Sport Let's Crunch the Numbers

[underPAR]

I'm 20 years old, 5'11", 160 pounds, 10% body fat. My goal is to add 15 pounds of lean muscle and keep my body fat at 10% or less. I work out 6 days/week, hitting each muscle group twice/week.

I'm looking for help with how much protein, carbs, and fat I should be consuming daily (ballpark). I already eat an extremely clean diet, I am just trying to figure out where the numbers should be.

Here are my current daily numbers: ~250g protein, ~175g carbs, ~50g fat, ~2200 calories. Three days per week I drop to about 100g carbs. I am trying to gain lean muscle and not excess fat.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Gus1]

First time I'm actually going to try and help on these forums, so I will most likely be corrected.

I don't think working out 6 days a week is a good thing. Let your muscles rest. Also, because you say you hit each muscle group 2/week, do you just train one muscle group per session? Try a full body workout.

Why drop to 100g carbs 3 days a week?

And ofcourse you're trying to gain lean muscle and not excess fat. Why would anyone try to gain excess fat?

Anyone want to correct me in what I said?

 

[Typhon]

What does your workout schedule look like? I agree that 6 times a week sounds too high, your muscles should need at least 48 hours to recover.

And can I ask about your diet? Your fat intake looks really low compared to that level of protein; are you just drinking loads of protein shakes?

 

[Typhon]

I'm 20 years old, 5'11", 160 pounds, 10% body fat. My goal is to add 15 pounds of lean muscle and keep my body fat at 10% or less.

I am trying to gain lean muscle and not excess fat.

OK, I just worked out your daily calorie requirements to be about 2834 calories. That means if you want to build muscle you need a calorie surplus of around 500 calories which brings you up to 3334 calories a day to gain weight.

If you want to do it yourself go to . you'll be given a number and then you need to follow the link to work out calorie requirements. I used a factor of 1.55 based on what you've told me about your 6 day a week schedule.

Unfortunately you might gain a little bit of fat along with the muscle but if you're serious about gaining 15 pounds of muscle then this is the best way to go. Once you've made the gains you want you can cut back the calories and bring your bodyfat % back down

 

[underPAR]

Thanks for the help so far...

To answer CCR:

Sunday: Off
Monday: Tris, Bis, Forearms
Tuesday: Legs, Shoulders, Traps
Wednesday: Chest, Back
Thursday: Bis, Tris, Forearms
Friday: Shoulders, Legs, Traps
Saturday: Back, Chest
(I do Abs separate on M, W, and F.)

So I give all of my muscles three days to rest (plenty). It is tough to work out 6 days/week (mostly a time constraint), but I just can't stand only working each muscle group once/week.

Yes, I drink about three protein shakes per day (including pre and post WO), but I also get plenty of protein from skinless chicken breast, turkey, fish, etc. As I said, my diet is about as clean as it gets, so there isn't much excess fat. The fat I do get comes from nuts, nut butters, olive oil, and fish like salmon.

Wow, I was not aware that my daily requirements would be about 2800 calories. I think I was forgetting to use a multiplier. So, I eat 7-8 meals per day, spread out evenly. I feel like I'm already eating a ton, so what would be the best way to add about 800 calories to my daily intake?

Thanks again...

 

[Wrangell]

Yes, I drink about...

three protein shakes per day (including pre and post WO),


..... but I also get plenty of protein from skinless chicken breast, turkey, fish, etc. As I said, my diet is about as clean as it gets, so there isn't much excess fat. The fat I do get comes from nuts, nut butters, olive oil, and fish like salmon.

Wow, I was not aware that my daily requirements would be about 2800 calories. I think I was forgetting to use a multiplier. So, I eat 7-8 meals per day, spread out evenly. I feel like I'm already eating a ton, so what would be the best way to add about 800 calories to my daily intake?

Thanks again...

Curious, how soon before your workout do you consume your shake - and how soon after your workout do you consume the second shake ? How many grams of protein and carbs in each shake ?

What time of day do you usually workout and can I assume a typical weight workout takes about an hour ?

Do you do any cardio training ?

 

[Typhon]

Personally I think you probably have too many isolation exercises in your workout, if you have day of working just Bi's, Tri's and Forearms then you probably aren't doing any compound movements in that session. Compounds movements should be a part of every lifting session as they'll stimulate a hormonal response which helps growth. Maybe take a look into the info on this site regarding full body workouts.

Regarding your diet, you might be cutting out too much fat. Fat isn't a bad thing unless you go really overboard, a certain amount of fat everyday is essential.

I've stolen this post from another thread as it explains it better than I could

I'd look at fat consumption from a daily consumption of caloires point of view.

Just make sure that at the end of the day, when you look at your daily overall intake of caloires, fats comprise about 25%+/- of that total daily overall intake of caloires. And of that, that saturated fats don't exceed 7% ( per the AHA ) of that total daily overall intake of caloires. Remember most nuts are about 75% fat, but they contain mostly " good fats " and are a heathy snack option - even though they are very high in fat.

Now if you are asking if simply consuming fat makes you fat, the answer is no. You end up adding fat to your body because of consuming excess calories ( in excess of what your body needs each day ). So, excess calories from carbs, protien or fat may be stored as fat. Again, it's excess calories that make you gain fat.

 

[underPAR]

Curious, how soon before your workout do you consume your shake - and how soon after your workout do you consume the second shake ? How many grams of protein and carbs in each shake ?

What time of day do you usually workout and can I assume a typical weight workout takes about an hour ?

Do you do any cardio training ?

-Pre-WO Meal: 20 minutes before workout, 20g slow-burning carbs, 20g protein
-Post-WO Meal: 50g fast-burning carbs, 45g protein
-I use IsoPure Zero Carb or IsoPure Low Carb shakes (one serving = 50g protein and 0-3 carbs)
-I usually workout in the late-afternoon or evening
-My cardio consists of walking 18 holes of golf 3-5 days/week and my job (moving around constantly for 8 hours). I used to run 5-7 miles per day, but now that I've lost 45 pounds of fat I am trying to bulk up (hence less cardio).