# Calories on different days



## desertrock (Mar 15, 2016)

Do you guys keep a constant diet or have more calories on workout days for example? Right now the only difference for me is the lack of intra and post-workout nutrition on the days I don't train. Muscle is built at rest so it makes sense to have a lot of calories on non-workout days as well.


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## PillarofBalance (Mar 15, 2016)

Depends on your goals.  Intra or post is not entirely necessary for 99% of trained athletes. There is this huge stress on rushing post work out calories in and not for really great reason imo.

I tend to eat a similar quantity on any day of the week


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## DieYoungStrong (Mar 15, 2016)

PillarofBalance said:


> Depends on your goals.  Intra or post is not entirely necessary for 99% of trained athletes. There is this huge stress on rushing post work out calories in and not for really great reason imo.
> 
> I tend to eat a similar quantity on any day of the week



You've never been so wrong. Everybody knows that is you don't have a whey/dextrose shake within 30 min of lifting, your whole lifting session was pointless, and you may as well just throw yourself in front of a bus because that is what you are doing to your gainz


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## desertrock (Mar 15, 2016)

Haha yeah I know it's not worth stressing over, but I'm just curious as to if it makes any difference at all.


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## ToolSteel (Mar 15, 2016)

I just eat and if I'm getting too fat I eat less for a couple weeks.


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## Schredder (Mar 15, 2016)

You want consistancy.  Same cals and macro ratio every day.  Take what you need divide it into how ever many meal is going to allow you to get it all in and eat every 3 hours or so.

You dont actually need intra workout nutrition.  You can have an intra workout carb/amino drink but its not going to improve growth if overall daily macro intake is the same.  If you want to bump up cals you can use a intra workout drink to do so but to believe the 'shoving nutrient into the muscle' benefit from it is ridiculous.  Most people eat an hour or so before training....theres all the nutrients you need to be shoved into the muscle cells right there from that food. 

A post workout shake is also not needed.  Your post workout meal should be the next whole food meal you eat after the one you ate prior to your workout.  The ONLY time I see a post workout liquid protein/carb drink to be of any benefit would be if you trained fasted.....which you most certainly should NOT do.

Eat whole food.  Liquid nutrition has its place sometimes but whole food, and consistant intake of the right amount of it is what builds muscle.


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## jennerrator (Mar 15, 2016)

Schredder said:


> You want consistancy.  Same cals and macro ratio every day.  Take what you need divide it into how ever many meal is going to allow you to get it all in and eat every 3 hours or so.
> 
> You dont actually need intra workout nutrition.  You can have an intra workout carb/amino drink but its not going to improve growth if overall daily macro intake is the same.  If you want to bump up cals you can use a intra workout drink to do so but to believe the 'shoving nutrient into the muscle' benefit from it is ridiculous.  Most people eat an hour or so before training....theres all the nutrients you need to be shoved into the muscle cells right there from that food.
> 
> ...



Totally agree...as of the moment though I am following a specific program and am doing exactly what you said as far as breaking up my macros for # of meals...the only thing is "she" is having us allot for a tad bit more carbs in our "before" & "after" meals, very minimal fats in those two meals and keeping protein intake the same as all other meals. So far, I'm finding no issues and as for benefits...not really sure lol...I don't think it's that much more carbs than the other meals to really make a difference but I'm following the program.


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## Schredder (Mar 15, 2016)

Jenner said:


> Totally agree...as of the moment though I am following a specific program and am doing exactly what you said as far as breaking up my macros for # of meals...the only thing is "she" is having us allot for a tad bit more carbs in our "before" & "after" meals, very minimal fats in those two meals and keeping protein intake the same as all other meals. So far, I'm finding no issues and as for benefits...not really sure lol...I don't think it's that much more carbs than the other meals to really make a difference but I'm following the program.



Every coach has a different idea of what is optimal.  I have seen many coaches all with very different strategies and what I assume the believe is optimal.  Why would they design something they didnt think was optimal, right?  If the person who is designing your diet and/or coaching you has a certain set up for you then I would stick it out.  It is what you are paying for after all and there could be a theory behind what he/she is going.

I personally believe more in overall daily macro intake rather than macro timing.  You could have less fat and more carbs surrounding your workout and make up for the lost fat by having more later on during the day and lowering carbs to compensate for the bump ealier on.  But, again, at the end of the day the numbers are going to add up to the same.

Whatever is giving you results and makes you feel good and perform optimally is what you should he doing.  If its a bit more carbs here and a bit less fats there then so be it.

The key though like I mentioned to the OP and I cant stress enough is consistancy and not letting daily number fluctuate all over the place


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## jennerrator (Mar 15, 2016)

Schredder said:


> I personally believe more in overall daily macro intake rather than macro timing.  You could have less fat and more carbs surrounding your workout and make up for the lost fat by having more later on during the day and lowering carbs to compensate for the bump earlier on.  But, again, at the end of the day the numbers are going to add up to the same.
> 
> The key though like I mentioned to the OP and I cant stress enough is consistency and not letting daily number fluctuate all over the place



Yep, I'm with you all the way on this and it's what I try to follow 99 % of the time!


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## jennerrator (Mar 16, 2016)

something I remembered chick saying (probably not the first or last) "You can't out train a bad diet" ....uh, pretty much!


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## desertrock (Mar 16, 2016)

So, Schredder, it doesn't matter if I do cardio on one day - the calories shouldn't increase? Intra-workout drinks make me happy though.

Let me get this straight - you're suggesting after I figure out my daily macros, I just divide them by 6 and there's my macros for each meal?

I know these are kind of beginner questions, but so far my off-season diet has always just been "eat everything in sight", which has also provided a nice anabolic response in my gut diameter, so I wanna learn to do things the right way


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## Schredder (Mar 16, 2016)

desertrock said:


> So, Schredder, it doesn't matter if I do cardio on one day - the calories shouldn't increase? Intra-workout drinks make me happy though.
> 
> Let me get this straight - you're suggesting after I figure out my daily macros, I just divide them by 6 and there's my macros for each meal?
> 
> I know these are kind of beginner questions, but so far my off-season diet has always just been "eat everything in sight", which has also provided a nice anabolic response in my gut diameter, so I wanna learn to do things the right way



No, calories dont need to increase or decrease from one day to the next.  They can if you want them too though if you decide to have a cheat meal or something like that.  But you dont adjust them daily based on activity.  Activity level is factored into your TDEE so theres no need for daily adjustments.

Yes, once you know what and how much you need to be eating daily just divide the total by the number of meals you are going to eat and youll have you macros for each meal.  Macro timing, as I already stated, is unneccessary.


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## ToolSteel (Mar 16, 2016)

WITHIN REASON: The daily or per meal split isn't going to make or break a bulk or cut. Look at the big picture. 
If you burn 40,000 cal every 10 days but only consume 30,000 then there's 10,000 calories of fat being burned.


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## desertrock (Mar 16, 2016)

Makes so much sense it's practically too easy.


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## jennerrator (Mar 16, 2016)

desertrock said:


> Makes so much sense it's practically too easy.



and this is why some folks can't follow it....


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## FreeBirdSam (Mar 16, 2016)

I printed off a write up a long time ago from some forum I came across,  it talked about "zig-zagging" your caloric intake, anyone ever tried this? Is there any benefit from doing said method compared to my method of "eat at least 3 plate fulls of lasagna or spaghetti" 4-5 times a day lol


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## FreeBirdSam (Mar 16, 2016)

My "always on carb load" diet has been yielding 2-3 lbs a week for past two months..  and only moved up one notch on my leather belt..  keep in mind that before my divorce I weighed 200lbs, and dropped down to 145  so most of these first gains are coming quick and easy


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## Schredder (Mar 16, 2016)

FreeBirdSam said:


> I printed off a write up a long time ago from some forum I came across,  it talked about "zig-zagging" your caloric intake, anyone ever tried this? Is there any benefit from doing said method compared to my method of "eat at least 3 plate fulls of lasagna or spaghetti" 4-5 times a day lol



'Zig zagging' as in up or down?  Doing that with calories doesnt make any sence.  But if we are talking about a carb cycle diet and raising and lowering carbs then that makes sense.  But, If you want to bulk you need calories and you need carbs and lots of them. 



FreeBirdSam said:


> My "always on carb load" diet has been yielding 2-3 lbs a week for past two months..  and only moved up one notch on my leather belt..  keep in mind that before my divorce I weighed 200lbs, and dropped down to 145  so most of these first gains are coming quick and easy



I wouldnt call that a carb load diet.  If youre pounding back carbohyrates then you are bulking.  That is how its done   It is amazing how fast you can put on weight when it has been quickly dropped previously.


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## FreeBirdSam (Mar 17, 2016)

I'll have to find the pages I printed off, the guy had some different views on diets and gear usage compared to the norm. I printed it off for this reason because it stood out to me at the time, and he was a long standing member of that forum or a mod if I remember correctly.   I'm super busy with work but hopefully later tonight I can post his write up..  if I remember correctly he would increase cals by 500 daily for a set period of time, then drop back down to where he started or a little "above" that point to compensate for the new body weight needs.   I remember reading where he said a large percentage of pro's eat this way.   Lol meh... he could have been full of shit who knows ;-)


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## FreeBirdSam (Mar 17, 2016)

I totalled up my calories for yesterday, I broke thru 9k...   been eating the same meals daily like this for a solid 3 weeks.. starting to get some love handles but idgaf!


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## FreeBirdSam (Mar 29, 2016)

Schredder said:


> 'Zig zagging' as in up or down?  Doing that with calories doesnt make any sence.  But if we are talking about a carb cycle diet and raising and lowering carbs then that makes sense.  But, If you want to bulk you need calories and you need carbs and lots of them.
> 
> 
> 
> I wouldnt call that a carb load diet.  If youre pounding back carbohyrates then you are bulking.  That is how its done   It is amazing how fast you can put on weight when it has been quickly dropped previously.



Sorry for the delay, been focusing on my new job haven't had much time for Internet..

couldn't remember if posting links to other boards was allowed so I'm pm'ing you a link to the original write up I found..  the guy's literacy is subpar but I Google'd the topic a bit and many other sites touch on the same subject with a much more understandable context.   Let me know your thoughts on this I'm pretty intrigued by it, but know there's also a lot of BS on the Internet 


FreeBirdSam said:


> I'll have to find the pages I printed off, the guy had some different views on diets and gear usage compared to the norm. I printed it off for this reason because it stood out to me at the time, and he was a long standing member of that forum or a mod if I remember correctly.   I'm super busy with work but hopefully later tonight I can post his write up..  if I remember correctly he would increase cals by 500 daily for a set period of time, then drop back down to where he started or a little "above" that point to compensate for the new body weight needs.   I remember reading where he said a large percentage of pro's eat this way.   Lol meh... he could have been full of shit who knows ;-)


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## trodizzle (Mar 29, 2016)

desertrock said:


> Do you guys keep a constant diet or have more calories on workout days for example? Right now the only difference for me is the lack of intra and post-workout nutrition on the days I don't train. Muscle is built at rest so it makes sense to have a lot of calories on non-workout days as well.



I have a caloric goal for non-workout days and workout days. When I workout I burn about 300 or so calories for every 30 minutes done so not eating those back puts me at too big of a deficit, especially when I train 2 x in a day (600 cals burned).


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## Revelations (Apr 13, 2016)

I cycle my calories where I have slightly more on training days, but the difference is usually 100-200 calories so nothing drastic and its simply because I'm hungrier on training days. I like to total up my calories and macros for the week and work towards hitting that.


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