Diet For gaining lean muscle mass (currently 140)

[joe8386]

I'm 23 years old, 5'8" 140 pounds, Very athletic, low body fat. Already in good shape. Yeah I was thinking about using steroids to put on muscle weight but I'm realizing the real problem is my diet. With my current training schedule I actually cut about 15 pounds in the past 5 months. Very disappointing weighing in at 140 Although I am more Stronger and faster than I've ever been. Im also alot more defined. I'm going for special forces in about 10-12 months and would be alot more confident weighing in at about 170 not to mention being stronger in general.

First my goals are 20-30 pounds muscle gain(not an easy feat I'm finding out), Most important to my training are not necessarily huge size gains but more strength and muscular endurance while maintaining a high level of cardio running/swimming. And to help recovery time. I'm pretty sore most of the time.

Currently I have a "high" calorie diet heavy on meat and vegetables. I guess you could say low carb becuase i dont each much bread. Mostly paleo diet. Very little sugar intake. My diet has been inconsistent at best. I do have a food scale but havent been good at planning meals out.

My only supplements are a sport multivitamin, fish oil, and a Gainer Whey protein. mornings and after workouts.

I Train crossfit 3 times a week, weightlift twice a week, and alternate running/swimming 6 days a week.
I'm on a 16 week weightlifting program focusing on Deadlift, Military Press, Back Squat, Bench. With alot of dips, chin ups, sit ups. Some work with Snatch , Clean and jerks but thats mostly for working on my form in those more complicated lifts.

I think my training schedule is working well but I know the reason I'm not putting on weight is becuase of my diet, Ive always been thin and wrestled in high school and college so always kept my weight down. I have the discipline and motivation to make these gains happen.

Any suggestions/info would be greatly appreciated thankyou.

[DeadlyD]

You can't gotta get those simple carbs in there bro!, check your macros and take make sure your calories per day are over maintenance ! And get more lifting in there, cut a little cardio ... Not to much tho. Just my opinion

[Macon_Bacon]

Special forces requires tons of cardio and muscle endurance, each of which burn lots of energy. For you to gain muscle and be able to compete for special forces you're going to need lots of carbs. Dot worry about gaining fat because you should be burning all of the carbs in your workout. I'm trying to gain muscle too while working for special ops and it's hard. Eat a lot and make sure you get loads of carbs because you want to burn those not muscle. Good luck.

[--->>405<<---]

Joe hows it going man.. First good luck on the special forces thing sounds cool .. Can u get ur exact bf% taken so we can figure out how many cals u should be eating? Thatll make things alot more accurate and give u a better chance for success..

[joe8386]

I dont have an exact figure but I would guess 10% though

[gonnagethuge]

Hey joe, best of luck to you bro. Keep a log, you sound about the same as me, in fact im a little lighter.

Youll need even more carbs though with the higher activity level.

Lookin forward to hearing how you get on.

[gonnagethuge]

Hey joe, best of luck to you bro. Keep a log, you sound about the same as me, in fact im a little lighter.

Youll need even more carbs though with the higher activity level.

Lookin forward to hearing how you get on.

[--->>405<<---]

Aright joe i calculated ur BMR and TDEE for u:

140 x .10(bf%) = 14(lbs fat)
140 - 14 = 126lbs LBM
126 x .4536 = 57.15(LBM kg)
(57.15 x 21.6) + 370 = 1604(BMR)
1604 x 1.55(moderately active) = 2486TDEE

PERSONALLY id go with 3000cals/day if i were u to give u a 500 cal surplus over an already high estimAted tdee.. See how it works for u.. If u find ur still not putting on good gains then bump ur activity multiplier up to (tdee x1.75) and rework ur numbers..

A good place to start is 40/40/20 split pro/carb/fat..This will put u at:

300g Pro
300g Carb
67g Fat

Per day ... Split ur protein between 6 meals and if i were u id do carbs in meals 1, pre w/o, PWO, and maybe meal 2 (depending when u workout).. This will give u meals 5 & 6 to add fat(such as natty PB) if necessary to hit ur macros.. U can do 75g carbs per meal.. And 50g pro per meal.. Add all that up and sEe where ur at with fat from ur protein sources...

Once u fig up a diet post it along with meal times and wat time u lift and we can check it out

Good luck on both ur ventures

[oatmeal69]

Hey 405,
Where can I find that formula? l assume by plugging in different modifiers, it can be used for maintenance or cutting as well...
Thanks

[--->>405<<---]

Yeh its in the sticky at the top of the page i think.. Its the Katch-McArdle formula for cLculating BMR and TDEE.. The way u modify it for a cut vs a bulk is when cutting u eat in caloric deficit vs a bulk u eat in caloric surplus... Thoeretically if ur tdee is 2000cals then ud eat 1500 to cut and 2500 to bulk.. But there are alot of other factors that come into play.. Tdee tends to err to the high side so u wanna take that into consideration when calculating total cals and macros.. With guys like Joe here its prob closer to accurate cuz hes lean and young and very active..