You’ve heard this even if you can’t remember why. Now that we have our daily calorie intake target, we can calculate our macros. Target daily calorie intake (TDCI) = TDEE + (Bodyweight x target monthly gain rate x 150*) The calculation to adjust your calorie intake for a weight gain goal is as follows: So I’ve set the calculator to add 50% to these numbers. This is because as we raise calories, some of that calorie increase will be eaten up by NEAT and not result in a caloric surplus. However, like the additional downward adjustment I made for metabolic adaptation when cutting, I believe we should make an additional upward adjustment when bulking.

It takes roughly ~2500 kcal to build 1 lb of muscle and ~3500 kcal to burn or store 1 lb of fat.Īs people typically gain fat and muscle in a 1:1 ratio in a bulk phase, and if we assume a 30 day month, this means we need a 100 kcal daily caloric surplus to gain 1 lb of weight per month (~220 kcal for 1 kg). The less training experience you have, the faster you can grow, so the higher you should set your rate of weight gain. Advanced: 0.5% (Progress is evident only when viewed over multiple months or a year.).Intermediate: 1% (Able to progress most training loads in the gym on a month to month basis.).Novice: 1.5% (Still able to progress most training loads in the gym on a week to week basis.).Beginner: 2% (Totally new to training.).If you ignore this, you’ll either gain too much fat or make slower progress than you could have.Ĭategorizing training advancement is tricky, but here is my preferred method along with the monthly rates of weight gain I recommend: Therefore, it is best to set weight gain targets based on your level of training experience.

The newer you are to training, the faster the rate you can gain muscle the more advanced you get, the slower this will happen. HOW TO ADJUST YOUR CALORIE INTAKE FOR MUSCLE GAIN Therefore, I have set the calculator below to use 0.75%. However, our metabolisms adapt to fight a caloric deficit, which means that if we use the calculation above, it will not likely lead to the 0.5% of body weight loss per week we are hoping for. Target daily calorie intake (TDCI) = TDEE – (Bodyweight x target weekly fat loss rate x 500*) The calculation to adjust your calorie intake for a fat loss goal is as follows: (I’m basing this on my years of client work.)Īs it requires an approximate 3500 kcal deficit to burn 1 lb of fat (7700 kcal per kg), to lose 1 lb of fat per week, you need a 500 kcal daily deficit (1100 kcal for 1 kg). I recommend a weight loss rate between 0.5–0.75% of body weight per week.įor busy individuals who can’t afford the lethargy and brain fog, 0.5% seems to be the sweet spot. (If you need help with this, have a read of my article: Bulking vs Cutting – The Definitive Guide) How To Adjust Your Calorie Intake For Fat Loss Yes, I know you want both, and you might be able to achieve that to a degree, but for now, I need you to look at yourself in the mirror and choose what you think is most important right now. It’s important to choose a goal – fat loss or muscle gain. Highly active, plus 3–6 days of weight lifting.Lightly active, plus 3–6 days of weight lifting.Mostly sedentary (office work), plus 3–6 days of weight lifting.This will calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). You need to add an ‘activity multiplier’ to your BMR depending on your lifestyle/training. Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age).Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age).Women: BMR = 655 + (4.4 x weight in lbs) + (4.6 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age)įor those who use kilograms and centimeters:.Men: BMR = 66 + (6.2 x weight in lbs) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age).I like the Harris-Benedict formula because it’s just as effective, yet simpler to do. There are a variety of formulas, all of which produce a guess at best, so don’t worry about trying to calculate things perfectly because we’ll adjust our intake based on how we progress. Think of your basal metabolic rate (BMR) as your ‘coma calories’ - the energy intake you need, should you fall into a coma, to maintain your body weight. How To Calculate Your Leangains Macros Step 1. ^ If the calculator doesn’t load above the first time, please refresh the page.

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