Need help gaining muscle

[Chloepaulino]

Hello Fitbit Community!

I have recently started a Journey on trying to gain muscle (bulking season). Except I have no idea where to start.To start off I do not know what my activity level is to even began to think about how many calories I should be eating, maybe you can help me? What my current week looks like is I do light activity: Mon-Thursday ( not including exercise), Friday-Sunday I work as a cashier, (mainly standing). Exercise: Mon - Friday I lift heavy ( 5 days).  Age:18 I weigh 124 pounds, height: 5 foot 6 inches and no, I do not have a fast metabolism. Also, specifically how many more calories I should be consuming on training days? (100+ calories more?) and should I consume less on off days? ( on maintenance mode)  

[Dominique]

You want to gain weight at a steady pace (e.g. 0.5 lb per week) during your bulking phase, so you want to monitor your weight on a regular basis and look at weekly averages: over time, they should go up. You don’t need to have the exact same caloric surplus every single day, so I don’t think you need to adjust your eating based on whether or not it’s a training day. Weight training doesn’t burn that many calories anyway.

If you decide to log your calories in, you can use your Fitbit for an estimate of your calories out. Be aware that activity trackers often overestimate your energy expenditure. In the end, the scale will tell whether you’re gaining as you’re supposed to.

[WavyDavey]

Squat.

Deadlift.

Overhead Press

Protein

Sleep

[Dominique]

@WavyDavey : my impression is @Chloepaulino has the training part figured out (she said she’s lifting heavy 5 days a week), it’s the nutrition part (specifically, calories) she was wondering about. I’m sure she’s also familiar with macros and the importance of protein.

[Chloepaulino]

Yes, this is exactly it. I just do not know how many calories I should be consuming for maintenance/ or even the calories for surplus. 

Currently I am eating about 1700-1800 for maintenance (when I am not training) and about 1900 calories on days that I lift. but again I do not know if this is the correct amount. 

My Fitbit app says I normally burn around 13,000- 13,500 calories per week

[Dominique]

The "correct" amount is the one that will result in gaining at a pace you’re happy with. Start with 1800/1900, watch what the scale is saying (try to take into account the impact of your hormonal cycle, it’s easier for us guys) and adjust accordingly.

What I personally find difficult is gaining at a slow enough pace. I had planned to gain 5 kg in 20 weeks (1 kg/month), but I had already gained 4 kg after just 6 weeks, so I had to almost switch to maintenance thereafter:

 

I would have loved to have a nice straight line from 59 to 64 kg .

[emili]

and they say losing is hard ;). just like everything with fitness you have to try, see and adjust. you won't know until you start which is why tracking it is so important. You will see the trends come up and start to make adjustments on the amounts, actual food item and the day you eat what. Good luck.. it isn't easy, but for sure worth the effort.