How many calories should I eat while bulking??

[kimchee411]

After spending about 14-15 weeks going from 22% BF down to 10-12% I started bulking, and with some rough estimates I calculated that I'm burning about 2800 calories/day. I'm 5'9" ~175-178 (now... was 168-170 3-4 weeks ago) and I lift 4 days/week (2 muscles/day, 9-12 sets/muscle). So being paranoid about getting fat after having spent so much time to cut, I decided to target my daily calories at about 2800. In the last 3-4 weeks I have made some gains, but not as good as I have in the past when I just ate "a lot" of food.

Anyway, there were a couple of days this past week when I ate huge meals and my workouts have been a helluva lot better. e.g. Today I did overhead DB tricep extensions @ 85x10, 90x9, and 95x7, when I usually only get up to like 85x7. This obviously tells me that I just wasn't eating enough in the past weeks. But yesterday I ate like 4000+ cals (I had an entire medium pizza w/the works over just a few hours, lol) and I know that's way overboard. So how many excess calories do y'all (who don't balloon up) usually take in when you're bulking? Today someone told me you should eat at least 500 cals extra when bulking, so ~3300 for me -- that doesn't sound too unreasonable, although I would like to able to get away with 3100 or so. Is that too few?

I don't mind adding a little bit of fat, but I just don't want to erase all of my previous work from cutting. I guess I don't want to exceed like 16-17%. I will be bulking through the end of April.

BTW, I don't normally eat pizzas and the like, so no need to flame me there. I just eat 5-6 meals/day, try to take in as much protein as I can, and watch the high GI carbs except for PWO and in the morning.

Thanks in advance bros.

 

[kimchee411]

Anyone?

 

[FORTUNE]

hey man im in the same boat almost exact same figures too. find out your "maintenance level" based on your activity factor, there is an exact forumla out there. mine comes to about 2900 cals per day, and yes adding 500-600 cals is perfect whern bulking to avoid fat. ideally you gain 2 pounds a week, or 1.5 lbs is good too. no more than 8lbs a month or your pushing it.

changing your eating habits is tough as i am finding out. planning it and DOING IT are different things. big meals are cool cause you can stuff in 1500 cals easy but sometimes it kills the buzz for eating for quite a while, which can suck. with todays busy schedules you literally need to find something to eat every 2 hours or so. maybe every 2.5 hours. if your on the go grab SOMETHING you can eat while your out, bannana and a nutri grain , theres almost 300 cals. i am trying to find quality bulking foods that are FAST to eat. pizza is good but is more of an unclean meal in terms of fat, but is great for the calories usually. i am finding that cottage cheese is probably the fastest thing to eat with big cal #'s, and start the day off with some omega3 eggs, 70 cals each, 5 eggs if u can stomach it 320 cals right there add a glass of orgage juice and a bannana and your already above 500 cals probly.

i find MRP's too be good but are disgusting unflavoured and without chocolate milk and frozen berries to blend em with. look at proteinfactory.com under advanced muscle gain. there is an mrp in there with 320 cals per serving and 0 grams of sugar, a BIG concern when buying MRP's (LOOK AT THE SUGAR CONTENT!) sugar = flavour but FAT!
non liquid meals are always better of course but mrp's can really bump your cal #'s up if your religious about it

 

[DZLS]

i wouldn't go more than 3100 in your case, as if you go any higher, you're just going to end up putting on that fat you just worked your ass off to remove...

it sounds as though you want to continue adding mass without fat, which is what i base my training on as well...

instead of hogging yourself with that many calories throughout the day, how about just having a couple of hundred extra for your pre-workout meal...? make sure you take in plenty of carbs during that meal to fuel you for your workouts... it may take a little experimenting but once you find the right meal, you shoudl be able to bulk without turning into a fat ass...

good luck...

 

[Aries13]

16-18 times your body weight= calories per day...simple/affective formula

 

[Lifterforlife]

16-18 times your body weight= calories per day...simple/affective formula

Yep, this works well...20 for an all outer.