Hello, 

Before you adjust my macros, let me tell you my background real quick. So, I am a seventeen years old male, weighing at 153lbs, and measuring at 5'11. Two years ago, when I was 15, I weighed 312lbs and measure about the same height. In desperation of losing the weight, I ran on the Stairmaster for 10mins, and consume about 1700 calories daily, and did hardly any weightlifting. Finally, when I reached my lowest, 134lbs, I increased my daily calorie intake to 2100 calories and did very little cardio, so I can tighten my loose skin. However, all I manage to do is gain 19lbs and still look the same.

Now, I still consume 2100 calories on a daily base because I don't know if I should be bulking or cutting. I weightlift about 5 times week. I do upper body on Monday, Lower body on Tuesday, Pull Wednesday, Push on Thursday, Legs on Friday, and rests on Saturday and Sunday.

Although I lost the weight like I wanted, my current physique looks like a mess with all the fat and loose skin. In addition, I have lost a lot of my strength, so I'm left with hardly any muscles. I want to gain muscle, so I can have an aesthetic physique. 

My Macros Detail: Protein: 185 grams

                           Carbs: 264 Grams

                            Fat: 33 grams

My usual meals:

How I currently look: 

Hey @FatToFit.

I responded to your other @forum post a bit more in-depth.

My concern with your calories is that they aren't enough to have you in a surplus, and you need to be in a surplus to build muscle. And like I said on the other post, try increasing your fats. Fats are not the enemy, and fat doesn't make you fat - too many excess calories makes you fat.

Use the calculator on the @mealplan page with a goal of 'Lean Muscle Gain', and then post the numbers you get here or in the other @forum post for more help 😁 ðŸ’ª 

@Scott_Herman What you estimate my body fat % to be? I put 15% on the calculator, and these were my results. Also, as I bulk do I straight away start consuming 2400 calories the next day, or do I gradually increase my calories every week about 200?

Also, do you think I have potential in making newbie gains, as I really wasn't taking my weight lifting seriously? Like, the first 6 months of me losing 312lbs, I did lift, but I remember when it was summer, I wanted to lose the fat faster. Therefore, I dramatically cut my calories to maybe 1200 to 1500 and did mostly cardio. So, I didn't really life weights a year and a half during my two years of losing weight.

Honestly 15% is probably well over what you are. I'd say 10% or less, a lot of it is just loose skin now, not fat. But use that 2400 calorie mark as a starting point and work from there.

Increase your intake slowly. So you're getting about 2100 now. You can go straight to about 2300-2400 tomorrow, and try that for 4-5 days. See if you gain weight. If you do, stick with that until you hit a plateau, then increase it another 200 calories for as long as you can consistently gain weight, and continue on like that.

I'd suggest changing the macros a little bit. Bring the carbs back to about 250g so you can increase your fats. Fats can go about to about 75g if you take the carbs down to 250g.

And yes you probably still have potential there to make newbie gains! Still keep an eye on the macros and don't go too crazy with the surplus, because you want to be making lean gains.

Thank you! Now thanks to you, Scott, I have a starting point, and I don't feel overwhelmed by how I am going to reach my goal of obtaining a lean muscular physique. However, when do I know if I am gaining too much weight? Like, how much weight should I be gaining in a week or month because won't I at first gain like a lot of weight because I have been in a deficit for two years, which means my metabolism is kinda slow. For example, throughout this whole week when I finally took my training seriously I was 153lbs, but today I did legs (I was to sore to them yesterday), and according to the scale at the gym, I was 156.60lbs.

Yeah weight might come on fairly fast. But a lot of that initial weight can be from water retention too. Try not to weight yourself every day.. just once a week to track progress. 0.5lbs per week would be a good average overall. But you might see 2-3lb jumps for the first few weeks.

Glad I could help man! Can't wait to see all the changes you make!

Thank you! I'll add my progress and progress photos on this website.

Awesome!! Let's see it man 💪 ðŸ˜ ðŸ˜Ž 

@Scott_Herman Sorry for keep asking questions. Hopefully, this will be my last question, and then I am knowledgeable about my diet. Ok, so I found your video, "This is Why You're Fat!/ Bulking & Cutting Mistakes Explained," and you recommend that an individual should consume their maintenance calories on their rest day, and they should consume their surplus calories on the days they work out. Does this also apply to me? Like, do I consume 2400 calories on my workout days, and 2100 on my rest days?

It's OK @FatToFit!

It kind of depends.. on your rest days, are you doing nothing at all? Or are you still doing some kind of training? If you're still doing some light training, reduce calories by like 100-200 max. But if you're not doing anything at all, then yes go back to maintenance BMR in motion. As long as you are still in a surplus! 💪