From another world! Where do I start?

[Greekfood]

Hello everyone. I'm new to these forums so I'll introduce myself briefly. I've always been interested in excelling in the martial arts and can't help but watch what I eat. Lately, however, I want to start weight training and I'm not sure how to arrange/rearrange my diet to accodomate the extra calories I need to bulk up. I am 165lbs. 6'0, 6% body fat, and lean. I want to get stronger and slightly bigger, but not much. My main goals are to become faster, more agile, stronger, and have more endurance, not to bodybuild.

I plan to weight train 3 mon,wed,fri for 1 hour and do cardio tues&thurs 1 hour with 30 minutes of yoga at night time and 1 hour of martial arts training a day.

My questions are:
1. How many calories do I need now to:
- maintain my weight right now
- bulk up but stay toned and fast

2. How many calories per meal should I eat from morning to night
- that is to say how many meals and how many hours apart?

3. What percentage (how much) protein/fat/carbs should be at each meal?
- are there certain parts of the day that require more of each?

4. What should I eat before and after a workout and does that count
towards my 6 (or however many)?

I appreciate anyone who can give me advice or if it's easier for you, direct me to a few links that can answer each of my questions.

[candyass]

All of this depends on how hard you train, but roughly, these are the numbers:

To maintain:20 calories per pound, protien .64g/lb, crab 3.2g/lb
To gain: 24+ calories/lb, .73g/lb, 3.6g/lb

To find out how many calories you should have per meal, take the total number of calories and divide by the number of meals (usually 6), as all of your meals should be equal in calories.

After a workout you'll want to take some protien along with 50g of carbs with a high glycemic index (honey is a good example). Avoid anything with fructose, as this sugar takes a long time to be absorbe by the body. You need a quick surge of sugar to replace your lost glycogen.

[Onamission]

click on the second link on THIS page.
just plug in your age weight and height.

Theres your macros for whatever you want to do.

[Lady C]

Originally Posted by Greekfood

I am 165lbs. 6'0, 6% body fat, and lean.
My questions are:
1. How many calories do I need now to:
- maintain my weight right now
(This is unique to everyone, you will have to find out what "your" maintenance caloric intake is. I would start at 2000 or 2200 calories and see if you are gaining or losing weight. Then adjust as necessary.)
- bulk up but stay toned and fast
(add 200-500 calories to your maintenance)

2. How many calories per meal should I eat from morning to night
- that is to say how many meals and how many hours apart?
(Take your caloric intake and divide by number of meals to get calories per meal. Eat as many meals as you can in your waking hours at 3 hour intervals. EXAMPLE 2000/6=333 calories per meal, 6 meals per day.)

3. What percentage (how much) protein/fat/carbs should be at each meal?
- are there certain parts of the day that require more of each?
(No hard and fast rule on this. You will get different answers by everyone you talk to. You are doing a considerable amount of exercise so you may require a good portion of complex carbs. Eat higher amounts of carbs before and after the workout. Some say start with 1 gram of protein per each pound of bodyweight)

4. What should I eat before and after a workout and does that count
towards my 6 (or however many)?
(Yes, it counts towards your 6 meals.)

To make all of this work you need to find out what your maintenance caloric intake is. This is only found out by trial and error. Start tracking how many calories you are eating and if you are gaining, staying the same or losing weight. This will help you zero in on your maintenance value.