Just Doing More Booty Movements Isn’t Enough
We just kicked off a new Booty and Shoulder Cycle at Paragon, so now is a good time to check your nutrition (so you can get the most out of this cycle).
The first 1-2 years of lifting weights, you’re in the newbie gains phase and it’s pretty easy to build muscle and see quick progress in your lifts.
After that, building muscle is a lot harder and typically requires eating in a calorie surplus.
The body can’t just grow “something” out of nothing, but it CAN grow if we give it some extra calories. This is a great cycle to spend eating in a surplus.
Step 1: Determine Your Calorie Needs
Maintenance Calories = how many calories you can eat in a day and not see changes to your body weight or body composition.
To Maximize Gaining Muscle = you’ll want to eat more than your daily maintenance needs.
Most women with lifting experience: look to target gaining ~ 0.8 – 1.4 lbs/month
– This requires a 90-160 calorie daily surplus.
Most men with lifting experience: look to target gaining ~ 1.1 – 2.5 lbs/month
– This requires a 130-290 calorie daily surplus.
Not sure what your maintenance needs are? No worries, see the next swipe!
Step 2: Track & Weigh
Don’t know your maintenance?
- Download the Chronometer app. Weigh, measure, and record everything you eat
- Monitor bodyweight 5-7x/week, record in a weight trend app like HappyScale or Libra
- If weight trend isn’t changing, increase by ~100 calories every 2 weeks.
- Continue increasing every 2 weeks until the scale is trending up.
- Now you know your maintenance!
Already know your maintenance?
- Track your food and increase your daily calorie goal so you’re eating above maintenance
- Record weight 5-7 times per week in weight trend app.
- If weight isn’t trending up in 2 weeks, bump calories every 2 weeks until the scale trends up
Tips on Macro Goals
A few notes here on what your macronutrient breakdown should look like:
- At a minimum, we want protein to be 0.7 grams per pound of body weight.
- Example: 150 lbs x 0.7 = 105 grams protein
- Even more ideal would be 1.0g – 1.1 grams per pound of body weight.
- Example: 150 lbs = 150-165 grams of protein
- Aim for 3 servings of protein per day, minimum
- Once you consistently hit your protein goals, calorie increases should come from mostly carbohydrates to support gym performance, recovery from workouts, and muscle-building
What If I Don’t Want to Eat in a Calorie Surplus?
Want to stay eating at maintenance?
- You can probably expect to see some slight body composition improvements
- This means your tush might become more firm and flattering in appearance, vs necessarily getting a ton bigger in size
Are you currently dieting?
- Following glute-focused training might help you preserve losing tons of booty muscle mass as you’re losing weight and/or body fat
- This will also largely depend on your genetics though. Booty and leg size is often the first to go when dieting for many people (:
Need More Help?
Hi, I’m Laura! I’m a nutrition coach, outdoor enthusiast, snow sport bad*ss, and Director of Operations for Paragon Training Methods.
Follow Laura on Instagram at @laurajustinesavino and check out @elevatedpursuitnutrition for more about maintenance calories and crushing a calorie surplus! Time to make some booty gains!
