Tip The Right Number of Calories for Clean Gains Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Diet & Fat LossEating Tip The Right Number of Calories for Clean Gains To build muscle at an optimal rate you need to consume extra calories But how many Here' s an easy formula to use by Eric Bach November 27, 2017October 5, 2022 Tags Bodybuilding, Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Moderate Caloric Surpluses for Natural Lifters In a perfect world, eating more food would directly correlate to more lean muscle mass. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Except for those on anabolic steroids who are able to elevate protein synthesis around the clock, natural lifters need a moderate surplus to avoid gaining too much body fat. What you need to do is calculate your calories and shoot for 300-500 calories above maintenance. Now, there are dozens of equations out there to help you do this and they're all fairly similar. Here's a simple one: Body weight (pounds) x 15 = maintenance So, if someone weighs 160 pounds it would look like this: 160 pounds x 15 = 2,400 calories per day So, this hypothetical person would need to consume 300 to 500 calories on top of that, so 2,700 to 2,900 calories per day. If you gain fat easily, shoot for the lower end of this range. If you have a crazy metabolism, shoot for the top range or a bit over. You'll have to experiment and see what's best for you, but this will get you in the neighborhood. You can adjust from there after a few weeks. This sensible increase equates to one or two protein shakes and a banana or two per day above maintenance calories. Alternatively, this is an extra sweet potato and a chicken breast each day, not a 1200-calorie burger from a fast food joint. If you greatly exceed this 300 to 500 calorie guideline, you'll end up gaining far too much fat. Of course, activity levels play a role here too, but this guideline will get you on the right track if your goal is muscle gain without excess fat gain. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Supplements An Almost Effortless Fat Loss Plan There are a lot of fat loss plans and diets out there, but this science-backed eating strategy might just be the easiest. Check it out. Diet Strategy, Losing Fat, Protein Dr Jade Teta July 31 Supplements What You Don t Know About Workout Supplements If you don't take care of workout supplementation, you might as well not train. Here's how to get it right. BCAA, C3G, Nutrition & Supplements, Palatinose, Plazma, Workout Nutrition TC Luoma September 19 Eating Tip Save the Cardio for Later Ready to lose fat? When are you planning to add cardio? Here's the mistake that most people make. Losing Fat, Nutrition & Supplements Christian Thibaudeau July 3 Eating Tip Facts On Fat Burning Supplements Not all of them are created equal. Here's what each type can and can't do. Diet & Fat Loss, Losing Fat, Nutrition & Supplements Christian Thibaudeau June 24