Here we go again...

[SkyDiver]

What's up.
I don't remember the last time I checked in, so here we go again. Currently I'm 5'5 with 142pounds so there's a lot to bulk up, but I'm really confused as to what I should take in. Currently I drink 3x a shake, consisting of milk (almost 1 liter), banana, 2 teaspoons of peanut butter, frozen berries and 2 out of those 3 times with 40g protein. I rather not say what I have as lunch and dinner since it's completely unsuited for workout, but I wasn't sure how to make it right.
So I'm basically looking into something that I can eat raw with only dinner as a cooking option (I don't like to work in that kitchen, not lot of space and really uncomfortable) but it should be simple and rather easy to make. Since I have a slight allergy against everything that contains latex I'd rather stay away from soy and raw apple. How much calories are needed for sufficient muscle gain, based on my current status? On top of weight lift I burn at least 500 calories by cardio alone (mon,tue, thr, fri) and on Wednesday (cardio day) over 800 (I'm going to the gym regularly since oct). Is this too much or to less?
I looked into this as well, but all those recipes confused me even more. The question is what to choose?

thanks!

 

[Wrangell]

What's up.
I don't remember the last time I checked in, so here we go again. Currently I'm 5'5 with 142pounds so there's a lot to bulk up, but I'm really confused as to what I should take in. Currently I drink 3x a shake, consisting of milk (almost 1 liter), banana, 2 teaspoons of peanut butter, frozen berries and 2 out of those 3 times with 40g protein. I rather not say what I have as lunch and dinner since it's completely unsuited for workout, but I wasn't sure how to make it right.

So I'm basically looking into something that I can eat raw with only dinner as a cooking option (I don't like to work in that kitchen, not lot of space and really uncomfortable) but it should be simple and rather easy to make. Since I have a slight allergy against everything that contains latex I'd rather stay away from soy and raw apple.


How much calories are needed for sufficient muscle gain, based on my current status?

On top of weight lift I burn at least 500 calories by cardio alone (mon,tue, thr, fri) and on Wednesday (cardio day) over 800 (I'm going to the gym regularly since oct). Is this too much or to less?

There are no hard and fast rules on exactly how many calories you should eat to help you gain mass.

In some ways, the sky's the limit when you talk about adding calories. The real issue for most gym rats is how much extra fat can you tolerate along the way as you add muscle - cause in most cases, when you boost your calories a fair bit to help build muscle, you tend to also see some fat gained along with gains in muscle mass...especially when you see significant gains in mass.

That said, one approach to boosting calories you could start with is to first nail down your ' maintenance calories ' and then bump that number by 20%. Here's a link that does the ' maintenance calories ' calc for you ( taking into account all that cardio etc. you do ) .......



Also, and this is more of an ' fyi ' only, there is a highly regarded book out on the market by Lou Schuler " The New Rules of Lifting " in which he cites some academic findings that suggest a ' rule of thumb ' for how many calories strength athletes should take when it comes to issues of muscle mass. The findings he cites suggests....

- to simply maintain muscle mass : 20 calories per pound of bodyweight

- to ADD muscle mass : 25 - 30 calories per pound of bodyweight​

........which, if nothing else , just serves to show that the process of adding muscle shouldn't skimp on calories.

 

[flyinfree]

are you a skydiver? jumper? disciplines? number of jumps?

 

[SkyDiver]

Thanks alot for those suggestions. I just figured out that all my shakes combined will add up to 2229cals, 80g fat (32%), 261g carbs (42%), 146g proteins (26%). Is this OK or too much for a snack supplement? I might subtract some protein when I add chickenbreasts to my new dinner plan.
The reason why I do this much cardio is because I'm a dancer, so I will always burn alot, but I will cut it back to around 200 on workout days and 400 on cardio days.
My BMR is 2827 (with very active) which I'm gona push to around 4000.

@flyinfree
No, not yet but I might try it as soon as I've done everything else on my to-do list ;-)

 

[Wrangell]

Thanks alot for those suggestions. I just figured out that all my shakes combined will add up to 2229cals, 80g fat (32%), 261g carbs (42%), 146g proteins (26%).

Each shake ( 3 X a week ) is 900 calories ? Are you sure,...sounds a bit on the high side.

Is this OK or too much for a snack supplement? I might subtract some protein when I add chickenbreasts to my new dinner plan.

Could you not simply limit yourself to 1 shake a day - i.e after your workouts - and get the remaining nutrition you need each day from whole food sources ?

The reason why I do this much cardio is because I'm a dancer, so I will always burn alot, but I will cut it back to around 200 on workout days and 400 on cardio days.


My BMR is 2827 (with very active) which I'm gona push to around 4000.

I assume that 2,900 is your ' maintenance calorie level ' - and not your BMR.

If you go by that research I cited earlier - 25 to 30 calories per pound of bodyweight in order to add mass - then that 4,000 a day seems to be in the ballpark.

Keep in mind however, that this sort of significant bump in calories from 2,900 to 4,000+ will likely add some fat along the way. And it's likely to a larger degree of added fat than if you'd only bumped your ' maintenance calorie level ' by 20% to 3,400 ( i.e 2,827 x 1.2 ) calories a day.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

[SkyDiver]

Yeah I miscalculated the peanut butter a little bit (2 tablespoons instate of teaspoons...).
I was thinking about drink half a gallon milk per day. This Already adds over 1000 calories. In this case I will only need one protein shake (post-workout). As lunch I can make one or two chicken breast sandwiches, and for dinner brown rice with a steak and some vegetables. Does this sound good so far? Each meal will add at least another 1000 cal. What do I have to be careful about when buying steak? The color?

 

[Wrangell]

Yeah I miscalculated the peanut butter a little bit (2 tablespoons instate of teaspoons...).

I was thinking about drink half a gallon milk per day.

Milk is a good source of protein, but there are other dairy and non-dairy sources you could explore as well.

This Already adds over 1000 calories. In this case I will only need one protein shake (post-workout). As lunch I can make one or two chicken breast sandwiches, and for dinner brown rice with a steak and some vegetables. Does this sound good so far?

Sounds good to me.

Each meal will add at least another 1000 cal. What do I have to be careful about when buying steak? The color?

I'd focus on portion size and the ' leanness ' of the meat instead of colour, since , depending on the cut of meat, different cuts and types of meat can have varying degrees of saturated fat - which you want to keep to a minimum.

 

[SkyDiver]

I'm still figuring out what I could add to my meals. 2 servings of chicken breasts will only contain about 240cal and brown rice, with stake and vegetable about 700-800cal. There is still alot to fill.

 

[Wrangell]

I'm still figuring out what I could add to my meals. 2 servings of chicken breasts will only contain about 240cal and brown rice, with stake and vegetable about 700-800cal. There is still alot to fill.

If the issue is protein, in order to simplify things, I'd target your protein intake to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight....which is likely more than enough to meet your needs.

Depending on what your daily calorie target is, I'd shoot for 25%- 30% of your total daily calories coming from ( mostly ' good ' ) fats - and then, make up the rest of your needed calories from carbs.

Keep in mind, you can also boost you daily calories quite a bit by simply snacking more often ( especially with ' calorie dense ' foods ) and bumping the portion sizes of all your meals.

 

[SkyDiver]

But which calorie dense food is healthy? Most of the healthy stuff is rather low on calories.
I also have sliced, oven roasted chicken breast, but 6 slices contain like 670mg sodium. Isn't that too much?