Weekly Calorie Loading on a Bulking Diet

Good afternoon,

First of all thank you for the great source of information T-Nation is.

I am 22 years old and 1m82 for 182 pounds, 13% bf. 2250 cals at maintenance. I target 2700 cal to bulk without putting too much fat on.

I’d like your point of view on a weekly calorie loading day. I saw Poloquin stated that upping your calories by 50% could lead to a better body composition.

I know about leptin stimulation on a calorie restricted phase, which stimulate a thyroidal response and increase one’s metabolism.
My question would be: Would such a practice (eg: upping calories to 3600 in my case once every week in bulking) be relevant on a bulking phase?

Thank you again,

I think most people here will probably tell you to eat 3500 EVERYDAY during bulking, except for maybe off days. Why restrict the calories?

[quote]bsims80 wrote:
I think most people here will probably tell you to eat 3500 EVERYDAY during bulking, except for maybe off days. Why restrict the calories?[/quote]

YES

Thanks for the answers.

Up to now I followed Thib’s advices in the article “Carb Cycling”:

  1. determination of the BMR (which I adjusted according to my personal experience)
  2. Upping calories by 300/day to bulk

Do you all not take care of you calorie intake in bulking?

My current diet plan (non-workout):

06:30 30g whey on awaking + 1 fish cap

07:30: 3 whole eggs + 100g oatmeal + 2 kiwis + 1 fish cap + 5g creatine

11h: 50 almonds or hazelnuts

13h: 100g grains bread + 100g salmon or beef or chicken + veggies + 1 fish cap

16h45: 50g almonds or hazelnuts + 20%whey/80%casein shake

21h: 150g beef or salmon or tuna or chicken + veggies + 2 tsp olive oil + 1 fish cap

22h: 3 caps ZMA

That doesnt sound like much protein for cutting, let alone bulking. You need way more protein. That’ll bump your calories up, too.

[quote]Balboa-Man wrote:
Good afternoon,

First of all thank you for the great source of information T-Nation is.

I am 22 years old and 1m82 for 182 pounds, 13% bf. 2250 cals at maintenance. I target 2700 cal to bulk without putting too much fat on.

I’d like your point of view on a weekly calorie loading day. I saw Poloquin stated that upping your calories by 50% could lead to a better body composition.

I know about leptin stimulation on a calorie restricted phase, which stimulate a thyroidal response and increase one’s metabolism.
My question would be: Would such a practice (eg: upping calories to 3600 in my case once every week in bulking) be relevant on a bulking phase?

Thank you again,[/quote]

How did you get those numbers?

I plugged in your stats into a calorie calculator I have set up in Excel and got 3300 calories (p/c/f, in grams: 300/150/160) for OFF days and 4000 (p/c/f: 300/275/185) for lifting days, both numbers are about 20% over maintenance.

Shouldnt your maintenance be higher than 2250 at 180? Im 130 and im eating 2400 right now but i am pretty active