How many calories should I take in a day for mass / strength?

[Jo Mama]

I would love to try some of the cycles I have be reading about, but frankly I no longer have the resources ........ so I picked up some M1T from MC and am trying that out, but am unsure what my daily caloric intake should really be. I get all different opinions from everyone I talk to, from a set number to "eat everything you can get your hands on". I'm looking to make mass / strength gains right now. I'm 5'6", 155 lbs. w/ approx. 20% BF. I already take in about 150-200g of protein/day and try to eat pretty healthy otherwise, but am unsure what my optimal caloric intake should be to support my goals. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[saudades]

Bodybuilding.com has a quick BMR calculator and even calculates an example diet.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/issa64.htm

This should give you a general idea to go from.

 

[Jo Mama]

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

[Archaic]

It depends what your goals are.

If I were you, I would work on cleaning up my diet BEFORE you touch anabolics... 20% bf is quite high, and you could easily bring that down to 12% with clean eating in a few months...

But I realize that's probably not what you want to hear. If you are going to use the steroids to gain muscle mass and get a little leaner, for a guy your size you could do 2500cal. They'd better be all clean if you want to look decent...

Try 300 grams proteins, 200 grams non-sugar carbs, and 40 grams healthy fats. That will help you get leaner and build muscle when on cycle.

Try training with weights 4 times weekly for an hour (heavy compound movements) with 30 minutes of high intensity cardio after each session.