Gaining Muscle

[SprinkleDonut]

Hi everyone 🙂

I have a few questions for those of you who have had success gaining and maintaining weight long term:

• Did you find 20 calories and 1g of protein per pound of body wt were enough to see results as in mostly lean gains and steady strength improvement?
• Would any of you mind sharing how much of a surplus worked for you?
• What are your favorite, mostly healthy, calorie dense snacks?

I am quite active so I'm a little worried my goal is going to be hard to reach 😞

I lift 3-4x a week, do yoga every day, use public transit/bike primarily (at least 10k steps or max 5 mi ride per day) and on rest days I do core (without wt) and/or put in a couple laps at the pool.

I am trying very hard to keep a daily surplus going but have had to simply go for an extra slice of pizza or something quite dense if I didn't reach my goal the day previously. I am staying away from being overly-reliant on protein supplements (1 shake per day) and consuming overly processed/sweetened foods even though a pint of Ben & Jerry's is an easy 1k (CHIME IN ON THIS)................

Though I have made progress, that's not saying much starting from a baseline of not being able to do a single push up and being borderline underweight. I am happy to report I have already gained 15 pounds 😄 24% body fat isn't RIPPED but I'm now at a healthy weight and have a great level of energy to do even better. I am just concerned as I focus on building strength that I might not be eating enough and so, wasting my time and money at the gym.

Thanks for reading!! Any feedback is appreciated. If the truth is that the numbers don't matter so much then fine by me.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

Great work already, great results already.

I'll mention it sounds like you are looking more for muscle size increase, aka hypertrophy, aka body building (though perhaps not to those extremes that require drugs).

Not just strength gains, aka power lifting (which does not require being thin at all).

Obviously there is overlap there, as you follow a hypertrophy program you'll gain strength too.

If you follow a strength program you'll gain some muscle.

But they are different programs for a reason, with different volumes and focus.

I wouldn't consider some foods "bad" if you need the calories to be at maintenance or slight surplus - you are very active.

1g protein per lb of bodyweight is for sure overkill for what is required. If it helps you feel full and can afford it and don't have trouble getting in enough calories (sounds like an issue though), then fine.

But if it's causing an issue, seeing as how not in a diet, the protein requirement actually isn't as great.

0.91 g per lb of LBM (not body weight) is more than sufficient.

This discussion of studies is for bodybuilders, likely drugged up to have better recovery and make better use of nutrients, and there was still a limit to what was actually useful.

http://mennohenselmans.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/

Not spending as much effort on protein may make it easier to get more fat and carbs in - usually those are easier calories too.

And if you got your nutrients in for the day and are still lacking 1000 calories - B & J sounds good.

Oh - only a few Fitbit models get a decent calorie burn for weight lifting.

Most are inflated because they use HR-based calorie burn - totally opposite usage scenario from best case scenario.

Manually log your sessions as Weight Lifting, if it's about the same calorie burn you have the correct device for just accepting the workout as is.

If it's much less calories, take it and always manually log it. May realize not burning as much now.

[SprinkleDonut]

Hi Mr. Heybales,

Thanks for the response! I am so relieved to hear I won't wither away without the Arnold standard 1g protein per pound of body wt. Oddly enough as huge as he was I have heard people say you need even more than that! I have the Inspire 2 and have been logging my weightlifting sessions manually 👍 I'm very much living life with a lululemon body type right now hahaha nothing wrong with that but it really lacks volume (a more ample figure) and functional strength so with lifting I'm not looking to set any wild PRs but I do really want to be able to do push ups with ease (harder variations since the standard is HARD right now but hey better than the 0 or incline-only I used to do), unassisted pull ups, and in general have a strong core/back to avoid injury. I'm getting there each day~

I'll also try to be a little less chicken about allowing myself treats since I never get near the RDA of added sugar on a normal day (ex-vegan for 10 years, we all have regrets 😂) so I figure doing this once or twice a week would be an easy surplus and basically a great time lol

I was kind of in the mindset that I should never eat Cheetos or cake but yeah you're right it's more about the frequency (I otherwise eat all my greens, lean proteins, etc. that I cook myself) and I do really need the energy with my lifestyle since I struggle to make my calorie goal EVERY DAY.