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Not too long ago, I completed my first half-marathon and intended to complete my first marathon earlier in October (October 21st). However, I decided to change course on accomplishing this goal due to some personal struggles and losses and had decided that it would be best to pursue this goal in 2021 and in hopes of experiencing an in-person event.
Honestly, my morale has been considerably low, and with the constant damp weather and current life events left me highly discouraged from running. Therefore, I decided that it would be best to postpone this goal and switch gears to something more suitable and achievable that I can accomplish at home and can take my time with achieving.
Therefore, I decided to start focusing again on hypertrophy training (weight lifting) and in doing so, my main focus is to build muscle and add mass. Right now, I do not have an end goal or weight that I want to achieve before I decide to maintain or cut, which gives me flexibility in what it is that I am doing, along with some mental freedom, with not having a deadline in place.
With getting back into weight-lifting, I wanted to get an in-depth understanding of my starting point so that I can track my progress over time. With the knowledge and tools that I have obtained over the years, along with my personal trainer certification, I am well equipped to do just that. Here is a quick summary of what I calculated and will be tracking going forward, some of which I go more into depth below (which is bolded and underlined).
Body fat percentage - using skinfold callipers
Body measurements
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
Current Caloric Intake
Determining Caloric Surplus
Macro Targets
My workouts
Weight
NOTE: I am intentionally not sharing my body composition numbers or my caloric and macro targets with you as my goals may not be the same as yours, but also, what may work for me, may not work for you. I am solely offering transparency in what it is that I am doing, in case you may have a similar goal and are unsure of where to start.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
The reason that you want to calculate your TDEE is to get a general sense of the number of calories that you are burning in a day. TDEE includes all conscious and non-conscious bodily functions and movement, such as your heartbeat, breathing, digestive processes, to the amount of activity you get in a day (walking, hiking, bringing groceries to your car, you name it).
There are a few options to determine your TDEE that includes numerous calculations that you can find online, or if you have a fitness watch, you can rely on the data that it collects for your daily caloric burn. However, you must understand that that fitness watches and TDEE calculations do not calculate your daily caloric burn 100% accurately. The human body is quite complex, and fitness watches and calculators cannot account for the numerous individual variances. For example, according to my Garmin watch, my average caloric burn is about 1,900 calories, but I eat a few hundred calories above that on average and maintain the same weight. As there is no change in my body weight eating this much, this means that I am eating at caloric maintenance and that my TDEE is above 2,000 calories.
Ultimately, I find that the best way to calculate your caloric maintenance is by tracking the food that you are consuming for a week or two, along with your weight. There are several apps that you can use to do this, such as MyFitness Pal and Cronometer. If there are no changes in your weight, you are likely eating at caloric maintenance. Likewise, if you are dropping weight or gaining weight, you are either eating at a caloric deficit or surplus. I should also note that while you are tracking your food, be honest with yourself and log what you typically eat during this time, as you want an accurate representation of where you are currently.
To calculate my TDEE, I ended up tracking my food intake and weight for two weeks, as noted above in Cronometer and am currently eating at caloric maintenance.
Eating at a Caloric Surplus and Macro Targets
For the first few weeks, I am going to train at caloric maintenance and will be tracking my workouts and food intake to see how I am progressing and how I am feeling and to give me confidence that I am at caloric maintenance. If accurate, I will start bumping up my caloric intake by no more than 150 calories after a month of training. While this may not seem like a huge surplus, it is a comfortable starting point for me (more on that below in the notes section).
Macronutrient Targets
In addition to eating in a surplus, I have calculated my macronutrient targets (protein, carbs and fat).
There are many different schools of thought when it comes to protein intake, with the consensus being to consume anywhere between 1.2 grams to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight if your goal is to add mass. Based on this consensus, my protein range is 74 grams to 123 grams of protein per day, which is hands-down an achievable goal, even on a vegan diet.
As for carbs and fats, I am an avid lover of all things carbs, and therefore, have a higher ratio of carb intake to fat, which will comprise the bulk of my diet. As for dietary fat, my daily intake will range between 20 - 30 percent of my daily calories.
As mentioned earlier in this post, I am intentionally not sharing my specific macronutrient targets, as what may work for me may not work for you. Calorie and macro targets are going to differ from person to person, given that height, weight, activity levels, and food preferences will be different. Heck, even if we did have the same fitness goals and were the same age, height and weight, my targets still may not be ideal for you, as our fitness levels and food preferences may vary, along with rates in our metabolism.
Workouts and Body Composition Numbers
One of the biggest things that people fail to do (myself included) is not tracking their workouts and body composition numbers. So let me ask you one question: how do you know how you are progressing towards of goal if you have no data to reflect on?
On that note, I am going to keep a daily journal of my workouts that will include my sets, rep ranges, weight used, and how I am feeling with each exercise. I will also take my body measurements once a month, along with progress photos, and my weight every other day to see if I am gradually adding bodyweight or if my body measurements are increasing. Lastly, for the first month, at least, I will track my food intake to ensure that I am meeting my caloric goals. By keeping a journal of this information, I will be able to see if I am getting stronger (I.e., increasing rep range or the amount of weight) and how my body is responding.
A few Additional Things to Note:
I will be adding a deload week every 6 - 8 weeks
Just like some people like to have a beer after a long day, I LOVE to have sweets (surprise! - not), particularly after dinner. Rather than striving for dietary perfection, I have worked sweets into my daily caloric intake, allowing myself to indulge guilt-free after dinner.
I am working out five days a week (Monday to Friday) with the weekends off. For me, keeping this schedule in line with work ensures that I get my workouts done first thing in the morning. Otherwise, I have a butt-load of excuses not to work out.
On my rest days, I am ensuring that I am meeting my step goals and will be focusing on stretching/yoga on Sundays.
Once I find myself in a place where I am happy with my muscle gains, I may decide to go into a cutting phase (no plans on that yet).
In a bulking phase, you will add weight from both muscle and fat. The chances of eating in a caloric surplus and not adding body fat are highly unlikely. Nevertheless, the amount of weight that you gain from fat depends on your caloric surplus (I.e., an additional 100 compared to 500 calories; therefore, can control fat gain if you are in a smaller caloric surplus. For this reason, I have opted for a caloric surplus of no more than 150 calories at this time.
Alternatively, you can still see muscle gains by eating at maintenance without adding body fat, but it would just take longer to build as compared to eating in a surplus.
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Ultimately, I plan on staying in a building phase throughout the winter (six months) and will reevaluate my goals in the new year. I want also want to say that there is no shame in changing or postponing any goal that you may have. While I was exhilarated and proud of the progress that I was making in training for my first marathon and made tremendous strides in my running, at this current stage in my life, it was not feasible to continue training at this time.
Presently, I am happy with the progress that I had made and am still incredibly proud of completing my first half marathon! It is a highlight that I will not forget and will always stay with me.
If you have any questions or feedback that you would like to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
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