Bulking calorie calculator
How many calories to gain muscle, and how fast you can expect to gain it. The rate is capped by training age, because a surplus cannot make a fifteen-year lifter grow like a beginner.
Eating more than you can build with does not accelerate muscle gain. It changes what you gain, which is why the pace options differ by so little in calories and so much in outcome.
- Estimated maintenance
- 2,740 kcal
- Daily surplus
- 220 kcal
- Expected weekly gain
- 0.2 kg
An estimate from a published formula, not a measurement. Use it as a consistent yardstick for tracking change.
Six months at this pace
This projects the pace forwards, not the muscle. Later months in any bulk carry a higher fat fraction than the first, because your capacity to build has not changed while your surplus has continued.
| Month | Projected weight | Total gained |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 80.9 kg | +0.9 kg |
| 2 | 81.7 kg | +1.7 kg |
| 3 | 82.6 kg | +2.6 kg |
| 4 | 83.5 kg | +3.5 kg |
| 5 | 84.3 kg | +4.3 kg |
| 6 | 85.2 kg | +5.2 kg |
The ceiling nobody can eat past
Muscle accrues at a rate set mostly by training age. A first-year lifter might add one to one and a half kilograms of lean mass a month under good conditions. By year three that is measured in a few hundred grams. Past that it is slower still.
A surplus larger than that ceiling does not raise it. It simply supplies the difference as fat. This is why the calculator scales the rate by training age rather than letting you pick any number: the honest answer to "can I gain faster" is usually no.
What each pace actually buys
- Lean: roughly 0.25% of bodyweight a week. Slowest, and the best fat-to-muscle ratio. Right for anyone already carrying some fat, or anyone who does not want a cut waiting at the end.
- Standard: around 0.5% a week. The usual recommendation, and a reasonable balance for most intermediates.
- Fast: about 0.75% a week. Only defensible for genuine beginners or people coming back from a long layoff, where the capacity to use it exists.
When to start and when to stop
Starting body fat matters more than the surplus size. Beginning a bulk already high in body fat means a worse partitioning ratio and a longer cut afterwards. Many coaches suggest starting from the mid-teens for men and mid-twenties for women, and stopping when you have added roughly ten percentage points.
The other stopping signal is the log. If your working weights stopped moving three weeks ago, the surplus is no longer buying muscle and continuing it is just buying fat.
Training has to earn the surplus
A calorie surplus is permission to grow, not a cause of growth. The cause is progressive overload: more weight, more reps, or better execution than last time, tracked so you know which.
This is the part a calculator cannot do for you, and it is the part that decides whether the six-month projection above is muscle or not.
Questions people ask
How many calories over maintenance should I eat to bulk?
Usually 200 to 400 above maintenance for an intermediate lifter, and less for someone advanced. The number matters less than the resulting rate of weight gain, which is what this tool sets it from.
How much fat will I gain?
It depends on training age, starting body fat and surplus size. A beginner on a modest surplus might gain close to half muscle. An advanced lifter on a large surplus can approach three quarters fat. Slower is almost always a better ratio.
Should I do a dirty bulk?
Eating without limit adds weight fast, and most of it is not muscle above your building capacity. It also lengthens the cut that follows, and cuts are where lean mass is at risk. The trade is rarely worth it.
How long should a bulk last?
Long enough to matter: three to six months is a common range. Anything shorter than about eight weeks rarely produces a measurable change in lean mass, because the rate of gain is slow by nature.
Related tools
A surplus is only worth it if the log moves
Mekimeki tracks working weights, volume and estimated 1RM per exercise, so you can tell muscle gain from weight gain.
Download on the App StoreFree · Every feature included · No subscriptions · No paywalls · iOS 17+
Scan with your iPhone camera