Calories for women

[karra]

I'm relatively new to working out/body building. I'm a 28 y/o, ~160 lbs, 5'9" F. I'm unsure about what calories I should be aiming for.

When I decided to get more serious about optimizing my muscle growth and strength, my first step was to watch The Game Changers.

The movie website said to aim for 0.73-0.82 g/lb for protein and 2.3-3.2 g/lb for carbohydrates. But for me, that would be 467 - 524 calories from protein and 1472-2048 calories from carbohydrates alone (assuming 4 calories per gram for both).

Aiming for minimum of ~ 1500 calories of carbs alone sounds like a lot. I'm not a newbie to plant-based nutrition, but I'm definitely a newbie to vegan body building nutrition. Does this make sense??

On average I eat ~2300 calories per day. Is that normal? Am I simply misallocating my calories and I need to cut back on fat?

(I track micro/macros with Cronometer. Average macros are 50C/30F/20P, aiming for 100g protein minimum on lifting days. Fat is higher because I'm trying to get my RDI for vitamin E... and I eat a bit of dark chocolate)

 

[fastedandprayed]

@karra What is your goal? Are you bulking or cutting? Are you lifting purely for aesthetics or are you wanting to train strength as well?

imo you'd probably be best off using something like carbon dieting app and using the vegan setting

 

[karra]

@fastedandprayed I'm new so I'd be bulking at this point. I'm lifting for a combination of aesthetics and strength. I'd like to be able to do a pull-up but also want to look a certain way. I want to build muscle to look more toned plus bulk out some of the excess skin I have from losing weight.

 

[tkm]

@karra To maintain your current weight you would need 1750 calories. If bulking is your goal increase by 200 and start there. Your protein math was correct but the advice is per kilogram of bodyweight, not per pound. .83 grams of protein per kilogram (you are 72 kg) is 59 grams of protein. Even if you only eat whole food vegan protein sources that will be easy to hit.

As a female I eat 40g when maintaining and 50g or 55g when gaining.

TDEE calculator is here: https://calculator-online.net/tdee-calculator/

Grams of protein per kilo is here: https://nutritionfacts.org/2019/04/11/changing-protein-requirements/#:~:text=Adults%20require%20no%20more%20than,grams%20of%20protein%20a%20day.

"Adults require no more than 0.8 or 0.9 grams of protein per healthy kilogram of body weight per day, which is about your ideal weight in pounds multiplied by four and then divided by ten."

 

[88delivered]

@tkm .8/kg is fine for just remaining healthy, but quite low for building strength and muscle mass.

 

[karra]

@tkm That is far below recommend protein levels for building muscle.
Here is The Game Changers link and they have sources for their protein and carb recommendations at the bottom
https://gamechangersmovie.com/benefits/maximizing-performance/gaining-muscle-and-strength/

 

[tkm]

@karra The link that you submitted says "the majority of people only need to eat about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight (g/kg) per day — or 0.36 grams per pound (g/lb)".

It lists professional bodybuilders and endurance athletes as needing more protein than this. I consider myself the majority of people, and as a female with 14% body fat and continual progress with gaining muscle and increasing heavy lifts 0.8 grams is working for me.

 

[karra]

@tkm I've been doing average protein for the first two months but I wanted to test to see if following these recommendations would have an impact on my progress.

We have different definitions of what the "majority" of people means. The majority of people don't spend 90+ minutes weight lifting 4 times a week plus 1-2 days of heavy cardio. So while I know I'm not a professional athlete, I also know that I'm not average.

 

[dawn16]

@karra I found this informative

 

[karra]

@dawn16 Does that go into overall calories? I'm not asking about total protein targets, I'm more inquiring about total calorie targets.

 

[88delivered]

@karra Make sure you hit your protein and fat goals, then fill the rest with carbs. Eating plant-based, you will be getting plenty of carbs, you wont have to make special effort to get them in

 

[karra]

@88delivered How is fat important in building muscle? From my understanding carbs and protein are more important. Protein for actual muscle growth, carbs for energy.

 

[88delivered]

@karra true, fat is important for the healthy functioning of your body in general though, including hormone production which can affect muscle growth. you dont need much but you need some

 

[karra]

@88delivered Right, though it's a pretty minimal amount. So it's sounds like it's more for overall body function and not for athletic gains.