How Much Protein/calories Should I Consume Per Day To Build Muscle?

[machine-less]

I'm really serious about working out, I want to build muscle mass in particular. I'm a vegetarian, not a strict one. I currently weigh 150 lbs and I'm 5'7. The weight I hope to achieve is 165 lbs. So I want to gain at least 15 pounds of solid muscle.

In order to make this happen, how much protein should I consume per day? Also how many calories? I'm not big on supplements as I've heard there's a lot of BS in them. I'm more in favor of the natural way in hitting the targeted weight through eating fruits and raw vegetables or by combining them into my own protein shakes. 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated  

[Franz]

I was going to write a wall of text here since I am lifting myself for six years now.

BUT: Everything you might want to know is pretty well covered (including exact calculators 

for your numbers, if you care) by all-time youtube classicScooby Werkstatt and his nice web page:

Check it out. Lots of Truth to find in there.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/

His Youtube Channel is also pretty good, but also covers lots of stuff you might not need right now:

https://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961

Its all free by the way.

Edited May 20, 2016 by Franz

[ChimpBrain]

It won't be easy to add muscle as a vegetarian who's not interested in supplements. Amino acids are the building blocks of muscle tissue and plants are not a good source of them. It can be done though. With that said, no one including the calculators above can tell you how much you should be eating. There are too many variables involved. Your best route is to calculate how much you're eating now including total calories and macronutrient percentages and then start slowly adding in more calories, especially protein, until your weight starts to increase. Let's say you calculate that right now you're eating 2k calories, 100g protein, 200g carbs, and 90g fat, I'd add 300 calories to that in the form of 50g protein and 25g carbs and do that for a few weeks. If your weight doesn't increase add another 300. These are just random numbers obviously but you get the idea. 

Edited May 20, 2016 by ChimpBrain

[Vigi]

Here's some random thoughts that hopefully helps a little.

Typically, calorie surplus + effective workouts (with progression) => gain muscle + fat.

Calorie defficinecy  effective workouts (with progression) => preserve muscle + lose fat.

 

If the caloric surplus is too large, you will gain a lot of fat and little muscle. Gaining muscle takes long time so aim for slow but steady increase in weight. Or actually, do not focus too much on gaining weight. Simply eat just enough so you are able to achieve progression after each workout.

Also, the initial statement is obviously a massive oversimplification. If you're completely new to the gym you can usually gain muscle and lose weight at the same time. But it gives you the main idea.

I would suggest not set a goal of reaching a certain weight, since that might lead you to just gaining unwanted fat. Simply focus on progression.

A good starting point could be 2 gram of protein/kg of bodyweight and day.

Do not forget the quality of the protein. Protein contains of different amino acids. Some are more important than other. So it can be misleading to only focus an the amount of protein. The simplest approach to solve this is to simply get your protein for a variety of sources. Since you're a vegetarian, it might be necessary to do a little bit of research.

I should explain progression as well. It basically means that you get stronger/improve, which can be done in a lot of ways. The most intuitive approach is being able to lift more weight with the same amount of repetitions or doing more repetitions on the same weight.

[JevinR]

Eggs and milk are great for vegetarians. If you wish to be more "ethical", organic eggs. Raw fat milk is much better although. Wheat gluten, soy, black beans, oats, lentils, greek yogurt, egg whites, spinach, broccoli, quinoa, nuts and seeds such as pumpkin seeds or almonds. 

 

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-protein/

 

Start Stronglifts 5x5 very good to start a strong foundation http://stronglifts.com/5x5/ Work on compound lifts, especially as a noob http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=118920551 Bodybuilding.com is an excellent site, remember that your nutrition and training go hand in hand.

So a simple way to both bulk and cut (bulk = Gain muscle) (Cut= Lose Fat) is to eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, also to track all your calories, so you know whats going in and out, which is your macros. Macros is Protein, Fats and Carbs. Protein and Carbs = 4 calories/gram , Fat = 9 calories/gram. Use myfitnesspal.com to track calories, and use http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ to your needs, also that bodyfat, tracking sets and reps and weight is good way to measure progress

Edited May 20, 2016 by JevinR

[machine-less]

Thank you for the awesome answers, guys. I'll keep these suggestions in mind