Find Out How to Calculate Daily Calorie Needs For Gaining Muscle

Posted on November 18th, 2009 in Build Muscle, Weight Loss, Women, Womens Interests

Adequate nutrition and calories from good sources are of primary importance to gain lean muscle. You need to eat big to bulk up; there is no way around it. But exactly how much is “big”? Use the formula given here to calculate your own requirements.

Muscle building programs revolve around optimizing daily caloric needs to your specific requirements. Eating more can make you gain fat, not muscle. And eating less can make you never gain the bulky muscles you wish to build. Here is the four part formula:

1) Calculating lean muscle mass: For this measurement you need a skin caliper which will give you percentage of body fat. Consider your percentage of body fat comes to 10% and you weigh–0 lb. That means your fat mass is– lb. Now to calculate lean muscle mass, subtract fat mass from total body mass. In this case it comes to–0-14=126lb.

2) Resting metabolic rate calculation: Multiply lean muscle mass by 10 and add 500. This will give you the resting metabolic rate or RMR, the number of calories required just to breathe and let the organs perform their activities. In our example RMR = 1760 calories.

3) Calculation of calorie intake to stay the same weight: Now let us find out your daily caloric intake by taking into consideration your level of activity. Multiply RMR by your Activity Index to calculate how much you need to maintain your current weight. If you are mostly sedentary, your activity index is 1.2. If you are moderately active, your activity index is 1.4. If you are very active, your activity index is 1.6

Consider that you have a moderate level of activity. Therefore you’ll need 1760 x 1.4 i.e. 2464 calories each day to maintain your weight.

4) Positive calorie intake to gain muscle mass: To gain muscle not fat, you need to eat about 500 more calories per day than the number you have calculated in the previous step. If you are indeed gaining fat you should cut down your intake by 250 calories and see how it goes. While if you are not building muscle it is essential to consume 250 additional calories.

Carry on for 15 days with the plan you have worked out and make an assessment thereafter. If you are also working out wisely in the gym and resting well, you can be a burly man in weeks.

To find out more about muscle building, read Cecil Kelly’s authoritative articles on bodybuilding.