how much calories??????

[musclemania]

i'm wondering how much calories i should eat per day to gain weight and how much protein do i need , my bodyweight is 125lb right now .

[Ironman8]

It takes 3,500 calories to equal a pound of fat.

But since you weigh 125Ibs., eat whatever is in sight. You really need to bulk up.

[heathj]

Aim for 5000 calories a day, at least, twig! It's fo' twamp. Go smoke some bud, and then eat an insane amount of food...

[John0101]

depends on your goals i believe. Try 2700 cals a day w/atleast 150 grams of protien. Im sure you'll gain atleast 1/2-1 pound a week for a few weeks.

[bradley]

Originally posted by musclemania
i'm wondering how much calories i should eat per day to gain weight and how much protein do i need , my bodyweight is 125lb right now .

Well first off I would recommend getting 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight. If you are not gaining at your current calorien level then obviously you will need to increase calories. I would just increase cals in small increments each week until you are gaining the desired amount of weight each week (approximately .5-1lb per week). There is no exact correlation to calorie intake and bw because you have to take into consideration things like activity level and metabolism.

[GhettoSmurf]

well 18-20 * BW can give you a rough estimate to gain weight. but since you are pretty light, i'd go with ironman's idea of eating anything in sight

[Isaac Wilkins]

Given your size, you can probably pound the calories to yourself and gain nicely.

I'm a big fan of the Harris-Benedict Formula for making base metabolic suggestions.

Harris Benedict for men:

66 + (13.7 x wt in kg) + (5 x ht in cm) - (6.8 x age in yr) = BMR



Harris Benedict for women:

655 + (9.6 x wt in kg) + (1.8 x ht in cm) - (4.7 x age in yr) = BMR


That's base metabolic rate. Account for activity (around + 30-50%), then add a 200-500 calories. Eat that amount for a week or two, see if you make gains. If so, then go ahead and continue. If not, then add another 200. Continue on this until you're gaining a pound or so a week.

[raniali]

the other factor to consider is how much training and/or cardio you are doing as well. if you are doing cardio - STOP. and be careful to not overtrain as i think it's easier for people with super-fast metabolisms.

[aka23]

It is unlikely that you can gain more than about a lb of muscle per week, so I would suggest slowly increasing calories until you are gaining about 1 lb per week. You may wish to gain a bit faster or slower, depending on your goals, your body, and your training. If you gain less than 1lb per week, you may be limiting your potential muscle gains, but you are likely to gain less fat.

You can get a rough estimate of how many calories you need through formulas or calculators like the one at http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html . These formulas do not work well for a large portion of the population. A more accurate way to estimate caloric needs is to track you foods at a site like fitday.com, determine you many calories you are eating, then slowly increase the calories until you meet your weight gaining goals.

I disagree with the advice about stopping cardio. You do not need to do cardio, if you do not want to. However, if done correctly, it should not interfere with your gains. There have been a few studies showing one or two cardio sessions a week on non strength days does not negatively impact strength and size gains, maintains conditioning, and maintains fat oxidation efficiency. I do cardio nearly every day, and have been making good gains in recent weeks.

[steveo]

Don't worry about calories you need to count your meals. The more you eat the more you gain. At 125lbs I would shot for 150grams a day at least. And stop all Cardio for sure. Just eat from the point you wake up to the minute before you fall asleep. Eats plenty of Carbs as well you need to load up your muscles as you build them and also EFA will also help tons.

[mmac]

5000 calories/day when he weighs 125lbs? Come on, that would kill him. Start at 2500-2800, work your way up until you are gaining about a pound week.

[Ironman8]

Hey, aka, what do you do when you're doing cardio? I think I would lose strength if I did cardio everyday.

[Vido]

Do not listen to the people telling you to not do cardio. A heavy cardio session burns what, 500 calories? You can eat 500 calories in a matter of 30 seconds. It isn't very difficult to eat a little bit extra in order to make up for the lost cals and you feel a lot better if you are in good cardiovascular shape. Or why not do HIIT? That burns no more than 200 calories I wouldn't think, but still gets the heart pumping.

Musclemania, don't be surprised if you need to eat upwards of 3500 calories a day even at your bodyweight. Some people just have very fast metabolisms. I know people that maintain their weight at around 26-27 cals per lb of bodyweight, and that is just to maintain. However, you're going to have to track your cals every day and adjust accordingly. Start out lower if you want and work your way up, or start out high and drop cals if necessary...depends on your short term goals.

Remember, eating is fun. Now, go have fun.

[aka23]

Originally posted by Ironman8
Hey, aka, what do you do when you're doing cardio? I think I would lose strength if I did cardio everyday.

I could not do high intensity work or running every day. But I can do a high intensity day, followed by a low intensity day or a workout that uses different muscle groups. I do several different types of workouts that involve cycling, running, and the eliptical trainer. The workouts are a variety of intensities and durations. There is more detail in my journal at http://www.wannabebigforums.com/show...threadid=29874

[Ironman8]

Oh, ok. Thanks for the info.

[musclemania]

thanks for the advice guys