Thread: Calories needed?

Originally Posted by Carbo2

Looking for some insight as to how many calories I need daily for solid lean muscle growth without adding fat lbs.
I’m 53 on 200mg/wk Test E TRT and about to do my second 10-12 week cycle of Test E 600/week. My last cycle I gained and kept about 7 lbs of lean muscle but gained some fat. Diet wasn’t as clean as it is now and was eating around 3000 calories and started getting bigger, but fatter. Decreased mid cycle to around 2800 with no cardio. Since then off cycle, Ive cleaned up my diet and am doing cardio about 5 times per week and really seeing the fat come off. Burn around 500 calories a day on elliptical, usually right after I lift. Now, I weigh 195 and am currently 13-14% body fat. Daily macro consumption is 230 plus grams of Protein, 230 grams of Carbs and 40 grams of Fat. Target daily calories is 2200 2400 less cardio (approx 500 so net daily calories 1700 calories. According to our gyms InBody body analyzer, I have 170lbs of lean body mass and a basal metabolic rate of approx. 2024 calories per day. I really like how I’m starting to look being leaner and want to keep/gain muscle...but not sacrifice too much the lean look.

so my questions:

1. How many calories should I increase when I blast to gain lean muscle and NOT gain too much fat? I want to maximize/feed the TestE 600 and gain muscle and stay lean.

2. I’m on the road every day for work and have been getting the majority of my protein from individual liquid (mostly purchased from Walmart) protein shakes. Is this as good as chicken or beef? It’s convenient...but would chicken or beef be a better protein source?

3. Is doing cardio counter-productive to muscle growth? Liking the lean look I’m staring to see.

Thanks in advance.

1. Use this formula to find your maintenance intake, then add 500 calories to that.
BMR for men=(10 x weight in kg) + (6.25 x height in cm) - (5 x age in years)
2. NO.....Nothing can replace real food! You need to be eating chicken and rice, lean beef and potatoes....etc...
Supplement shakes are just that...Supplement. 5-6 meals per day.
3. No. I’m bulking right now and I do 30-40 minutes of brisk cardio 6 days a week. With that being said, you don’t want to get extreme with burning to many calories when you are trying to put on mass.
Last thing here, you can eat a hell of a lot of calories (quality) and work even harder in the gym and you will keep the fat to a minimum... how do I know? Because I’ve done it before and I’m doing it now.
Eat clean six days a week, don’t miss any meals, and have one cheat meal per week.