MAINTENANCE vs. BULKING: Calculating your calories for a successful cycle

Someone asked about this in a steroid thread so I'm posting here. I think it's an important thing to be considered when creating a cycle--another reason why I'm posting it here. MODS please move this if you think it's better in the diet section.

The following was taken from The Body Sculpting Bible for Abs by James Villepigue

DETERMINING YOUR DAILY CALORIC NEEDS

The first step in determining how many calories you need to consume [to grow] is to estimate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories you need to consume each day to maintain basic body function

BMR = Body Weight in Pounds x 11

A 170-pound man's BMR: 170 x 11 = 1870 calories. That means to maintain his weight, a 170-pound man--even if he sat in a Barcalounger all day--would need to consume 1870 calories a day [in order to maintain his current weight].

Of course, not many of us spend the day that way. That's why you nee to add an "Activity Factor to your BMR:

Activity Level Factor

Sedentary: BMR x 0.30
Moderately Active: BMR x 0.50
Very Active: BMR x 0.75

Lets say that our 170-pound man is Moderately Active

1870 x 0.50 = 935 calories

Once you know your Activity Factor, add it to your BMR, and then add another 10 percent to that total to account for calories consumed by digestion.

Again using our 170-pound Moderately Active man:

1870 + 935 = 2805

2805 x 1.10 = 3085

He must consume a total of 3805 calories a day to maintain his current weight.

(End of quote from The body Sculpting Bible for Abs)

In order to grow, you'll have to add extra calories to your Maintenance Calories. The amount of calories that will help you grow with the least amount of body fat possible must be determined by trial and error. I suggest eating at 200-500 calories above your Maintenance Calories, then adjusting the calories based on your observations. The number of calories you need to grow will be unique to you (based on your body type, metabolism, etc.)

You must take into consideration your goal weight. For example, let's assume
you're 180lbs and you're goal is weigh 200lbs by the end of the cycle. If you continue to eat based on your original weight, when you get to 190lbs, the amount of food your consuming will not be adequate to get you to 200 lbs. So you must make sure you either adjust your calories as you gain weight, or just eat as if you were 200lbs when you first start your cycle at 180lbs--just be careful not to put on needless fat by overeating. See the link below.

Here's another post that might be helpful; it's about creating a bulking diet:
http://anabolicreview.com/vbulletin/...ad.php?t=74463

good post bro, thanks

Im working on my diet for upcoming first cycle, this helps. wonder what activity level I'm at? probably somewhere between mod. & very, guess I'll split the difference!

thanks bask8...thats not to complicated...i though it was going to be a long drawn out process...

Nice post

Wow, very interesting....That post really helped me out!!!! Very easy to understand!!!

Great post Bro, but where have I heard of 180lber wanting to be 200lbs by the end of his cycle uuuummmm :wg:

JohnnyB

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Great post Bro, but where have I heard of 180lber wanting to be 200lbs by the end of his cycle uuuummmm :wg:

JohnnyB

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Thanks, everyone--I hope it helps.

JohnnyB,

I was thinking the same thing. There's someone around here who just stated that as a current goal...but who???

(The more you keep your goals in the front of your mind, the easier they are to achieve).

I'll never tell:D

JohnnyB

nice post bro...ill def use the info when making my diet plan...

Excellent Post Bask, I'll basing my total calories for my next cycle and this post definetly helped.

FD

I got to bump this

JohnnyB

I'm gonna bump it too........


nice post bask.........again!

peace I4L

Thanks for bumping this, y'all.

good post bump

Adding 20 pounds...

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Originally Posted by Warrior

Well... lets sit down and figure it out from the bottom up :wg: ... 1 pound of muscle is equivelant to 600 calories. To gain 20 pounds of pure hard muscle in 10 weeks you would have to consume 12,000 additional calories.. which under ideal situations would all go to building LBM. Unfortunatly some of the food you eat is canabolized during digestion (digestion alone requires calories) as well as routine activities.

So anyway... take that 12,000 calories (from the 20 pounds you plan to gain) and divide it by the duration of the cycle - say... 10 weeks. 12,000/10 is 1200 calories extra per week. 1200/7= 171 extra calories per day. Add in some extra for good measure (since not all digested food makes it to the building process - each macronutrient requires some of it to be broken down during digestion to support the energy to consume it). So we can say the absolute minumum you would have to increase your daily calories to support 20 pounds on LBM (!) over 10 weeks would be around 250-300 additional calories above and beyond your BMR.

HOWEVER - depending on the type of gear you use some of the calories will be converted to fat - so for this goal a range of around 500 extra calories per day would be more ideal... making adding 20 pounds of LBM more obtainable... and allowing some increase in bodyfat to occur... which there is a high potential of - especialy with aromatizing androgens.

With proper training, rest and nutrition you don't HAVE to go into a mega calorie diet. The simplist way for you to figure out how much to eat is if you are not getting significant results on cycle, and all other factors are good... then you are not supplying enough calories. Once you are on a steady rate of growth - then you are where you need to be.

From my experiences - just shoveling food in on cycle will just add not only bodyfat but extra water (esecially when I have consumed too many simple/refined carbs). You should keep track of your progress and judge where you need improvement - whether it be diet, training or simply more rest...

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Bump for Unknown$$ to find

This is some good information for all. Nice

this should be in the educational forum. I would have saved me a lot of troubles on my previous cycles.

Here's a good calculator, best one I found.
good post btw, this is a nice compliment.

http://www.room42.com/nutrition/basal.shtml

Quality post man...very helpful to newbs like myself.

Just to make the point that these cookie cut calorie calculators do not apply to everyone, i calculated mine and in order to maintain my weight i should be eating 4700 cals a day i used the very active figure which isnt always the case.
Well on a pre contest diet i have never went below 5400 cals, so i am just making the point that we are all individuals and the best method is trial and error.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by j martini

Just to make the point that these cookie cut calorie calculators do not apply to everyone, i calculated mine and in order to maintain my weight i should be eating 4700 cals a day i used the very active figure which isnt always the case.
Well on a pre contest diet i have never went below 5400 cals, so i am just making the point that we are all individuals and the best method is trial and error.

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Agreed.... eveybody process things differently. But it's a good start to getting it down on paper.

I agree with bumping your calories up by 500 each week to constantly see gains. However, you need to keep an eye on fat gain. If you start to gain too much fat, cut it down to 300-350 cals extra per week.
This thread should actually be a sticky due to all the posts you see asking why am I not gaining anymore weight.