proteins.

So I would definitely do low intensity (fast walk, or light jog pace) for early morning cardio if you're trying to burn off fat without losing muscle.

[slowlylearning]

Calculator is probably wrong. Probably 2300 calories is your resting metabolic rate. so you'd probably need to eat 2300 + whatever you burn off working out + 500 (if you wanna bulk). So I'd say you're gunna be eating atleast 3000.

Also, some advice about the cardio. If you're doing cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach you want to keep the intensity level low. Here's why:

Our body's main source of energy is glycogen (carbohydrate storage), so whatever the exercise is that we're doing, our converts these glycogen stores into energy. Once the stores are depleted, the body then will burn off fat, or protein. The whole reason people do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach is that your glycogen stores are all used up in the morning on an empty stomach, so you will immediately start using up fat for fuel. We all know fat is the preferred source of energy for aerobic activity (low intensity), however, high intensity activity like sprinting, will require the use of muscle activity, which will then burn off proteins for fuel (your muscles). This puts you in a very catabolic state. This is the reason why you must consume carbs before weight training, so that you reload your glycogen stores so they can be used up as energy for lifting, that way it won't burn off proteins.

So I would definitely do low intensity (fast walk, or light jog pace) for early morning cardio if you're trying to burn off fat without losing muscle.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Im just trying to figure out how I'm going to eat 3000 calories a day. I'm finding it hard enough to eat 2300. Should I add in some more dirty bulking? With 3000 a day and sitting around for most of the day except for the workout for 30 mins will I not have way too many calories left over and get alot of fat? Im trying to get leaner while putting on as little fat as possible and I don't care how long it takes. I don't want to put on loads of fat and muscle fast and then cut.

[kris90]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Im just trying to figure out how I'm going to eat 3000 calories a day. I'm finding it hard enough to eat 2300. Should I add in some more dirty bulking? With 3000 a day and sitting around for most of the day except for the workout for 30 mins will I not have way too many calories left over and get alot of fat? Im trying to get leaner while putting on as little fat as possible and I don't care how long it takes. I don't want to put on loads of fat and muscle fast and then cut.

The problem with eating 100% clean is that it's really tough to get your calories in.. So there may be certain things that aren't the best for you that you can add in, but for the most part, still eat as clean as you can. For me, I take mass gainers, that gives me an extra like 1200 calories per day, and it's filled with protein, and complex carbs and good fats. I eat about 3500 calories total. You're going to have to experiment and play around a little until you figure out a good calorie amount. I'd say start around 3000, see what happens after too weeks, if you gain too much weight, then lower it a little, if you don't gain enough, raise it a bit. That's all I got. Good luck bro!

[shadowscion]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Im just trying to figure out how I'm going to eat 3000 calories a day. I'm finding it hard enough to eat 2300.

Drink more calories, its easier to drink than it is to eat. I usually put milk, peanut butter, a banana, another fruit(w/e we have) and a scoop of protein powder in a blender, it comes out to around 600-700 calories depending on the fruit. I have also read about people putting olive oil in there too for extra calories.

[slowlylearning]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah I'm finding it very very hard to get in the amount of calories needed. I'm lactose intolerent so I can't have cookies, chocolate, cheese etc. Lot's of the foods high in calories. If I was a few hundred calories (300 or so) short of what I should be eating everyday how much of an difference would it make at the end of the week? Would I still see results but they wouldn't be what they could have been if I ate the right amount?