Thread: Question regarding bulking.

Hi I may possibly be looking at this the wrong way but need someone to clarify a few things for me.

If someone can eat 2500 calories a day and not gain or lose fat. Then depending on if they want to cut or bulk they will need to add or subtract how much they eat a day to get desired result.

So using above example... If someone is currently eating 2500 and wants to gain/bulk and increases to 2750 calories this will then put them in a caloric surplus as they will be taking in more than they are burning and will lead to fat gain and muscle gain if your training ?

But the part I cant get my head round.

If said person was benching lets say 80kg whilst on the 2500 calories... with the extra calories daily they are going to have a bit more strength and energy and will most likely be able to increase the weight and intensity of their workouts... will this extra increase in weight and intensity then not just cancel out those extra calories and put you back into maintenance levels ?

How does one know how much calories to increase by so that the extra weight/intensity doesn't negate from the potential bulk/gains ?

I ask this as I need to go on a very slow bulk and the idea of such a small amount of calorie increase makes me think if I start pushing heavier weight and increasing my intensity am not just going to end up maintaining ?

Please can someone explain the science to me so I can slow bulk and make good gains without too much fat increase... I also enjoy pushing my weight up and intensity when I can so wouldnt want to just increase cals and remain on same weight/intensity.

Thanks.

No

Lifting more than you used to barely changes the number of calories you burn.

When you gain new tissue, your metabolism does rise but by a very small amount. Many years of muscle gain might only make a difference of a couple of hundred calories to your TDEE

Your metabolism can adapt up and down by (on average) about 200 calories depending on bulking or cutting.

Practical advice is to monitor your weight, measure the long term average and adjust when needed.