Confused about Caloric Intake

Hey guys i’m 5"8, about 12% bodyfat and 168lb. I’m looking to bulk while minimizing fat gain. I’ve got my diet covered but one thing i am unsure of is, on off days do i drop down to maintenance or fat loss caloric intake?

My training days are 3,100cals. And offdays are 2,200 cals. Should the offday look like, 2600cals?

if you’re using 3100 to gain then I dont think 2600 would be bad to start with on off days. obviously you can adjust as you see fit but you can also keep carbs low on off days to mitigate fat gain

[quote]lzqosoz94 wrote:
Hey guys i’m 5"8, about 12% bodyfat and 168lb. I’m looking to bulk while minimizing fat gain. I’ve got my diet covered but one thing i am unsure of is, on off days do i drop down to maintenance or fat loss caloric intake?

My training days are 3,100cals. And offdays are 2,200 cals. Should the offday look like, 2600cals?

[/quote]

I think what you really want to do is look at your meal plan on a weekly basis and then split it up day by day so that way you can see if your in a constant caloric surplus. Another good starting point is to try and find your maintenance intake and then make edits to it if need be. Really its going to be guess and check the whole time but you’ll eventually find what works for you.

You should be eating the same or more on non-training days.

Is 2600 you maintainance amount? If you’re looking to put on size, albeit slowly to avoid unnecesary fat gain, that would put you at a 3500 cal surplus each week, essentially a pound a week gain. Of course dietary math isn’t always a cut and dried thing, and your body will be recovering and hopefully synthesizing new muscle tissue on your off days, certainly not the time to scale back the nutrients excessively.

S

More on none training days?
Could you expand on this or was that sarcasm?

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
You should be eating the same or more on non-training days. [/quote]

[quote]JLone wrote:
More on none training days?
Could you expand on this or was that sarcasm?

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
You should be eating the same or more on non-training days. [/quote]
[/quote]

Your body grows while at rest. It also does NOT grow linearly.

Maybe you could tell me what you think happens over the long term if you are constantly feeding your body less if it is ready to grow more?

If my body is ready for a growth spurt and is set to pack on 3lbs of muscle, yet I am feeding it less because I falsely believe I can predict exactly how many calories my body needs at all times, over time you will see less progress.

I mean, honestly…like some of us bulked up for no reason?

^^^I was not looking for an argument just fishing for his point of view on eating more on none training days.

I currently do a form of carb cycling where I eat only about 100 grams of carbs on none training days. On legs days I will eat 250 carbs, on chest and back days I will eat about 150.

I shoot for 250-300 grams of protein on all days and my fat intake is also constant throughout the week.

I guess my question was if their is a reason I should switch that around and eat more on none training days?

----EDIT----
Scientific reason. Like a study of recovery increasing when over feeding occurs on none-training days.

because if a study says so…

[quote]JLone wrote:
More on none training days?
Could you expand on this or was that sarcasm?

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
You should be eating the same or more on non-training days. [/quote]
[/quote]

Not sarcastic at all. In fact, this is the primary suspect for most kids I see who are having trouble gaining. They are afraid to eat as much when they aren’t training; however, that is when your body is rebuilding. You’re body doesn’t work on a 24 hour time shift that stops just because one day you’re not training.

to keep it in context, OP was asking about “minimizing fat gain”.

i think it’s a given at this point that with that in mind, NO maximum progress will not be made

In case you are interested, I saw this posted somewhere earlier today:

It’s a calculator that has a couple options, including recomping and lean massing. I took a look at it earlier and the numbers it generated seemed to be pretty accurate based on my own calculations.

Before anyone attacks me for posting this, I’m NOT suggesting a IF style diet. I just think the calculator could be a useful tool for determining lean mass gain numbers.

[quote]ethanwest wrote:
In case you are interested, I saw this posted somewhere earlier today:

It’s a calculator that has a couple options, including recomping and lean massing. I took a look at it earlier and the numbers it generated seemed to be pretty accurate based on my own calculations.

Before anyone attacks me for posting this, I’m NOT suggesting a IF style diet. I just think the calculator could be a useful tool for determining lean mass gain numbers.[/quote]
Good find, thanks for the link.