2500 cals for men??

[doggmeister]

Guys
It hit me last night and I really wanted to find out if this was true..

Do we all really need 2500 cals for daily maintenance?? I just checked my diet and I was wondering if this could be why despite doing weights I am not getting lean muscle mass...lack of calories

My diet is as follows..

Breakfast:
Big bowl of oatmeal and one chicken breast + green tea + water

Lunch: 3 chicken breasts and 1.5 litres water

Dinner: Lettuce mixed with 2 cans of tuna and two handfuls of salted peanuts and 0.5 liters of water

Once a week I go killer and add 10 mini doughnuts with toffee filling, a fried breakfast and a lamb kebab and an icecream for my refeed..

Please help me gain muscle ...but I still wanna see my abs!!


Cheers for ANY help

 

[anthrax]

2500 cal ?

it depends on you heigth, weigth, activity, metabolism, etc

BTW, if you want to bulk you're not eating enough

 

[Baby Gorilla]

Sounds right....

When I got on my current routine, I started there (I think). If you're not growing (assuming you're trying to bulk), add 500 cal/day if you don't show any measured increase in size in your chest or arms in 2 weeks. Bump another 500 cal/day if you still show nothing in 2 more weeks.

I'm cutting and am down to 2,500 / day from 4,000 / day.

 

[~SC~]

that........

is not enough food to do anything on, and is a horrible breakdown.......

3 meals a day? WTF???


~SC~XXL~2K2~

 

[Senior Woonaki]

you need to spread that food out through the day... If you eat 3 medium chicken breasts at lunch that is probably about 150 grams of protein in one sitting... NOT A GOOD IDEA.

some guidelines:
bodyweight x 12 = approximate maintenance calories
you are probably going to want to go above that by about 500 - 1000 calories a day to bulk.
- Shoot for about 40-60 grams of protein per meal.
- get at least 1.5 to 2.0 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
- protein & carbs are about 4 calories per gram fat is about 9 calories per gram.
- Find a good ratio of carbs to pro to fat that will let you get enough protein yet still hit your target calories.
- Have mostly low glucose index carbs during the day, High glucose index carbs post workout and during your workout...
- Try and avoid high fat high carb meals, you could have protein in all meals and alternate protein carbs/protein fat
- Learn about Essential Fatty acids (omega 3,6) NOT ALL FAT IS BAD FOR YOU!!!
- You are bulking, it is ok to put on some fat, you will be able to lose it quickly when the time comes. You need to be at a caloric surplus to gain muscle - you will gain some fat too...
- keep the green tea, I live off it!!!

you can get nutritional values of food at:
http://www.nutri-facts.com/search.asp

I am cutting, my ratios are:
[weight: 270 ]
60% pro ( .60 x 2740 = 1644 cals, 1644 cals / 4 = 411g)
20% carb ( .20 x 2740= 548 cals, 548 cals / 4 = 137g)
20% fat ( .20 x 2740= 548 cals, 548 class / 9 = 60.8g)

The best strategy is to plan out a total days food consumption and then divide that by 6 - 8 meals
the following is a quick example of what I might eat and probably wont apply to you...
one day for me would be roughly:
200 grams of casein/whey protein
2 6 oz chicken breasts 100g P
1 cup of egg beaters 24g P
9 oz salmon 60 g p
4 tablespoons of flax seed oil EFA FAT
1/4 cup of salad dressing bad fat
1 bag of sunflower seeds more fat
1 cup of walnuts... more fat
1 cup of oatmeal 54 grams of low gi carbs
1 cub maltodextrin 100 grams hi gi carbs
vegetables