Hello.

I made tremendous progress last summer, losing over 30 lbs but recently made the mistake of eating too much starting in September and gaining most of it back. I was at 168--now at 188. My weight before I leaned up last summer was 200 lbs--mostly fat. After losing this, I was attempting to gain more lean muscle mass for the winter time and I think I may have boosted my caloric intake too much, too fast. Plus, I was taking creatine which gave me some great muscle gains at first but some set backs in my routine forced me to stop working out for two weeks where I gained a lot of fat.

I am currently trying to get back down to around 180 lbs. I'd like to maintain a weight between 180 and 190 during the winter months but I want it to be mostly lean muscle mass and not too much fat. I have created a calorie deficit (around 1500 cals per day) in order to reach my targeted goal of 180 lbs. Once I get to 180, I would like to increase my calories in order to build up some muscle mass over the winter.

My question is this. Is it better to increase my calories in small increments over the coarse of several weeks until I go slightly above maintenance level or should I just go ahead and create a giant surplus of calories immediately?

Hello.
but I want it to be mostly lean muscle mass and not too much fat... build up some muscle mass over the winter.



if you want muscle mass then id take it slow and steady( a pound a week)..couple of hundred over maintainece ..do for two weeks then reassess...if you start eating shed loads of calories and dont ramp up the activity..its gonna most likely end up as fat ...which no one really wants.

:gl:

Thanks,

One more question. Do I need to continue adding calories the more muscle mass I gain to stay within the "200 above maintenance" ratio?

Thanks,

One more question. Do I need to continue adding calories the more muscle mass I gain to stay within the "200 above maintenance" ratio?
As you gain more mass, you will find that you stall. So if you start with 3000 as your maintenance, and eat 3200, you may gain a 1lb a week. Then at a point, you won't gain with 3200, so then increase to 3400.

Hope that helps :)