Steroid Calories

[Ryan201291]

I know this has been asked a lot, but seems to get a varied amount of answers. Just want to find out what you reckon is the best calorie surplus to hit on a Test only Cycle, if trying put on as much muscle mass with minimal fat gains?

Thanks

 

[Captain_Chaos36]

This is going to be hard. You are either in a calorie surplus, a calorie deficit or maintenance calories. You can get really clean minimize your carbs, but still put some in your diet, add Fats! Eat about 2g of protein per body pound. This also depends on yoir body fat, Age and alot of other factors. Is your job physically demanding. etc

 

[puckhog]

I know this has been asked a lot, but seems to get a varied amount of answers. Just want to find out what you reckon is the best calorie surplus to hit on a Test only Cycle, if trying put on as much muscle mass with minimal fat gains?

Thanks

Hi Ryan,
This is probably not the ideal thread for this question but to answer your question....what works for me is to find your maintenance calories using a tdee calculator and then eat in a 300-500 calorie surplus for a week or two and see if you are gaining weight. If you are, then you are on the right track. You will probably have to adjust calories as you go so you can continue progressing.

 

[Ryan201291]

This is going to be hard. You are either in a calorie surplus, a calorie deficit or maintenance calories. You can get really clean minimize your carbs, but still put some in your diet, add Fats! Eat about 2g of protein per body pound. This also depends on yoir body fat, Age and alot of other factors. Is your job physically demanding. etc

I’m 27, and I’m a carpenter so very active. Also play football twice a week, Boxing once a week and weighty train 4/5 days a week.

Hi Ryan,
This is probably not the ideal thread for this question but to answer your question....what works for me is to find your maintenance calories using a tdee calculator and then eat in a 300-500 calorie surplus for a week or two and see if you are gaining weight. If you are, then you are on the right track. You will probably have to adjust calories as you go so you can continue progressing.

Sorry mate, will put in correct thread next time. Thanks for the info though, will give 300-500 plus a go and see what happens

 

[Mac11wildcat]

I don’t agree with any calculators.

Step 1: track your food for 3-4 days to get average caloric intake per day
Step 2: add 250-500 cals/day on top of that
Repeat step 2 every couple weeks or so based on progress (weight, visual body comp) etc.

 

[Athlete127]

I don’t agree with any calculators.

Step 1: track your food for 3-4 days to get average caloric intake per day
Step 2: add 250-500 cals/day on top of that
Repeat step 2 every couple weeks or so based on progress (weight, visual body comp) etc.

bingo.

 

[puckhog]

@Mac11wildcat you have the physique to back up your theory! You look fucking awesome.
My thoughts with that approach is say for instance he tracks his calories for 4 days and realizes he is only at 1300cals/day. He bumps to 1700 cals per day for 2 weeks and is still not gaining weight. So he then bumps to 2100 cals for 2 more weeks and still is not gaining. So he bumps 400 more again so now he is at 2500cals/day. This is probably closer to his maintenance but still will not put him in a surplus for growth so now he has to bump 400 more and wait another 2 weeks to see if there is any change. He has now wasted 2 months just trying to dial in a good starting point.
If he used a TDEE calculator it would get him within a REASONABLE starting point and most likely save quite a bit of time dialing in macros. Just a thought. Maybe a bad one, lol, but a thought nonetheless. Have a good day bud.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Here’s my point in this; his, your, my maintenance are all different. Even at the same height and weight.

Your body is amazing at adaptation. Eating 1500cals or 15000cals for an extended period will reset your “maintenance” caloric intake. IE you will neither gain nor lose weight regardless of what a calculator says based on height and weight.

My “maintenance” comes out to something like 3500 cals using a calculator. I’m eating over 6000 and not getting fat. That would be absolutely impossible unless my maintenance was actually near 6k.

Your body will adjust to stimulus. Whether that’s insanely low or high cals is irrelevant (within reason) assuming youre healthy and functioning. This, along with weight gain during a cycle, this and weight loss during a diet, etc require constant adjustment. 500 cals a day deficit or surplus isn’t all from weight gain or loss, it’s a systemic adjustment by your body because it always wants homeostasis.

 

[Test_Subject]

Calorie calculators are a useful too and will give you a good idea of where you should be, but you have to adjust up or down based on your results after a few weeks of consistent eating.

 

[Dead]

Here’s my point in this; his, your, my maintenance are all different. Even at the same height and weight.

Your body is amazing at adaptation. Eating 1500cals or 15000cals for an extended period will reset your “maintenance” caloric intake. IE you will neither gain nor lose weight regardless of what a calculator says based on height and weight.

My “maintenance” comes out to something like 3500 cals using a calculator. I’m eating over 6000 and not getting fat. That would be absolutely impossible unless my maintenance was actually near 6k.

Your body will adjust to stimulus. Whether that’s insanely low or high cals is irrelevant (within reason) assuming youre healthy and functioning. This, along with weight gain during a cycle, this and weight loss during a diet, etc require constant adjustment. 500 cals a day deficit or surplus isn’t all from weight gain or loss, it’s a systemic adjustment by your body because it always wants homeostasis.

Sounds like a good idea to adjust calories from surplus to maintenance during a cruise so when u go back into surplus it’s still effective and you don’t need to eat more

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Sounds like a good idea to adjust calories from surplus to maintenance during a cruise so when u go back into surplus it’s still effective and you don’t need to eat more

That’s my general process. Step calories down slowly, get a bit leaner, then start a bulk from lower cals again. Ideally you stay leaner and keep growing not advisable if you’re coming completely off though.

 

[tengtren]

Mac said it good but I've always gone 1 week to find my baseline

A good place to start is your body weight x 15 to get total calories or 1.5/lb protein, 1.5/lb carbs .5/lb fat gets about the same cals

 

[weighted chinup]

Finding a nutritional approach that works best for you will take some personal experimentation but it is of utmost importance for body composition goals.

Once you have found an approach that works you can plan a base diet that is scalable depending on your goal. Knowing what foods to scale up for growth purposes, for example, to minimize fat gain and promote optimal muscle growth is half the fun and takes some personal experimentation.

It's also a perfect way to be cognizant of health too, implementing fibrous greens, fermented greens and resistant starches as part of your "base" plan will put you in a good place for GI health and insulin sensitivity in the long term which is conducive to long term growth.

Calorie/TDEE calcs are great for weight loss for the general public but advanced lifters need a more tailored approach and a reactive eye when it comes to making adjustments (or a coach who does it for you).