Bulking & Calories Per Day

[noober]

About how many calories should I have above maintanance (1700 I think) to bulk?

My BMR is 1700 calories, I am 155 lbs, 5'10 inches, and at 12% body fat. I am going to bulk using carb cycling. Do I have enough calories to put on muscle? I'm not sure if it is just 500 more calories than my BMR, or if my activity level affects the number of calories. I will lift 6 days a week for 45 minutes a day, and walk about 2-3 miles a day (walking is my transportation). I figured 2200, but that seems a bit low. I'm not sure if additional cardio is needed.

So here was what I was thinking for my high carb days:

230g protein
230g carbs
40g fat

This gives a total of: 2200 calories

I would have about half the carbs on low carb days, and only carbs from veggies on no carb days, with 4 high carb, 2 low carb, and 1 no carb day a week.

I really think I will probably need more than 2200 calories to slap on mass, but I am very hesitant to do so rapidly, because I have a difficult time losing fat without losing a lot of muscle. I just finished cutting from about 19% body fat down to 12%, which took 4 months. I lost far too much strength and muscle, so I'd like to do a cleaner bulk with carb cycling... slow but lean gains, but I need to at least take in enough calories to get those lean gains.

I'm also a bit unsure on nutrient timing. I don't know much about it excpet to have protein and carbs before and after my workouts, more carbs earlier in the day than later, and try to keep carb meals low fat, and meals with fat low carb, and have about 6 meals per day. Can somebody point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

 

[noober]

I'm 23 by the way. I found some more information, and in order to gain 1/2 a pound of muscle a week, I will need about 3200 calories per day, but since I'm carb cycling, I presume that is just the high carb days?

So, with 3200 calories a day or so, I was thinking for my high carb days:

320g protein per day
320g carbs per day
72g of fat per day

I will try to spread it out into 6 meals per day, something with about 55g of protein in each of these meals, and with most of my carbs in the morning, pre, and post workout, and the other 3 meals will be mostly carb free (just protein and a bit of fat for those meals). How does this sound?

I also wasn't sure if I should incorporate intense cardio, as some have suggested it can hinder fat fains while bulking, without sacrificing muscle, and even aid in putting on muscle.

 

[Dan]

I would lower the protein and increase the carbs, so that you've got something like 370g carbs and 280g protein. As for cardio, I believe its definately helpful to increase your cardiovascular abilities, but don't do it too much or it will slow down your muscle gains. If you really want to carb cycle, its probably best not to put the low carb days on days you work out, or on days right after you work out. You can't expect to gain muscle without gaining fat too, remember that. I believe that too many people are afraid of getting a little fatter, and this ends up halting their muscle gains altogether. I see the same skinny guys never getting any bigger and I believe this is the reason.

 

[noober]

I have done the bulk up, cut down thing 4 times now and put on fat, and it hasn't gotten me the results I want, and I don't look that great in the winter. I just moved to a place that doesn't have winters, so I don't think I want to do that, and besides, I got mediocre results from doing so. So, I want to try to make nice lean gains, so that my next cutting cycle can be nice and brief and almost unneeded. I don't know if it is possible, but I'm going to try. Every time I cut, I sacrifice too much muscle, so by cutting less, I hope to keep more of my gains. I'm fine with steady, slow, lean gains. My goal weight is about 180 with a bodyfat of 8-10%, I'm at 155 at 12% now, and I don't mind taking a couple years to reach my goal, although getting their faster and smoothly (without tons of fat) sounds good. I just want to recomposition my body.