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Obesity and Weight Management

Building muscle

01/22/2007

Question:

Hello I am 14 years old 130 pounds and im a bit bulky and i would like to try to gain some muscle to shape my body how much protein and how many calories would i needs a day i participate in worouts at the gym weightlifting

Answer:

I don't know if you are male or female, and I don't know your height for 130 pounds. I'm going to assume that you are male, and that you have more growing (in height) to do.

According to ChooseMyPlate.gov, a moderately active (30-60 minutes of physical activity each day) 14 year old male should be eating 2400 calories per day, consisting of  6.5 ounces of lean meat or meat substitute, grain equal to 8 ounces (half from whole grains),  3 cups vegetables, 2 cups fruit, and lowfat milk equal to 3 cups. You can add 7 teaspoons fat in the form of oils (salad dressings, mayonnaise, trans fat free margarine on bread or vegetables, etc) to these food groups, and still have about 360 calories to 'play' with.

You could use these calories to add more protein to your diet.  Add two more ounces of lean meat and another cup of lowfat milk or 1.5 ounces of lowfat cheese. This doesn't allow you any discretionary calories for sugary foods or beverages.

Continue your weightlifting, but add some aerobic activity too - perhaps 20 minutes of running/jogging. The aerobic training will generally help your entire body and keep your resting metabolic rate up, while the strength training/weight lifting will build your muscle. And muscle burns more calories in your body than fat, so you should end up with a trimmer, more muscular physique.

Good luck.

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Response by:

Sharron Coplin, MS, RD, LD Sharron Coplin, MS, RD, LD
Former Lecturer
Food & Nutrition
College of Education and Human Ecology
The Ohio State University