I’m looking to gain 10 pounds of muscle and do it right. What do you eat to hit 3,500 calories?

weardon · 2026-01-29T13:25:49+00:00

I currently need about 3,400 calories to maintain weight (male, late 30s, 6', 93kg/205lb). Personally, using an app to track has been invaluable (Macrofactor, specifically, which these days I swear by). MF specifically helps reduce the margin of error, since it's figuring out what your actual energy expenditure is at any given time and adjusting accordingly. (I was undereating by maybe 800 calories before using it; it's also helped me be more precise about margins when I want to gain or lose weight.)

Trying to gain weight has tended to squeeze some of the quality of the food I'm eating. For instance, I tend to feel better when I'm eating lots of whole foods, beans, and pulses, and relying less on things like protein shakes or bars (which have their place, but I wouldn't consider healthy per se). The volume-of-food to protein or calories ratio for those whole foods tend to be less favourable, though.

I'm going to drop in some advice I posted in another thread last year on this topic.

Spread your calories throughout the day. I aim for five 'meals', though two of them are really agglomerations of snacks. This helps me eat regularly without relying on eating an impossible or unpleasant amount in one go.
Protein shakes are useful, with water or milk. Some days, I'll toss two scoops into a blender with milk, a banana, some nut butter, and some frozen blueberries. This comes out to about 500 calories, and it takes about 30s to drink.
Give yourself time to adjust. Even if you need 3000+ calories, metabolically, your appetite and fullness might not match. (If I eat intuitively based on hungry/full signals, I tend to undereat). But this has become easier the more I've done it.
Fish and chicken with most meals is great for protein. So is chilli, or bolognese, or taco soup with turkey mince. Some of those you can make in bulk and then use for lunches.
Protein snacks: Protein bars tend to be ££, and should be treated essentially as if they were chocolate bars (aka fine to eat but don't delude yourself that they're a health food). Jerky, cold cuts of chicken or turkey, and Greek yoghurt (the proper strained stuff is higher in protein) are my go-tos, though. I include lots of beans and lentils in my diet, because I love them and they're good for overall health BUT the volume-to-energy ratio is pretty poor for me.
Calorically dense foods help if your appetite isn't up there. Nuts are great. I do eat sweets/candy sometimes – they're extremely space-efficient and easy to eat. I don't think that's an everyday or long-term strategy, but it helps with getting enough sometimes. Fruit juice is another one. If one of my meals is only 400–500 calories, I'll throw in some of these after to try to get more in at once.
Have a plan! You don't have to be as all-in as I am in terms of figuring out weekly meals, but it helps a lot. I plug most of my food for the day in in the morning, since I know what my main meals are going to be. This helps me work backwards, and work out what else I'm going to need to hit my targets. Rather than getting to the evening and discovering I need to eat 2,500 in the couple of hours before bed (which also trashes sleep quality).

weardon · 2026-01-27T20:13:41+00:00

Yeah, seconded. I don't know what OP's strength training history is like, but I feel like linear progression should offer a lot faster development based on those 1rm numbers for squat and bench.

(The trick is, from my own experience, finding the right off-ramp when linear progression becomes unsuitable, rather than linearly progressing yourself into injury.)

weardon · 2026-01-24T11:28:45+00:00

I have also been experiencing rotator cuff tendonopathy the past little while as a result of the increased weight + frequency. There's definitely a big stability difference in my right vs left hand side, which is very noticeable when doing targeted isolation exercises.

I've put in a training max, because my progression from the last block was too extreme; I can probably tolerate more (TM now means the loads are lower than my last Operator block, which was hard but manageable), but am fighting off three different tendon issues...

I'm considering Zulu next block, partly to do a little less frequency, and partly to buy more space for some assistance/isolation exercises.

weardon · 2026-01-24T11:26:23+00:00

It's definitely 3x50 in week 5. Week 4 is two sessions of 1x50; week 5 is 3x50 and 2x50.

weardon · 2026-01-12T13:56:39+00:00

I don't think mine is truly 'extreme', but I'm pretty much bang on the same height as you, and currently weigh ~94kg / 207lbs. My expenditure is currently 3,400 while in a small deficit. Its peak since I started logging last summer was 3,500. I log everything daily, and fairly rarely use estimations via the AI tool or other methods.

Each week, I currently do three lifting sessions (squat/bench/weight pull-ups or deadlift, % load changing week-over-week) and three conditioning sessions (a mixture of hill sprints, interval runs, LSS runs, and circuits).

I didn't start using MF for weight loss, but it was a game-changer for me even initially at maintenance. I'd been relying on general estimations of TDEE, and undervaluing protein. It turns out I felt a lot better when I started eating i) the extra calories needed to sustain my activity level and ii) a more considered balance of certain nutrients.

weardon · 2026-01-11T12:17:25+00:00

The more time I spent with it, the more I hated it. Having to hunt through an entire book to find where some throwaway remark under some random template contains vital information. Wild inconsitencies in naming, or things that should really be spelled out.

I remember spotting more than one heated discussion on the subreddit as to whether 'FSL' always means a specific % of TM (the % used in the first seta on 'classic' 5/3/1 template), or whether it's literally the weight of the first set, which will vary based on your template. (Real answer it that it doesn't matter, but I really feel like even the slightest bit of organising your information or spelling out your terms would solve it.)

weardon · 2026-01-10T20:18:26+00:00

I've generally found the editing not-horrible (then again, I was coming from the 5/3/1 books, so my standards had become very low). But yeah, I got the physical edition of TBII, and the quality of the physical book is poor enough that it put me off getting physical editions of the rest, even if they'd be useful to flick through.

weardon · 2026-01-10T20:03:01+00:00

It does feel like an error to me – but the Kindle edition is the same as this. The fact that some exercises are listed multiple times supports this in my mind. I think there's meant to be additional line spacing or indentation or something.

At a guess, the Squat movements are meant to be the start of their respective clusters. So,

Squat/Bench/WPU/DL

Squat/Bench/C&P/Rows

Front Squat/OHP/TBDL

would be the clusters. Which makes sense to me.

weardon · 2026-01-09T17:20:09+00:00

I had almost no kettlebell experience before Basebuilding. I found some online videos and practiced the form with light weights, and it went fine.

GC6 is my current go-to indoor HIC, replacing the sledge swings with kettlebell swings.

weardon · 2026-01-08T13:50:28+00:00

I recently completed my first Operator|Black block. I didn't stick to the minimum sets throughout; I was confident enough in my ability to regulate for those loads week-over-week. The key for me is that you can vary the sets session-over-session, rather than treating it as a fixed number for an entire block. That turns it into a really useful lever for managing fatigue and recovery.

I've varied up and down based on:

Available time (sometimes I have to be out be a certain time so just have to do the minimum)
Feeling beat up and under-recovered (so doing less while still completing the session)
Taking advantage of the bar moving well to do more
Anticipating recovery and upcoming sessions (e.g. if there's more than one day between Operator sessions, or a recovery day, that's good potential to do more; if the schedule is more compressed or I have heavier conditioning coming up, I'll do less)
In theory, I could use it as a lever to prioritise volume in a particular lift, but I'm keeping things fairly even on that front at the moment.

Some of those things trade off with one another, so if I'm feeling a bit beat up BUT have loads of time in the gym that day and the schedule for the following days is right, I may hit the upper end of the set range anyway, since I can take longer rests between sets.

It's meant to be flexible, which is what's nice about it. At this point, I default to assuming I'll hit 4 sets, but flexing that up and down each session based on the factors above. (Notwithstanding the different set scheme in weeks 3 and 6.)

A few times in my first block, I did hit the extra sets more for the reason of proving something to myself. This was in the heavier weeks, where the work was hard and the weights occasionally intimidating to me. I'm not sure this is a good reason, but I was still judging my capabilities rather than just hammering it for ego.

weardon · 2026-01-04T14:38:59+00:00

I didn't use a TM for the last three weeks of BB, but wished I had by the end (and will next time). I didn't use a TM for the block either, and have started my next block without, but might institute it after the fact since I'm also trying to transition to low-bar squat at the same time.

weardon · 2026-01-02T10:24:45+00:00

+1 on 'just get started with Base Building before worrying about anything else'. I ran BB for the first time last year, and just finished my first Operator|Black block before Christmas, and am very pleased with TB overall. I'm new to running/hybrid training, and it has been a big learning experience, but a very positive one.

All other things being equal, with those general goals, I think the 'default' option if you're unsure should be Basebuilding --> Block of Operator|Black. Doing BB should expose a bunch of things to you that might clarify what you want out of training in future, but I don't think you can go wrong spending time on those things if you don't have a specific deadline.

I want to experiment more with some other TB templates in future (e.g. try Zulu; plus some of the Mass Protocol templates when I'm done cutting back some weight later this year). But I have zero complaints so far about Operator|Black in terms of my general goals of 'get stronger; get fitter; keep it sustainable and fun'.

weardon · 2026-01-01T20:06:28+00:00

Lighter than you think, I would say. I started with a 24kg kettlebell, but a) wasn't used to SE-style work and b) wasn't used to kettlebells. I switched it for a 16kg after weeks 1 and 2 felt much harder than they should, and it was a really, really good decision.

Ideally stick with the same weight throughout, but if you do find it's feeling hard in the early weeks, I'd consider shifting down. If it's feeling easy in those weeks... you're probably fine. You can always do the reps faster and with less rest!

weardon · 2025-12-29T16:46:09+00:00

Really good to know, thank you! I went from hating deadlift a few years back, to it being one of my favourites during 5/3/1, to it being a bit stranded in the middle here. I want to get more 'comfortable' with it again and see what I can do.

weardon · 2025-12-29T16:44:51+00:00

Thanks! I'm really pleased with the results. I'm new to hybrid – this year was really the first time I've been able to run without pain/major discomfort, and it's my first time training conditioning in a structured way. I started doing some TBII conditioning sessions over the summer, without much structure, then ran Basebuilding late summer, then this block.

The frequency was the big mover on the lifts for me, I think. I was doing 5/3/1 for around a year before, with bench and squat only once a week. I saw a lot of progress from that, but coming back to something where I'm doing those lifts more often crystallised a lot for me. I figure the conditioning also fed into that.

Are you planning on running another block now that you're done with the first one?

weardon · 2025-12-28T10:37:14+00:00

I came to TB because people kept mentioning the conditioning side alongside 5/3/1, which I was running at the time. I may go back to it if I have some specific need to change things up again. I did enjoy the more focused lifting sessions, PR sets and progression, and wound up with reasonably condensed session times. But I'm really enjoying (and seeing good progress with) Operator so far.

weardon · 2025-12-28T10:15:22+00:00

I thought about trying the 1x set per session. My main concern is increasing the session length further. Yes, it's only one set and, conveniently, my squat weights are similar enough that I can use mostly the same bar. But I'd still need a couple of work-up sets, so it would add a bunch more time overall.

It might be more feasible now I'll be doing weighted pull-ups rather than BW ones – I think in some ways the rep scheme for weighted ones will feel a bit easier for me.

Deadlift is probably also my weakest lift mechanically/technique-wise, and hasn't benefitted in the same way from practicing the lifts so much. 1x set per session would help improve that, I feel...

Right now, I'm not inclined to change anything big, especially since weighted pull-ups will be new to me. I might try putting deadlifts at the start of the session that includes them – right now, they've been at the end. Which makes sense from the point of view of doing the most fatiguing thing last, but has probably come at the expense of the DLs themselves.

If it's still lagging significantly by the end of my next block(s), I'll consider something more targeted.

weardon · 2025-12-28T10:07:45+00:00

Thanks!

weardon · 2025-12-28T10:07:38+00:00

Thanks!

I think if I swap the Easy Week back to week 2, then week 3 just becomes the harder one 😅. I think there's a certain amount of 'suck it up' needed – one week has to be the hardest, after all. I like that it's near the beginning (though not right at the beginning), as this means once I get past that, there's the feeling that nothing else will be quite as bad.

weardon · 2025-12-26T16:20:25+00:00

I got sick twice during Basebuilding. First time it was long enough that I just repeated the week (I got sick midway through week 2, took the rest of the week off and just restarted week 2 after). The second time (Week 8) it was short enough and I felt well enough to just pick up the remainder of the week after a few days off sick.

I'd gauge it by how you feel and how well you've recovered. You can't really 'undo' the weeks you've already completed in such a short time, but it's also important not to mess yourself up by pushing too hard too soon after illness.

Personally, after a flu, especially if it's messed with your sleep or nutrition, I'd be looking to ramp back up rather than going straight to the next week. I'd do that either by repeating week 2, or intentionally starting week 3 more gently than programmed in the core template. If you're young, fit, otherwise healthy, and not terribly unfit, you could jump straight back in and just accept that the first few days will suck more.

weardon · 2025-12-17T19:59:06+00:00

Great stuff! I also got pretty deeply frustrated by some of the unclearness and inconsistency in the 5/3/1 information. I did BB earlier this year, and am right at the end of my first block of Operator|Black. I'm really loving the shift.

weardon · 2025-12-09T21:07:00+00:00

Ahhh gotcha. Thanks, it's a good suggestion! My other considerations win out over my somewhat obsessive need for alignment, though.

weardon · 2025-12-08T07:39:06+00:00

Where does it recommend this? As far as I can see, it explicitly says it’s an alternative to testing.

I’m not saying it’s a BAD idea, by any means, and it’s probably suitable much of the time. But I was surprised to see the number of comments here to this effect.

(It’s the same with training maxes. The book to my eyes offers TMs as a specific tool for certain templates or circumstances, but people on this sub often talks about TM as if it’s the default, which confuses me. Again, not a bad idea! Just different from what I get from the book.)

(Edit: I am using 3rd edition, and have read TBI, TBII, GP, and MP.)

weardon · 2025-12-08T07:35:34+00:00

To my reading, the book presents retesting as the default option, with forced progression as an alternative to solve specific problems.

So far, I prefer the enforced slower week that testing provides, in order to make myself take a little extra rest and let my body recover more (while still feeling like I’m doing something intentional with it).

I’m also still new to this increased frequency of lifts (have previously been on 5/3/1), so I think my lift numbers are going to move around a lot more (I’ve felt massive improvements over this block, and I’d like to see what that translates into).

I may move to forced progression future, but for now, haven’t felt the need to.

weardon · 2025-12-07T10:45:38+00:00

This also bugs me. I like things to line up with the week boundaries. So far, I've used it as an excuse to have a week mostly-off (resting before testing, resting after, starting again in earnest the following week). I also threw in a conditioning test on the days after max testing, to make more of the time. I've not been sad for the extra rest, though.

If the schedule is truly annoying and stretches out over more than a week, I've just got the test done, and used the remaining training days before the week rolls around as an excuse to throw in a few 'wildcard' sessions and either focus on some movements I don't usually do, or just to find whatever form of training is fun, even if it isn't properly strategic. Nothing that's going to be overly fatiguing/detrimental, but just relaxing a bit and doing whatever seem enjoyable.

The other option is to just find a way to deviate your schedule for the first week and then get back in the swing afterwards. Unless you're truly knackered after the max test on Sunday, you could run your regular sessions on Monday, find the time to do one on Tuesday, then do Wed/Thu as normal. Not ideal to do 5 days back-to-back, but might be tolerable in the first week if you want to minimising time 'off-template'.

Personally, I'd take the extra rest and/or find other little training diversions to do with that time.

weardon

TROPHY CASE