Universal Nutrition Forum

Hi.

Right now I am 200lb and roughly 6% bf. I was dieting down there for a while to get to where i am. And now i want to maintain this. No more bulking, no more cutting, no more strongman and for the moment no more bodybuilding competitions. Just hard focused training for a lean hard body and clear mind (very philosophical i know

)

But I am unsure how to calculate maintenance for a lean physique:

I train 6 mornings a week cardio, lift 5 evenings a week, one tough evening cardio session of 400m intervals and sunday off.

In theory my maintenance should be 200 x 15 = 3000 but i was eating this and still cutting up.
This week i have eaten 3600 and i am pretty sure i haven't gained but at times feel light headed as if i were dieting so i am thinking i may get away with more due to the volume of training i do.... also i obv want to eat as much as i can so i have the greatest possible potential to gain muscle and get stronger.

Anyone with any thoughts please share, thanks!

(Also i should say i want to avoid a cycled eating plan... been there and hated it... pain in the hole!!)

ck wrote:

Hi.

Right now I am 200lb and roughly 6% bf. I was dieting down there for a while to get to where i am. And now i want to maintain this. No more bulking, no more cutting, no more strongman and for the moment no more bodybuilding competitions. Just hard focused training for a lean hard body and clear mind (very philosophical i know )

But I am unsure how to calculate maintenance for a lean physique:

I train 6 mornings a week cardio, lift 5 evenings a week, one tough evening cardio session of 400m intervals and sunday off.

In theory my maintenance should be 200 x 15 = 3000 but i was eating this and still cutting up.
This week i have eaten 3600 and i am pretty sure i haven't gained but at times feel light headed as if i were dieting so i am thinking i may get away with more due to the volume of training i do.... also i obv want to eat as much as i can so i have the greatest possible potential to gain muscle and get stronger.

Anyone with any thoughts please share, thanks!

(Also i should say i want to avoid a cycled eating plan... been there and hated it... pain in the hole!!)

Eh i have 300 gr carbs 50 gr fat (pretty much no direct fat, ill actaully count the fat from oats and then red meat of course) and 220-240 gr pro

Increased my bench by 20kg, deadlift by 20 and even more because i got 160 for 5 without straps the other day, and increased squats by 25kg since finishing cutting and starting 5 3 1.

At 6% just like you. I dont know how to count out calories for you but i find sticking to your favourite dieting carb source helps and throwing out high gi drinks pwo. I would only have dextrose if i had a glucometer. I dont so i stick with oats all the time and pitta bread very sparingly.

So train as if you are dieting but with more carbs...I dont see low carb high fat as sustainable or enjoyable when maintaining.

Sound for the reply!

I agree that to eat low carb on a maintenance phase sucks. But having said that i am fairly carb sensitive and i defo have a lot of days at the mo that despite being lean i am watery and smooth..... but then again it doesn't really matter, i am not peaking for a show or anythin at the mo.

Im pretty happy with the food iv eatin this week, tasted good, didn't feel like i was following a diet and almost maintained, i weighed in this morning and i lost 1lb but i'm happy enough at that for now as my waist and hip both tightened in a bit too!
(Also the 3600kcal is an underestimation as it only takes into account the primary nutrient source in any given food, so prob more like 3800. Also my breakdown is 375pro 345carb 80fat)

I think i'm just gonna have to accept there is no exact formula or science to this, it is to a large degree trial and error and knowing ur body when dealing with extremes of fitness and fairly low digits of bodyfat

ck wrote:

I think i'm just gonna have to accept there is no exact formula or science to this, it is to a large degree trial and error and knowing ur body when dealing with extremes of fitness and fairly low digits of bodyfat

Of course there is a science to it. You would know exactly how much carbs to have if you used GDA's and a glucometer with carb meals.

FUCK THAT SHIT, however.

but yeah low fat moderate carb seems the way to go.

Doing something similar to this at the moment myself. Just finished a 6 week cut there last week, very happy with the results of it considering I didn't have to destroy myself diet or cardio wise as I started lean-ish

I'm eating 2400 cals at the moment, macros vary day to day but cals remain constant (thanks 2 the help of that epic iPhone app I made a thread bout

) My strength was increasing throughout the cut and now it's shooting with the increasing calories

I'm doing a carb backloading diet and just eating clean calories with good quality protein, not putting much thought into it other than hitting my calorie goal each day, and I'm gonna increase calories by 300 every few weeks until I'm gaining slow and steady, with no noticeable increase in bodyfat

Training changes every week, low volume, high volume, low rep, high rep just depends what I did previously and how I feel . . And I do 20 mins cardio after each session, the odd hiit session on an off day . . . . And I'm fucking LOVING IT!!

All the endless phases of bulking and cutting I'm done with now they got me nowhere I'm pretty much starting from scratch haha, I'm just gonna try to constantly improve in every aspect of training, stay below 8% bodyfat and do mini cuts here and there if needs be, never more than 2 weeks will be needed. And this is the first time that I'm 100% sure I'll be able to do it properly

cill wrote:

Doing something similar to this at the moment myself. Just finished a 6 week cut there last week, very happy with the results of it considering I didn't have to destroy myself diet or cardio wise as I started lean-ish

I'm eating 2400 cals at the moment, macros vary day to day but cals remain constant (thanks 2 the help of that epic iPhone app I made a thread bout ) My strength was increasing throughout the cut and now it's shooting with the increasing calories

I'm doing a carb backloading diet and just eating clean calories with good quality protein, not putting much thought into it other than hitting my calorie goal each day, and I'm gonna increase calories by 300 every few weeks until I'm gaining slow and steady, with no noticeable increase in bodyfat

Training changes every week, low volume, high volume, low rep, high rep just depends what I did previously and how I feel . . And I do 20 mins cardio after each session, the odd hiit session on an off day . . . . And I'm fucking LOVING IT!!

All the endless phases of bulking and cutting I'm done with now they got me nowhere I'm pretty much starting from scratch haha, I'm just gonna try to constantly improve in every aspect of training, stay below 8% bodyfat and do mini cuts here and there if needs be, never more than 2 weeks will be needed. And this is the first time that I'm 100% sure I'll be able to do it properly

Carb Back Loading involves unclean calories for one meal each night!

It's fantastic. Im definitely leaner since my food holiday in London and Ive had a cheat meal every night since.

LAst night was Apple Crumble, biscuits, special K, and choco pharma whey with a litre of milk.

The night before was eddie Rockets..Strawberry Milkshake, chicken tenders, cheese fries.