Scott, 

i am 5'10" 150ish lbs 29y/o and work out 3-5 days a week very hard. I want to get bigger. i have been working out for a while and i know the only reason i am not getting bigger is becuase i dont eat the right amount of macros. 

my macro break down is as follows (my goal is to gain lean muscle)

186g pro  744cal

68g fat   612cal

454g carbs  1816

total cals 3172/day

it is not a challenge to me to eat 3k cal/day. its super doable when you crunch the numbers. you just have to be well planned. 

what i dont understand is why must i eat 3k cals every day? i dont under stand this logic.

my understanding is to keep the fat off you eat a low carb diet. so you eat a lot of complex carbs before you work out, some simple ones right after working out, but very minimal carbs for the rest of the day and you eat very minimal carbs on non-work out days. 

if i were to follow this logic, i couldnt hit 3k cals on non-work out days. or mabe i need to take those calories from non work out days and add them to work out days so at the end of the week i hit my calorie intake.. but then that is insane.. i would be eating 5k cal plus per work out day to do that.. which all just seems so excessive.. becuase i would be eating sooo many carbs on work out days to hit that calorie intake and i just wouldnt need all those carbs.. 

i hope i am helping you understand my dilema. i want to be bigger, like you. i know i have to track macros and micros but i dont understand how to implement this 3kcal/day.

why cant i just eat 3k on my work out days and make sure i hit my other macros on non work out days while keeping the carbs low and not worry about calories. (im sure i just said the worst thing ever in body building.. dont worry about calroies! ha!)

Please help! 

THANK YOU!

Michael

Michael,

I understand the dilemma and basically you have a solid understanding of calories, macros, and macro timing. However, everyone is unique as well as their metabolisms. While 3K calories may work/be enough for you, it may be too much or not enough for me. You understand the basics of calorie intake and macros so I won't re-hash them here.

To answer your question, the amount of daily calories you need to support growth comes down to your base caloric demands (RMR) and the additional calories needed to support non-essential functions like muscle growth. The higher your base metabolism, younger you are, and the more demands you put on your body, the more calories you need for muscular growth. There is nothing saying you can't tilt your macros more towards carbs on workout days and more towards fats on non-workout days yet keep your dail total the same. This is called carb cycling and is something I do myself in combination with intermittent fasting. It is OK to run a slight caloric deficit on non-workout days as this will signal your body to use more body fat to maintain your daily caloric needs. You don't need to be concerned with total calories for the week just focus on daily intake levels and fluctuations.

There is no need to make this more complicated or difficult. The hard part is getting your right daily calorie level and fine tuning your macros to meet that daily caloric goal. Once that is done, having days where you meet or don't meet it is OK when done periodically - i.e one or two days per week. As long as the body sees a fairly consistent supply of the calories it needs it has no fear in burning body fat while conserving muscle on the days it doesn't get all the calories it needs from the food intake for the day. This won't hinder growth and if anything will ensure the additional muscle you are building is not accompanied with a lot of body fat as most traditional "bulking" schemes do.

John

@jmboiardi, @Mikerichard

A fellow intermittent faster! I too follow a leangains style of diet and training.

I'd recommend not stressing too much over the macros until you get calories and protein sorted out... getting the proper amount of calories and enough protein are the crucial pieces.

Try starting with 3100 calories / day, get your protein and have a mix of carbs/fats to get your calories for the day. You may need to adjust your calories once you actually start eating 3100 calories/day as jmboiardi mentioned depending on how quickly you gain or lose weight. It will probably take you 3-4 weeks of monitoring calorie intake and your weight changes to adjust the calories. Aim for a max of .5lb / week of weight gain.

Once your calories and protein are dialed in, you can experiment with extras like carb cycling and adjusting your macros.

this is great advice. thank you. i tend to over think things and my biggest fear is gaining fat from all of these carbs im about to start eating.. .. i will just focus on hitting my macros and watch my weight... if im ganiging too much weight/fat.. ill lower the carb intake.

BMR CALCULATION

Weight : 130 Pounds Height : 5 Feet 7.5 Inch Age : 16 Exercises : Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week Sex : Male BMR at Rest : 1630.70 BMR in Motion : 2527.59

MACRO CALCULATION

Goal : Fat Loss Bodyfat % : 17 Grams of Protein : 1 Grams of Fat : 0.35 Calorie Goal : 2278

Protien Intake Goal : 108 Fat Intake Goal : 38 Carbohydrate Intake Goal : 376

These are the calculations I got from BMR and MACRO calculator. I decided to go through cutting first and then through bulking. If my daily calorie requirement to maintain my current weight is the average of BMR at rest and BMR at motion, then it comes out to be 2079 (approx) then I have to eat 250 - 500 calories less than 2079 and you can see I choose my goal as fat loss. But the calorie goal that calculator is showing is 2278 and I wanna know why is that. If I need to create calorie deficit then I have to consume less calories that i burn don't I ?

Please help.....