Is 3,500 calories sufficient?

Hi Robert Santana,

I quite enjoy reading your posts, I think they are very informative and add great value to the forum.

I'm 180cm tall, 82kg, 40 y, male. I'm not sure about my body fat but please judge based on the picture below (maybe 20%?). I have just started NLP 3 weeks ago. I used to train before, but I could never get strong for some reason. When I ate more, I would just get fat without adding much muscle or strength. My current lifts are very low, 5 RMs are 85kg for squat, 110kg for DL, 60kg bench, 40kg press, I can do 12 pull ups.

20210527_175900 | New Cycler | Flickr

About a month ago I increased calories from 2.5k to 3k calories and I stalled in weight. I have been eating 3.5k calories over the past week and gained almost 1kg in a week. Is that too fast? My macros are roughly 380g carbs, 200g protien, 100g fat.

Thanks 😀

You are somewhere in the mid to high teens. You got fat before because you weren't strong. Deadlift 230 kg, bench 125 kg, press 90 kg, and squat 200 kg and you won't gain mostly fat. Those macros are a good baseline to start with. When you get stuck add more carbs and keep working.

Thanks mate!

Most of the time I am not hungry and I have to force feed myself for the last 500 calories. Is that the right thing to do? I'm thinking maybe I shouldnt because if my body needs extra good due to strenuous training, it will send me a signal to eat more food.

Eating enough carbs while curbing the fat will require you to eat more food than you are likely comfortable with.

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Originally Posted by Robert Santana

Eating enough carbs while curbing the fat will require you to eat more food than you are likely comfortable with.

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Hi Robert,

I have only been lifting for 3 weeks on this program and I am already getting stuck. I have been eating lately 3,700 cals and gaining about 1 pound a week. Sleep is 7-9 hrs a night. My squat is 95kg, bench 62.5 kg, press 40kg and DL is 115kg.

Today I imcreased press by 2.5kg to 42.5kg and I failed - i could only do 4 reps in first set. I think I wont be able to increase DL by 5kg next workout, and most likely will fail at bench when I increase by 2.5 kg next session. I can probably keep adding to squats though, unsure.

Any idea what the problem is mate? I read the 3 questions from Rip but still can't figure it out.

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Originally Posted by GetStrong

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Today I increased press by 2.5kg to 42.5kg and I failed - i could only do 4 reps in first set.

Any idea what the problem is mate? I read the 3 questions from Rip but still can't figure it out.

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You did not read the 3 questions.

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Originally Posted by Robert Santana

You did not read the 3 questions.

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Thanks Robert. I am thinking of getting an online coach, what is your email?

I don't think he read the primary resading either,
5kg? or 2.5 ?

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Originally Posted by GetStrong

Thanks Robert. I am thinking of getting an online coach, what is your email?

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Happy to take you on and help you out. robert@weightsandplates.com