Thread: Calories while using gear?

My range is from 6,000 to 8,000 cals a day. I dine on red meat, chicken and a whole lot of fish. I eat more fish than anything. never fried though, steamed or baked.

Originally Posted by weldingman

My range is from 6,000 to 8,000 cals a day. I dine on red meat, chicken and a whole lot of fish. I eat more fish than anything. never fried though, steamed or baked.

Fuck! That's allot Weld... how do you find the time to... well.. do anything else but eat?!? LOL
Obviously, since we all have different needs and you probably weigh twice what I do.
I'm looking for the starting point though. Like the examples about.. How much more over your maintainence is that? Or.. how many calories per pound does that come out to.
Also, is that a general bulking or a clean bulk. I'm thinking that couldn't possibly be a clean bulk otherwise you would be broke!

5000 call minimum if you do good bulk...

Originally Posted by WFC2010

5000 call minimum if you do good bulk...

There's no way that can be right. That's double my maintainence. I don't want to gain as much fat as I do muscle. Gears not gonna keep me from getting fat. I know I can't avoid some fat gain but it doesn't have to be 50% fat gain! There's got to be a starting point value that will work for anyone regardless of height and weight. 5000 calories isn't going to work in favor of a guy who's under 200lbs.

How old are you FMJ? How tall are you, how much do you weigh and what is your current maintenance? How long have you been training and how much muscle do you think you have gained in this time - and have you done it on gear yet, or is this question with regard to your first AAS bulking cycle?

Originally Posted by Built

How old are you FMJ? How tall are you, how much do you weigh and what is your current maintenance? How long have you been training and how much muscle do you think you have gained in this time - and have you done it on gear yet, or is this question with regard to your first AAS bulking cycle?

Hiya Built!

I'm 42, 5'8, 175lbs. About 12% bf. Maintainence is roughly 2600. Been training for 20 years on and off. Probably gained 35 pounds in that time. Did it naturally. Currently on HRT but doing a blast cycle for 10 weeks, 2 weeks in. Currently eating 3400 calories. Just wanna be sure I'm eating enough. Some things I've read imply i'm not.

Excellent.

Okay, you've pretty much maxed out your genetic potential at this point so you're not a skinny eighteen year old who has the potential to pack on 20 lbs of mass in four months. That was what I wanted to know.

I'd aim to gain no more than six pounds a month. If you're lucky, half this will be muscle.

Initially, your blast will net you some water weight, but once that part settles down, if you aren't gaining about a pound and a half a week, increase your calories. You won't need as much fat on gear as off, since you are injecting your endocrine system lol - and partitioning will be improved, so I'd run a leaner, more carb-heavy diet while on.

You may wish to consider tossing in some T3 while bulking. Helps with partitioning.

A pound and a half a week would be about 750 calories above my maintainence which is right around where I am now. So that works out almost perfectly. Carb heavy, protein around 1.5 per pound. Still works out to about 45c-35p-20f. Sound about right?

Please get away from percentages, they really don't mean anything. The grams and the calories sound right.

Originally Posted by Built

Please get away from percentages, they really don't mean anything. The grams and the calories sound right.

Oh right.. I forgot... you're percentaphobic.

Thanks for your input Built. As always, a great help.

It's not a phobia - I have a degree in Mathematics, actually. The problem is that percentages are only meaningful at maintenance.

Put it this way: suppose you find your maintenance, and your comfort in fact puts you at a 30-30-40 mix. Now you diet. What happens to your protein as you reduce calories? You reduce protein, right? Considering you are under increased oxidizative stress and thus NEED more protein while dieting (to remain nitrogen positive), this is not a prudent strategy. Also, protein is satiating - thus while dieting, you would want to at least keep protein where it was before. And considering there are no essential carbohydrates, but there ARE essential fatty acids and amino acids, reducing all three macronutrients proportionally when two of them may not need to be reduced at all is a little too "broad brush" of an approach.

Targeting your essentials to your lean mass is also an easier calculation. Some medications are dosed this way. Seems reasonable to do the same for macronutrients, no?

Originally Posted by Built

Targeting your essentials to your lean mass is also an easier calculation. Some medications are dosed this way. Seems reasonable to do the same for macronutrients, no?

Yes. Very reasonable but you know I was, of course, only joking, right?

I wasn't sure. People love their paradigms.

Cheers.