How Many Calories To Gain Weight?
 There are a lot of factors involved in packing on lean bodyweight, but the starting point is working out how many calories to gain weight. First of all the important thing many people forget to consider when planning how many calories they need is their total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). Studies from exercise physiologists William McArdle and Frank Katch show that the average TDEE for women in the US is 2000-2100 calories per day, and the average for men is around 2700-2900 per day.
To calculate the TDEE for yourself you would have to first work out your basal metabolic rate (BMR). The BMR is the minimum level of energy required to maintain the body's vital functions in the waking state.
Working Our Your BMR For Overall Bodyweight
To work out an estimate of your BMR you can use the following formula based on your weight. It is based on your weight in kilograms, and one kilogram works out to be around 2.2 lbs.
- A man's BMR = 1 X Bodyweight (kg) X 24
- A woman's BMR = 0.9 X Bodyweight (kg) X 24
An example of how to work it out for a male :
Your a male at a weight of 172 lbs or 78 kg, so your BMR is worked out in the following way, BMR = 1 X 78 X 24 = 1872 Calories
The formula above is based on your overall bodyweight, not your lean body mass. So it will be fairly accurate only if your body fat percentage is between 14-19% for men, and 20-25% for women. If indeed your body fat percentage is above the average level, then basing your daily caloric intake needs on your total bodyweight will over compensate your bodies calorie needs for maintaining your bodies energy needs.
Working Out Your BMR Based On Lean Body Mass
If you know your body fat percentage levels, you could get a more accurate reading of your BMR.
To work out your BMR based on you knowing your body fat percentage you need to do the following :
370 + (21.6 X lean mass in kg)
An example of this :
Your a 172lb male, let's say your body fat percentage is 14%. 14% of your total body bass is 24.1 lbs, so your total body fat is 24.1 lbs, and your lean body mass is 147.9 lbs. Your lean mass is 67.2 kg, so your BMR = 370 + (21.6 X 67.2) = 1821 Calories.
Working Our Your TDEE
Now that you have worked out your BMR, you can now calculate your TDEE by multiplying your BMR based on the following levels of activity:
Sedentary (no exercise) = BMR X 1.2
Lightly active (small amount of exercise) BMR X 1.375
Moderately active (exercise often) BMR X 1.55
Very active (exercise very often) BMR X 1.725
Extremely active (exercise a lot at high intensity) BMR X 1.9
So, to carry on with previous examples:
Your a 172 lb male who has 14% body fat and a BMR of 1821. Your activity level is moderate (meaning you workout around three to four times a week). So your activity level is 1.55 and your TDEE = 1.55 X 1821 = 2822 calories
How Many Calories To Gain Weight
Now that you have worked how many calories you need to maintain your weight (your TDEE), you can now work out how many calories to gain weight. This is a basic law of the human body, you need to eat more calories than your maintaining level to gain weight and build muscle. On average a person looking to gain weight should add 300 - 500 calories to their TDEE. To be exact you should be adding a minimum of two calories per pound of bodyweight to your TDEE.
So back to our example again:
Your weight is 172 lbs, your TDEE is 2822 calories and your required additional calories to gain weight is 2 X 172 = 344
So now, your total caloric intake for optimum weight gain is 2822 + 344 = 3166 calories. A 172 lb male who has 14% body fat and a BMR of 1821 and TDEE of 2822 has to have 3166 calories to gain sufficient weight and build lean muscle.
Using the formulas above you can now work out how many calories to gain weight for yourself. But keep in mind that the results given are an estimate of what the example person should be eating. All calorie expenditures everywhere are based on estimations. There is no way possible for people to work out an exact amount of calories they should be eating to gain weight, it would be great if there was, but there just isn't, fact! This is due to so many other factors that could alter the amount of calories a person needs to gain weight.
Age is another factor to consider, as specialists have found that per decade you would need 100 calories less a day to maintain bodyweight. So a person of 50 would be taking in 200 calories less to maintain their bodyweight when compared to someone at the age of 30. It's also important to realize that certain athletes train so hard and so intensely their TDEE would be off the activity scale limit of 1.9. Tri athletes are a great example of this, depending on how active they are some of them will have to take in 5000-6000 calories a day to gain weight.
With these guidelines and formulas worked out correctly you could expect to gain 1/2 to 1 lb of bodyweight per week, or it could be a little slower if you are a female. If a couple of weeks go by and you still haven't gained any weight at all, then it's more than likely you are doing something wrong somewhere along the lines. The amount of calories your taking in will most likely be the culprit. Just increase your calorie intake by 100 everyday until you start to see the gains. After 3 - 4 months of solid training and eating enough, the rate of muscle growth will slow down to a rate of 1/2 pound per week. So as you get to your body's genetic limit for building muscle, it will slow down to 1/4 pound per week. At that rate its still pretty impressive as you could expect to gain 13 pounds of muscle per year.
Remember your body will be growing and it will need more calories as you get bigger.
It is recommended that you follow one of these step by step weight gain programs:
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