At what weight can I stop loading

[recklesscognition]

I used to be really, really skinny. 5 ' 11", 120 pounds, about 3 years ago. I went on a program to gain weight and muscle for about two years and made it up to around 180 pounds. Then I stopped working out for a while and have been off and on since then.

I've just gotten back into it, but I did work out all of January and February, then got delayed for a month because of surgery.

I'm not a real serious lifter, but I don't want to be messing around in the gym for no reason. Now I weight 185 pounds and would like to be around 195-200. Do I go above my weight target and cut down, or below and muscle up? I'm taking in somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 cals a day right now, trying my best to keep bad food out unless I really need the numbers. What would be a target calorie range for that kind on increase?

 

[Kabeetz]

Any caloric increase will lead to weight gain... how much you eat determines how much you gain over a period of time. There is only so much lean muscle you can add though..

If you don't already have a good program I would go to the weightlifting forum and click on the training vault sticky and start the 3x5 or intermediate 5x5 program... as for diet... start with 3,500 a day.. and if that scale isn't going up every week... try 3,600 and if results still aren't coming continue to add to your daily intake. You'll be fine at 3,500 though. My suggestion to you based on my limited personal experience is that anything more than a pound a week at the most will lead to substantial fat gain.

EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT, you have to figure it out through trial and error.