Calorie intake for gaining muscle mass

Hey all,

I'm a 20 year old male, 5' 10'' and 158 lbs. I've been working out for a while and am trying to gain muscle while losing body fat. How many calories I should be having in a day?

I try to limit my carb intake, and my fat content too. 

suggestions anyone?

Well I am sure Melkor will jump in here somewhere but in a nutshell its hard to put on muscle while losing fat. You need a calorie surplus to gain muscle and a calorie deficit to lose fat. The best you can do is lose fat and maintain the muscle you already have by eating enough protein and lifting big heavy things. Its best to do this kind of thing in cycles. Do a muscle building cycle where you eat a lot (calorie surplus) and lift a lot of heavy things and then have a fat loss cycle where you are in a calorie deficit but continue to lift heavy things in order to maintain as much muscle as you can while losing fat. For tips on lifting heavy things visit stumptuous.com, t-nation.com and bodybuilding.com.

My BF is a bodybuilder in a "bulking" cycle and eats well over 3000 cals a day. When he goes into a cutting cycle he will likely be eating around half of that. But that is serious cutting for competition.

If you are new to work out with weight (2 years) you can still lose fat with gaining muscle.  Although at your weight cutting is not a possibility, as you have no muscle to cut down two.  If you are already 158lbs at 5 10 and are above 10% bf i hate to break it to you but you don’t have enough muscle to be in a calorie deficit, i would suggest clean bulking with about 400-500 cals above your expenditure until you get some mass then cutting down.  Chances are you body might actually lean out a bit doing this if you eat and train right.

thanks guys

That woould be less than 6 months, Kev. Beginner metabolism doesn't last that long - the "simultaneous cut&bulk" of the beginner is strongest in the first 6-8 weeks and nonexistent after 6 months.

Apart from that, spot on. Right now, the basic formula for you is to "squat heavy and eat anything that doesn't run fast enough" - in practice you'll most likely benefit from about 450-500 calories above maintenance level though there's the specific drill I've outlined before for finding your optimum calorie intake.

 Natural trainees outside of their initial metabolic stress response (the newbie metabolism or newbie shock growth response that we call "beginner's luck") can at most add 1-2lbs of muscle mass a month without the use of various illegal options. Which is why a clean bulk or slow bulk like what Kev's talking about is the only option that makes sense - there's no point in trying to gain 10lbs in a month when 8 of those will be fat.

 As for what to do in a workout - stick to the basics. A program consisting of squats, rows, bench, military press and deadlift, 3 times a week is about right for a beginner - you need a solid foundation in the basics before doing anyhting else. Something like the Kethnaab variation of "Starting Strength".

I don’t know bout the 6 months thing, i know when i change my training program I always grow cal def or not.  I think some of it might come down two genetics.  I know if I eat every three hours 30 grams of protein, along with sipping on bcaa's and glutamine though the day, ZMA at night, Creatine pre and post work out, and the EC stack I lose body fat and gain muscle, not a lot but i do gain a few pounds over the cores of 10 weeks or so.  I have been training i guess about 3 years with weights.   I also carb cycle so that might help as well.

 Genetics has a lot to do with it, yes - if you've got the Mr. Olympia mutation of an unresponsive or entirely missing myostatin gene you've gotta work hard at losing muscle. But even for genetic oddballs on serious drugs - the pro bodybuilders - it's easier to bulk and cut separately; normal people can't do that at all.

 Winning the genetic jackpot like you've done isn't something you should count on at the start of your training program though - if he can do that sort of thing as well he'll get a very nice surprise as he goes along but he shouldn't count on having being born with your above-average genetics :)

ya i think diet has a lot to do with it as well, if i don’t have that dialled ln to a T it does not happen, plus i run 4 times a week and have an active job so I still put away 2500 cals average a day to lose weight, so I get lots of food in. I highly recommend carb cycling on bulks and cuts.

The standard practice for weightlifters is to cycle "bulking" and "cutting".  This is significantly beyond my level right now -- I'm in a weight loss phase now, and expect to "graduate" from weight machines and bodyweight exercises to freeweights in the next 4-6 weeks. 

Reading this advice makes me wonder, though.  There's a lot of information about the bad health effects of "yo-yo" dieting on the metabolism.  Is there research about the long-term effects of the weightlifting cycle practices. Does the bodybuilder practice invoke these same effects as yo-yo dieting, or not, and why?   

In some measure it does, for the people who go on what's called a "dirty" bulk - eating junk food and general crap in an attempt to pack on as much mass as possible with the intent to diet the fat off later.

 That sort of thing only works for people with Kev's genes - the rest of us are better off sticking to the "clean" bulk of eating just a few steps above maintenance, about 350-500 calories is the norm. At that level you'll add muscle and fat in a 3:1 ratio and at a speed that means that after 8 weeks on a bulk you've added at most 2lbs of fat. Which you'll diet off in the following two weeks by restricting calories by about 500, the standard CC diet for losing a couple pounds in two weeks.

 That way you'll add quality muscle mass and keep any fat gains down to about a couple pounds at most, preventing the yo-yo dieter effect. 'Cause otherwise you're in for the world of hurt that Dr. Lonnie Lowery describes in his You're a Yo-Yo Dieter! article.

Don't those protein power/shakes help?

yep they do, if you are trying to gain mass I have always had good luck with a protein/dextrose combo.  I usually will double up on the serving when bulking.

Very interesting thread.  I've never been big on the diet side of my workouts but that's changing slowly.  Thanks guys.