Building Muscle - Setting Your Calorie Intake For Lean Muscle Mass Gain

By Beverleigh H Piepers 

If you have a goal to build more lean muscle mass, one step you will want to take is to make sure you take into account your calorie intake. While it's great to get to the gym and...

• focus on lifting heavy,
• doing all the strength training exercises you know are critical to success,

if you aren't fueling your body to build new muscle, you simply won't get very far.

So how does one go about building more lean muscle mass? Let's go over what you need to know about setting your calorie intake for lean mass gains...

Step One: Identify Your Maintenance Requirements. The very first thing you'll want to do is identify your maintenance needs. Basically, how many calories do you need in a given day to just maintain your body weight?

If you do not know this, it's time to start tracking your calories. Once you do, you'll have a place to start. Until you know how many calories you need daily to maintain your body weight, you will not know where to start from to start seeing muscle mass gains.

Step Two: Add 100 to 250 Calories Per Day To Your Eating Plan. The next step is to begin adding 100 to 250 calories per day, based on how quickly you want to build lean muscle mass. Keep in mind though adding more calories is not necessarily better.

Your body can only build so much muscle in a day, so any calories taken beyond this will just lead to excess fat gain.

Slow and steady is the name of this game. It takes roughly 3500 calories to gain one pound of body weight: something to keep in mind. For staying lean, you should aim to gain anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds per month. Males can err on the higher end of this range while females should err on the lower end.

Step Three: Monitor Your Progress. Once you have your new calorie intake figured out, it's time to get going. Begin eating at this level and monitor your progress.

If you aren't gaining at the weight you expected, adjust your calorie intake accordingly - either up or down.

Step Four: Re-Evaluate. Finally, you'll need to re-evaluate your calorie intake on a regular basis. Remember you may start hitting a plateau after you have gained some weight: this is the time you need to increase your calorie intake further. Constantly be adjusting so you can see ongoing results.

If you calculate your eating plan properly, you can rest assured you will be on track to building more lean muscle mass, transforming yourself in the process.

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