Maintance calorie question???

Ok Im 5ft 5in and 125 - 130 lbs., 21 year old male.  I work construction for 8 to 9 hours a day and do some sort of work out 6 days a week for 30 mins to an hour.  My question is how many calories should I eat a day inorder to either maintain my current weight or gain muscle?  Right now my calorie count is usually around 1700 to 2000 a day. Any input would be nice

You need about 3000-3500 cals a day to maintain your weight with such a high level of activity.   In fact, it's quite difficult for you to overeat.  If you keep your dietary choices mostly to healthy, good quality wholefoods you should be in very good shape.

To actively build muscle you need a calorie surplus.  So this could be anything from 3500-4500.

Original Post by twhitt24:

Ok Im 5ft 5in and 125 - 130 lbs., 21 year old male.  I work construction for 8 to 9 hours a day and do some sort of work out 6 days a week for 30 mins to an hour.  My question is how many calories should I eat a day inorder to either maintain my current weight or gain muscle?  Right now my calorie count is usually around 1700 to 2000 a day. Any input would be nice

Hi!  Based on the info you provided, your 'Maintain" BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), adjusted for your activity level (which I would say is 'very active'), indicated a daily calorie requirement of about 2700.  If you want to build muscle (and some fat will come with that too), you should increase the 2700 by adding 500-600 calories per day ~~ 3200-3300.

As you can see, this basically agrees with the advice given by gi-jane above.  Remember that as you do gain weight by bulking/building (say every five pounds gained), you should recalculate the BMR+ for the new weight since BMR is based on weight, height, age, gender and activity levels!

Good luck tou you!

Hey Gi Jane and goodform thanks for the advice.  Something else that crossed my mind is do u think that I am under eatting?  I recently or still am recovering from an ed so my food outlook is a bit disordered.  I usually supplement the calories for any exercise that I do but I basically went from being a bum to working construction and am still eating the same as when I was a bum.  So I should add calories do to occupation and exercise or what? Thanks for the help.

As an aside - my father is 60 years old and works in construction as well. He's a steamfitter, works 8- 10 hour days 5-7 days a week. The man easily eats 3,000-4,000 calories a day (maybe more? God knows how many calories are in a sleeve of oreos and half a container each of cashews and PB. He is 5'11" and maintains his weight (I think he's maybe 165lbs). I know he's taller than you, but he is also 40 years older. If he needs to eat that much, you being younger means you probably need around that too.

My opinion: You are probably undereating. If you are feeling tired or hungry when you get home from work - you definitely need to eat something. Especially if you are looking to build more muscle, you need a surplus of calories in order for your body to have the energy and reserves to create muscle tissue. If you're eating 2,000 a day now, try to work up to 3,000 over the course of the next week or two.

I know its totally confusing and hard when you're recovering from an ED - I'm in recovery too. But your body truly does need more calories than you think it does. Even if you can maintain on less, to perform at peak capacity, your body does need more than 1700-2000. I can maintain on fewer calories than what I'm eating right now (as evidenced when I was sick last week), BUT I also don't gain just because I eat 300-500 calories more. And I physically and mentally feel better when I eat what I know my body needs. I'm sure the same will probably hold true for you as well.