Looking at weekly instead of daily calories opens up an exciting array of possibilities...and better results

BackInTheGame78

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Have been experimenting with something the past month, and that is looking at weekly caloric totals to determine caloric deficits instead of daily.

Why? Because I realized something that I probably should have realized a while ago.

I can eat anabolically to build muscle on days when I am lifting heavily and doing weighted sled pulls, maintenance levels on the other 2 days, and still be in a significant caloric deficit at the end of the week since I fast twice a week.

My TDEE based on my activity level is somewhere between 2900-3050 depending on what calculator I use. I just use the low end. I am extremely active in terms of activities...intense strength training 4 days a week, weighted sled pulls on leg and back days that act as HIIT, and walk 12-15K steps at least 5 times a week of not every day.

My body needs fuel. And I realized something along the way...I can be more effective eating anabolically during training days and fasting twice a week than I could of I simply did a 500 calorie deficit each day OR of I fasted twice a week and didn't up calories the other days.

Let's do the simple math.

2900x7=20,300 calories a week

Running a 500 calorie deficit each day would give me 16,800 calories for the week.

Now, let's do the math on what I do instead:

Leg day and back day with sled pulls: 3400 calsx2=6800 calories
Chest day and arm/shoulder day: 2900 calsx2=5800 calories
Non-fasting off day/pilates: 2700 calories
2 fast days:0 calories

Weekly caloric totals: 6800+5800+2700=15,300

Not only am I creating a 5000 net calorie deficit on a weekly basis versus a 3500 calorie deficit if I simply did a deficit of 500 calories a day, I am also eating anabolically or at maintenance for 4 of those days, which is going to aid in building muscle on those days.

The results have been pretty astonishing to me so far...the scale has roughly stayed the same but I look bigger, the tape measure is lowe around the waist and bigger everywhere else, veins are popping and looking spidery which is clear sign bodyfat is disappearing and my abs are starting to really come in as well as my obliques.

IMHO, taking a bigger picture view and stepping back from the daily and out to the weekly has helped tremendously with progress in terms of recomping and did it far more effectively than fasting and eating deficit calories.

Would suggest more people try this. Even if you don't want to fast, eat anabolically on lifting days and then cut calories steeper to create a deficit on off days and track your progress compared to a steady deficit.
 

CAPSLOCK BANDIT

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If you don't already watch dude is one of the best resources for planning new diets, gets really into the nuances of decision making, like the fasted cardio video he breaks down why and when you would and wouldn't do so as opposed to which is better


 

Ricky

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I could see this. If you train hard and dont eat enough you can easily become very fatigued.

breaking things into days and weeks may not truly reflect how our bodies metabolism works.

i know you had another post about flux
 

BackInTheGame78

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Sure enough, I woke up today at my lowest weight in at least 5 years...

It's kinda crazy how every time I get stuck at a certain weight, the answer always seems to be start eating more.
 

BackInTheGame78

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Another pound down from yesterday's low, even tho I ate 2800 calories again...

It's just astounding to me how this seems to really stoke the metabolic fire inside of me to the point fat looks like it almost disappearing by the day in certain areas.

Just seems so weird and counterintuitive how the body works which I think is why so many struggle with losing weight. Common sense dictates you need to cut calories to lose weight, but the body reacts eventually by lowering your metabolism to even things out.

By upping your caloric intake to maintenance or above, no such modification occurs and then when you fast the result is pure fat getting burned. Additionally, after a fast your metabolism is actually HIGHER than prior to the fast, so this seems like it works to again push the body into a cycle of increasing the metabolic rate day after day.

The increase in calories seems to have a greater effect thermically inside the body from upping the metabolic rate which then seemingly burns fat at a higher rate while using those excess calories to help build more muscle, which creates a positive feedback loop since muscle is metabolically active and helps burn more fat.

Almost equate it to pouring gasoline on a fire when the fire is dwindling and starting to go out.

I am going to look into this more and see what I can find scientifically because there has to be some sort of metabolic effect that is greater than what you would expect for this to actually cause this type of result.

At the very least there is far more to all this than calories in/calories out at the end of the day. That I can say with near certainty.
 
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BackInTheGame78

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Well I can't gain weight, I've been eating a lot clean food, also some "bad" food to get the calories. I'm stuck in 170lbs, eat 4-5 meals, mostly carbs and protein. I'm on peds also, but damn I can't get to 180lbs no matter how much I eat. I started doing some HIIT cardio cause I was getting sluggish, will see if that makes me hungrier.
Start taking weight gainer shakes. Easy classic bodybuilding one they used to use was half heavy cream to half pineapple juice...that's about 1600 calories right there.

Not great calories but if you simply need lots of calories to try and see where the tipping point will be it's and easy way to get in lots of them quickly, and it tastes really good to boot.
 
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Manure Spherian

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Yes, that’s actually what carb cycling is. People have been doing it for a long time. I got shredded to the bone with it.
 

Manure Spherian

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Well I can't gain weight, I've been eating a lot clean food, also some "bad" food to get the calories. I'm stuck in 170lbs, eat 4-5 meals, mostly carbs and protein. I'm on peds also, but damn I can't get to 180lbs no matter how much I eat. I started doing some HIIT cardio cause I was getting sluggish, will see if that makes me hungrier.
Have you kept a food journal for seven days and calculated your average daily intake?

How tall are you?
 

EyeBRollin

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Well I can't gain weight, I've been eating a lot clean food, also some "bad" food to get the calories. I'm stuck in 170lbs, eat 4-5 meals, mostly carbs and protein. I'm on peds also, but damn I can't get to 180lbs no matter how much I eat. I started doing some HIIT cardio cause I was getting sluggish, will see if that makes me hungrier.
You aren’t eating enough. Time for GOMAD (gallon of milk a day). Also, are you eating enough of oats, white rice, and beans?

Most hard gainers are way undershooting their carb macros. You need 400g of carbs minimum on a weight gaining program. 500g is even better.
 

Manure Spherian

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BackInTheGame78

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Brutal deficit. How much fat do you have to or want to lose?
It's not what it seems. The deficit comes from 2 fast days. The other days are slightly above maintenance or maintenance.

The fast days help release massive pulses of GH which protects muscle while helping release fat stores for energy, and also increases metabolism post fast.

So the net effect is that I am driving my metabolic rate in a positive loop upwards instead of driving it in a negative loop downwards like happens typically when you cut calories.

Currently around 12-14% BF, average of the tape measure methods says 13.3%.

Veins are spidering in my arms, bicep vein is coming in nicely, top 4 abs are showing well, next set of 2 is starting to uncover, the "ab panel" outline that the 6 pack sits within is appearing and starting to see obliques come in as well.

Looking to get down to around 10ish and then sub 10. Hopefully by end of winter this year. I have a plan on place to ensure I do not do my usual winter move of gaining a bunch of weight.
 

obelisk

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James Smith has a pretty decent YT video about this where he uses colored free weights to illustrate his point (link escapes me). Looking at things across a full week helps you to overcome any days of totally going off the rails without immediately falling into all-or-nothing, black-or-white thinking and to get back on the wagon sooner.
 

tightgrp

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Have been experimenting with something the past month, and that is looking at weekly caloric totals to determine caloric deficits instead of daily.

Why? Because I realized something that I probably should have realized a while ago.

I can eat anabolically to build muscle on days when I am lifting heavily and doing weighted sled pulls, maintenance levels on the other 2 days, and still be in a significant caloric deficit at the end of the week since I fast twice a week.

My TDEE based on my activity level is somewhere between 2900-3050 depending on what calculator I use. I just use the low end. I am extremely active in terms of activities...intense strength training 4 days a week, weighted sled pulls on leg and back days that act as HIIT, and walk 12-15K steps at least 5 times a week of not every day.

My body needs fuel. And I realized something along the way...I can be more effective eating anabolically during training days and fasting twice a week than I could of I simply did a 500 calorie deficit each day OR of I fasted twice a week and didn't up calories the other days.

Let's do the simple math.

2900x7=20,300 calories a week

Running a 500 calorie deficit each day would give me 16,800 calories for the week.

Now, let's do the math on what I do instead:

Leg day and back day with sled pulls: 3400 calsx2=6800 calories
Chest day and arm/shoulder day: 2900 calsx2=5800 calories
Non-fasting off day/pilates: 2700 calories
2 fast days:0 calories

Weekly caloric totals: 6800+5800+2700=15,300

Not only am I creating a 5000 net calorie deficit on a weekly basis versus a 3500 calorie deficit if I simply did a deficit of 500 calories a day, I am also eating anabolically or at maintenance for 4 of those days, which is going to aid in building muscle on those days.

The results have been pretty astonishing to me so far...the scale has roughly stayed the same but I look bigger, the tape measure is lowe around the waist and bigger everywhere else, veins are popping and looking spidery which is clear sign bodyfat is disappearing and my abs are starting to really come in as well as my obliques.

IMHO, taking a bigger picture view and stepping back from the daily and out to the weekly has helped tremendously with progress in terms of recomping and did it far more effectively than fasting and eating deficit calories.

Would suggest more people try this. Even if you don't want to fast, eat anabolically on lifting days and then cut calories steeper to create a deficit on off days and track your progress compared to a steady deficit.
Good stuff. Daily caloric deficit and muscle building just doesn't work. Kudos on the steps. Walking is a totally underrated fat burner.
 

tightgrp

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It's not what it seems. The deficit comes from 2 fast days. The other days are slightly above maintenance or maintenance.

The fast days help release massive pulses of GH which protects muscle while helping release fat stores for energy, and also increases metabolism post fast.

So the net effect is that I am driving my metabolic rate in a positive loop upwards instead of driving it in a negative loop downwards like happens typically when you cut calories.

Currently around 12-14% BF, average of the tape measure methods says 13.3%.

Veins are spidering in my arms, bicep vein is coming in nicely, top 4 abs are showing well, next set of 2 is starting to uncover, the "ab panel" outline that the 6 pack sits within is appearing and starting to see obliques come in as well.

Looking to get down to around 10ish and then sub 10. Hopefully by end of winter this year. I have a plan on place to ensure I do not do my usual winter move of gaining a bunch of weight.
Keep us posted on your progress. I have had my best success with periodic single day 36 hr fasts. Just too damn active to do more than that. Whenever I initiate a change like this, it usually goes great initially then at about 2-3 weeks there is a crash and burn and I learn a hard new lesson about the human body.
 

BackInTheGame78

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Keep us posted on your progress. I have had my best success with periodic single day 36 hr fasts. Just too damn active to do more than that. Whenever I initiate a change like this, it usually goes great initially then at about 2-3 weeks there is a crash and burn and I learn a hard new lesson about the human body.
I will...getting a full body scan done in 2 weeks on a Styku machine which is a new technology that is supposed to compare very favorably to a DEXA scan but is less expensive.

Will post my results from it.
 
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