How many calories?

Batf1nk

Batf1nk

Batf1nk

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I was a gym regular last year but never seemed to gain any weight (10st at my peak!). I had a decent routine but the whole diet thing has always been the most difficult part.

I'm wanting to start the gym again and put some good quality weight on (muscle not fat - and i know its near on impossible to gain one without some of the other :p)

My intake at the min can be as low as 1000 one day and up to 2000+ the next. I seem to be able to surpress any feelings of hunger but its not helping my cause one little bit, obviously!

At the min i'm approx 9.5 stone (133lbs / ~60kg) and 5ft 9" tall. What kind of calories should i be aiming for on a day to day basis? I will be using protien powders also to help up my intake.

Thanks.

Oh, any good links to diet specific info would be good too, ta.
 
do not supress hunger.
should no need to up your intake with protein unless you really cannot get it from normal food (other than post workout).
 
Sounds like you need a total re-working of your diet - 1000 calories a day, surpress hunger??? Not going to help you at all.
Try this site to start with, might help : http://www.mealplansite.com/
If you want to gain some size then I'm afraid you are going to have to eat, eat and then eat some more :D
 
Work out your basic maintenance calories i.e. what you need to live, breathe, eat, move think and so on... Lots of online calculators will give you a rough idea. For that. This will be relatively low. Now add into it your exercise for the day. You will then have your requirements for what you need to survive and do exercise without depleting or overstocking on calories. Let us say for your day to day life you need 2000 cals you'll need to add on average 500cals a day for a week to gain 1lb roughly. It's all quite complex, but there's lots of info out there on the 'net - it's a question of reading up.

Don't do a dirty bulk (i.e. eat lots of ****) - make sure you eat well and in large servings of good quality food.
 
Yeah I deffo dont want to do a 'dirty bulk' (sounds like some comic book porn star!! lol)

Some sites seem to mention specific times to eat specific foods. How important is this for me? Or is this a more advanced diet routine?

Also things like.. a handful of nuts... will they really make much difference? I suppose its helping with a balanced diet and all that.

Also, Is it a bad thing to eat the same foods every day? Other than getting boring etc?

Edit. According to one calculator if i go to the gym 3 times a week i need an intake of ~2200kcal to maintain my weight.

Another says ~2500 kcal to maintain. And to put on 1lb per week i should up that to 3000kcal per day!

How easy do you guys find it to eat 3000 calories a day?
 
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That makes sense - you need an extra 500cals on average per day to gain 1lb a week or so.

3k cals is quite tough if you're small framed and not very active. The more you become active and the bulkier you become the quicker you digest food, or at least the more food you can digest.

Without wanting to sound gross, once you're eating big amounts regularly you will probably "go" every day significantly!

If you eat the right stuff, it's relatively easy to get 3k cals, it's when you have to get to 4k that it starts getting a bit tricky and I find myself relying on slightly fattier foods - not hugely fat, but fattier. i.e. I'll eat more lamb and duck, and won't cut off the fat off ham etc... pile in more yoghurt and honey, eat porridge twice a day, drink at least 3 shakes a day etc.. it's an effort.
 
I'd say aim for 3000+ at least.

At around 12st I aim for 4000+ on a bulk.

I went from around your weight to 12 1/2st (see bodybuidling pics thread) in around a year eating 3-4k cals a day.
 
Morba said:
recommended for what though? government recommendations on calorie intake is so generic it is not worth considering.
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My point is that's it's defiantly more than the 1000-2000 he's currently consuming.
 
I eat the same thing everyday and thus have around 3800-4000 a day dependent on drinking habits.

You should def aim fo at least 3000
 
Im guessing you guys eating between 3-4000 kcals a day spent a fair amount of money on food!

And oddjob, 1000 cals before dinner? What you got for dinner? A baby hippo? :D
 
The average pizza I have seen at the coop is about 850 calories, so just eat an extra one of those a day. It's got plenty of protein, fat and carbs in, so is pretty balanced too.
 
Eat like its going out of fashion. Bang in the calories, chicken, fish, rice, pasta, couscous, nuts, eggs, oatmeal, steak, vegetables, fruit.
Just eat and eat and then eat some more. Train like a deamon and eat like 1 to, and then sleep like the laziest baby:D
 
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