how many calories is too much?

hugry4more

hugry4more

Active member
Hey broskies just woundering what you think. Over the course of this year I have went from 2500 cal all the way up to 5500. Even a 5500 my gains were slow what is a realistic expectation of weight gain more importantly muscle gain one can expect in a week. I find i gain muscle really slowly but strength steadily increase. Thoughts? I would also like to add once i get up to the 6000 cal range i plan on taking that as far as i can then cutting i mean its not realistic for me to eat that much.
 
at a certain point more food is just gonna add more fat.

you are only going to gain so much, even unnaturally.

it takes time.
 
First make sure you are counting your calories accurately... and second eat as much as you want but as everyone said once you start gaining too much fat that will be the indicator that you have gone too high. There is no reason that eating X amount of food is good but Y amount of food is bad its all about your metabolism. People who climb mountains at high altitudes have to eat around 10,000 cals a day maybe more due to the stress their body is under at low oxygen levels plus the amount of physical work they do each day. Whatever it takes for you to meet your goals calorie wise is fine as long as it is truly what you need.
 
bigdavid said:
First make sure you are counting your calories accurately... and second eat as much as you want but as everyone said once you start gaining too much fat that will be the indicator that you have gone too high. There is no reason that eating X amount of food is good but Y amount of food is bad its all about your metabolism. People who climb mountains at high altitudes have to eat around 10,000 cals a day maybe more due to the stress their body is under at low oxygen levels plus the amount of physical work they do each day. Whatever it takes for you to meet your goals calorie wise is fine as long as it is truly what you need.
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^This
Log your cal intake on an excel sheet with proteins, fats, and carbs that you intake throughout the day. Instead of making such a drastic jump from 2500 to 5000, try adding cals slowly adjusting the number of proteins, fats, and carbs (you might not even need 5000cals). Stick to a ratio for a week, check the mirror, and readjust accordingly.
 
This is a very broad question, I am in the same boat. According to calculator, and what not, at 4400 calories I should be PUSHING towards getting fat, I eat 5k a day easy, and stay about the same. I think everyone is different, and all the ratios/calculators are worthless. Just keep upping them a little until you make slow gains.
 
hugry4more said:
Hey broskies just woundering what you think. Over the course of this year I have went from 2500 cal all the way up to 5500. Even a 5500 my gains were slow what is a realistic expectation of weight gain more importantly muscle gain one can expect in a week. I find i gain muscle really slowly but strength steadily increase. Thoughts? I would also like to add once i get up to the 6000 cal range i plan on taking that as far as i can then cutting i mean its not realistic for me to eat that much.
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The deal is unless you're reaping in newbie gains or are juicing, you're not likely to see more than 2lbs/week, and even that will not be straight up muscle. So for that reason, on a bulk, I would shoot for netting 2lb/week for a while. It wont be all clean, but unless your diet sucks it will be more muscle than fat. You should probably stop after 40-60lbs weight gain and just stick around maintenance for a while until you're ready to cut (or start again on a cleaner bulk).

Also calories are person-dependent. A pro card lifter over at EFS was detailing his diet and was talking about how he HAD to scruff down 7.7-8k cals to be worth a damn.
 
It doesn't make any sense that at 169 lbs, "gains were slow" at 5500 Cal/day. At your weight, maintenance intake is somewhere around 2500/day. An intake of 5500/day should be putting on upwards of 6 lbs per week (i.e. from a surplus of 3000 Cal/day).

I think you have one (or more) of the following problems:
1) You're not eating nearly as many calories as you think you are, at least not consistently. As others have mentioned, actually measure your portions and log your intake on a daily basis.
2) You're gaining weight faster than you think you are and you need to keep better track of your weight and weigh yourself more consistently.
3) You actually have a medical condition such as hyperthyroidism, parasites, or a gastrointestinal disorder that inhibits your ability to absorb nutrients.

All that said, it doesn't matter how many calories you're eating if you're not gaining weight. "A lot" doesn't matter if it's still "not enough" to gain weight. Gradually increase your calorie intake until you're gaining 1 lb/wk, or 2 lbs/wk if you want to bulk aggressively. That's a realistic expectation.
 
Torobestia said:
The deal is unless you're reaping in newbie gains or are juicing, you're not likely to see more than 2lbs/week, and even that will not be straight up muscle. So for that reason, on a bulk, I would shoot for netting 2lb/week for a while. It wont be all clean, but unless your diet sucks it will be more muscle than fat. You should probably stop after 40-60lbs weight gain and just stick around maintenance for a while until you're ready to cut (or start again on a cleaner bulk).

Also calories are person-dependent. A pro card lifter over at EFS was detailing his diet and was talking about how he HAD to scruff down 7.7-8k cals to be worth a damn.
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Thanks you for the straight forward answer man. I would love to gain 2 pounds a week that's the crazy thing I'm lucky if I can gain 1 pound a week n that's at a proper clean diet at 5500 Cal. Does this mean I'm a hard gainer or reaching my limit within this Cal range.
 
Conciliator said:
It doesn't make any sense that at 169 lbs, "gains were slow" at 5500 Cal/day. At your weight, maintenance intake is somewhere around 2500/day. An intake of 5500/day should be putting on upwards of 6 lbs per week (i.e. from a surplus of 3000 Cal/day).

I think you have one (or more) of the following problems:
1) You're not eating nearly as many calories as you think you are, at least not consistently. As others have mentioned, actually measure your portions and log your intake on a daily basis.
2) You're gaining weight faster than you think you are and you need to keep better track of your weight and weigh yourself more consistently.
3) You actually have a medical condition such as hyperthyroidism, parasites, or a gastrointestinal disorder that inhibits your ability to absorb nutrients.

All that said, it doesn't matter how many calories you're eating if you're not gaining weight. "A lot" doesn't matter if it's still "not enough" to gain weight. Gradually increase your calorie intake until you're gaining 1 lb/wk, or 2 lbs/wk if you want to bulk aggressively. That's a realistic expectation.
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Thank u very informative. Consistancy may be some of it. People use to think I had something medicaly wrong Cuz my whole life I was supper skinny. Im in good shape def look bigger than I weigh. But I have been on strick diets at 5000. Some times I feel like the more I eat the faster my metabolism gets Idk. Any ways you made some good points. Time will tell once I get my diet hammered out again.
 
Mirror>Scale

Weight doesnt mean jacksht IMO. People think i weigh anywhere from 185-190 when I only weigh around 175-180.
Try taking pictures instead of looking at the scale. Then you can also pay attention to whats changing and what needs to be improved as time progresses.

Another thing, all these cals dont mean anything unless youre pushing yourself in the gym? Are you? I deal with people everyday that say they bust their butts in the gym, then when I train with them its like playing patty cake.
 
ive made years of this mistake-basically if your putting on too much bodyfat too fast its too much- stay in the leanish range year round

id much rather be lean than a bulked up bloated face bloke
 
John Smeton said:
ive made years of this mistake-basically if your putting on too much bodyfat too fast its too much- stay in the leanish range year round

id much rather be lean than a bulked up bloated face bloke
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Yea I think that's kinda what happened to me. I was expecting 1-2 pounds a week so when I didn't gain that much I would up my Cal now I got to much fat!! So I think I going to use the mirror n log as my progress measurements not weight.
 
Conciliator said:
It doesn't make any sense that at 169 lbs, "gains were slow" at 5500 Cal/day. At your weight, maintenance intake is somewhere around 2500/day. An intake of 5500/day should be putting on upwards of 6 lbs per week (i.e. from a surplus of 3000 Cal/day).

I think you have one (or more) of the following problems:
1) You're not eating nearly as many calories as you think you are, at least not consistently. As others have mentioned, actually measure your portions and log your intake on a daily basis.
2) You're gaining weight faster than you think you are and you need to keep better track of your weight and weigh yourself more consistently.
3) You actually have a medical condition such as hyperthyroidism, parasites, or a gastrointestinal disorder that inhibits your ability to absorb nutrients.

All that said, it doesn't matter how many calories you're eating if you're not gaining weight. "A lot" doesn't matter if it's still "not enough" to gain weight. Gradually increase your calorie intake until you're gaining 1 lb/wk, or 2 lbs/wk if you want to bulk aggressively. That's a realistic expectation.
Click to expand...

:goodpost:
 
I think your counting wrong because Im 5'5" 210 15% bf and on a heavy bulking cycle with multiple compounds (offseason), I m getting 6K on a good day and maybe 6500 on double gym session days at ur stats ur prob actually getting like 3000 kals: post a sample diet
 
Man this thread is super old. And no this wasn't a miscalculation I was 170 eating 4500-5500 Cal a day. I don't know why but I serously stopped gaining weight. Anyways my body wants to be like 145. People never believe true ectos when were like I eat this much per day people just are like that's not possible. Anyways this thread is really old n I don't diet like this anymore at all. Just getting back into the game now just recovered from surgery.
 
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