how many calories

[soclydeza]

ive done a lot of research on the topic and get mixed answers. i was bulking for the winter, so i didnt care too much about gaining fat and went on a see-food diet. now i wanna start getting a bit more accurate in the next coming months. i once read somewhere that i should be taking up to 3500-4000 cal/day, somewhere else that said roughly 2800, then 3200, 2900...... so i dont know what to believe, figured id trust your guys advice. if it helps, im about 5'9", around 190lbs, pretty energetic and on my feet most of the time, looking to build muscle and i workout 3 days per week. any suggestions? thanks guys

[tom183]

The only way you will know for sure is through trial and error.

Weigh yourself. For two weeks eat normally without the intention of gaining or losing weight. Track everything you eat using fitday.com or a similar website. Weigh yourself again after two weeks. Assuming your weight remained the same you can assme that you were eating at your maintenance level. Now determine how many calories you were eating each day. This is how many you need to eat to stay at your current weight. Add ~15% to that number.