Calorie Deficit and Calorie Surplus

[geronimo]

Hi everyone,

I have never had abs before but I am close.

I am closer than ever and had a few cycles to help me.

I would like to clarify on some things to help me get there faster.

During workout days, I an maintaining a 500 surplus calorie intake.

On non workout days, I plan on going negative 500.

My questions are:

1. Will this work provided I am disciplined ?

2. Say on a non - workout day can I do cardio and basically just consume some carbs and go negative say 1000 calories or so ?

Right now my diet is clean and diverse at 40:30:30 protein:fats:carbs.

Let me know and thanks in advance.

 

[woodswise]

Interesting question bud. Has anyone else you know done this successfully?

I have always been in the camp of either you are cutting or bulking, there is no in between unless you are sitting still, which I am not willing to do.

But I have never tried it your way so I can't say whether or not it will work.

If you are serious about getting those abs (mine are just starting to show too) why don't you do a real cut to get to your goal, then bulk again afterward? I am at the halfway point on a kegotenic cut with 10% as my goal. Another 8 to 12 weeks ought to get me there . . .

 

[GiantSlayer]

Yes, it will work. Some will argue that it is not necessary to eat more on a workout day and less on a rest day. If you prefer this pattern because you are hungrier on a work out day then by all means use it.

 

[geronimo]

Thanks for the responses thus far.

I would like to add that on my work out days I am eating carbs and on my non work out days eating minimal ( 25 % of what I would normally eat )carbs. So somewhat carb cycling.

Unless I miss many days of working out then I go more fats until my workout routine recovers.

 

[GiantSlayer]

I'm a huge fan of carb manipulation. I use it and believe it works. A lot of new research wants to prove us wrong and maybe it doesn't work for the reasons I once believed. But, it does work for whatever reason...

I believe that you can build muscle and lose fat in the same day, even. This concept laughs in the face of science but one day they will come around.

 

[gunrunner]

I would like to add that on my work out days I am eating carbs and on my non work out days eating minimal ( 25 % of what I would normally eat )carbs. So somewhat carb cycling.

Unless I miss many days of working out then I go more fats until my workout routine recovers.

Yeah, I'm in contest prep and pretty much using this method. On non training days I will only consume about 200 calories less than what i take in during training days. Also training days I get in more carbs and a little lower in fat but the opposite on non-training days where I get in a fair amount less carbs and up the fat a little. BTW, on non-training days I usually do cardio so training only refers to weight training.

I'm also in a calorie defeciet and losing about 1 pound per week.

 

[geronimo]

Yeah, I'm in contest prep and pretty much using this method. On non training days I will only consume about 200 calories less than what i take in during training days. Also training days I get in more carbs and a little lower in fat but the opposite on non-training days where I get in a fair amount less carbs and up the fat a little. BTW, on non-training days I usually do cardio so training only refers to weight training.

I'm also in a calorie defeciet and losing about 1 pound per week.

Hi Gunrunner. Same Gunrunner from Meso Forum ?

On training days do you go calorie deficit or positive ?

And non training days you go calorie deficit I assume ?

Lastly what cardio do you do ?

I feel so close to understanding this. Respect to you for competing.

 

[shortz]

There is an interesting concept in dieting in which people count the calories that they had in an entire week instead of the day. Although I don't care for that method, it appears to work in many cases. So theoretically, if you were at a deficit by the end of the week, it should work.

My issue with this method is that if you screw up at the beginning of the week, you can really get yourself in a bind and trying to make up for it by the end of the week. If you screw up in a day you could potentially make up for it later that day, or even the next day. Just think of trying to make up for a 1500 cal difference in just one or two days versus making up for a 250 cal difference in one day.

Lastly, I think the every day scenario versus every week helps maintain discipline and consistency and therefore more likely to be successful.

On final note, one thing I do like doing is carb cycling. Being able to increase fats on non-training days while in a deficit, in my opinion, helps maintain muscle mass while dieting. The other plus to this, is preventing as much water weight, therefore giving the appearance of being more dry and adding to some motivation