Today’s article, like many others, was inspired from many email conversations I’ve had and many forum discussions I’ve stumbled upon. The question I pose today usually originates from the overly obsessed individual or the more oftentimes, former fat boy.
The question is quite simple. How many calories must one eat over maintenance each day to gain as much muscle possible with the least amount of fat accumulation? Here is what the email/forum post usually consists of.
Seeker of Truth: hey all, I’ve been reading here for a long time and my goal is to get super jacked, add 100lbs to my bench, and 200lbs to my squat. I just got done dieting down and would like to gain as much LEAN mass as possible. I am not interested in any fat gain, so please help me. Kthnxbai!
You might think I’m exaggerating but I’m not at all.
Later on you might see something like this:
Seeker of Truth: Hey all, it’s me again. Here’s my plan. I’m going to eat over maintenance only on training days. My diet will mainly consist of protein because I heard it’s ultra anabolic and I’m thinking of bumping it up to 2g per pound of body weight. Since I don’t want to gain any fat, I’m only eating 200 kcals over maintenance and plan to do this for the entire year. This should yield nothing but lean mass gains, right?
On off days I plan to eat maintenance or slightly sub-maintenance calories to prevent any fat gain whatsoever.
Reality Sucks
While this may seem somewhat embellished, it’s not; there’s a plethora of forums out there with the same stories over and over and over. I don’t know what it is but people get into this mindset; this fearfulness, if you will, that gaining some body fat in the name of lean muscle gains is a horrid thing.
It’s really not that bad in the grand scheme. You see, all the guys and gals that have the body/physique you long for went through the same train of thought at one point. However, they eventually realized in order to reach their goals, they’d have to accept some fat gain to see appreciable mass gains over the long haul.
However, despite the fact that contest bodybuilders and strength athletes accept modest fat gain in the offseason, most people in search of an awesome body composition still refuse to accept this reality.
Reality sucks, huh?
The Myth of the Perfect Surplus
Many get infatuated with this ideal. They get so preoccupied by some pipedream of going from zero to hero in a matter of months instead of years and I understand the reason why. Our media is constantly pumping our minds full of false dogma. We see the airbrushed models and forget to realize they were once scrawny and new to this fitness game.
In lieu of that, I might as well break it to you; there is no perfect surplus. There is no certain amount of kcals you need each day to add nothing but pure, lean muscle tissue without adding body fat. In fact, the idea of eating only 200-300 kcals over your maintenance intake every so often is very impractical. Here’s why.
Your daily expenditure can vary quite a bit depending on your activity. If your day consists of training in the morning, and sitting at your desk all day long but you decide to go to the mall and shop for a few hours, you could burn an extra 200-300 kcals easily. There goes your surplus. There goes the gains you’re after
Take the spastic teenager for instance. He’s obsessed with getting bigger and knows he needs to eat around 4000 kcals per day to grow. After a boatload of food, he’s good to hit his mark for the day and later decides to go play some football with his friends. In the back of his mind, he wants to eat more to compensate but is afraid of fat gains that might come along with it. So, instead of eating the extra kcals to make up for the activity and keep him in a surplus, he decides to skip the extra sammich and hope for the best.
3 months go by and guess what; nothing has changed. He’s still the same weight and strength levels are similar. In the back of his mind, he was searching for that perfect surplus to avoid fat gain but it didn’t work out. He’s still a skinny bastard after all.
The Almost Perfect Surplus
Alright, I won’t leave you completely hanging without some type of climax/resolution. While there isn’t such a reality as the perfect surplus, there’s a way to maximize gains without adding a bunch of excess fat in the process.
The only problem is you have to be sharp and disciplined; otherwise wheel-spinning is sure to occur.
Something that’s worked incredibly well for me and for others I’ve worked/chatted with is to put more calories on your training days and slightly less on your off days. However, you have to be willing to eat on the days you work out. This means you must ensure your surplus is in the range of 500-600 on training days – no less. My reasoning for this is due to how easy it is to come out of a surplus if we’re not careful. Some extra, unplanned activity is sure to sabotage us at any given moment.
On your off days, a good rule is to stick with maintenance calories. I wouldn’t suggest going lower than this for now. There is a method that many have used to recomp their way to a leaner/bigger body but it deserves an article all to itself. I should also note that it’s very slow and the person attempting such an effort will require a great deal of patience and temperance.
Therefore, just to give some numbers for reference, if your maintenance intake is around 3000 kcals per day, consume 3500-3600 kcals on training days and about 3000ish on off days. Always ensure your protein is up to par as stated in the Protein Book, which is around 1-1.5g/lb of body weight.
Oh yea, if you’re one of my lovely female readers gazing over this in confusion or just really pissed off that I didn’t address your perfect surplus needs, do not be angry with me, just read my Muscle Building Guide for Women!
JC, first time reaching your site. Good job. I am trying to
figure out a decent diet for bulking during the summer whenever this cut stops. I don’t want the weight gains to come to fast as I’m competing in PLing in the fall so I need to stay within 5 or 10 lbs of my class. I was considering UD2 Mass and modifying it for PL. Having said that, the small weekly caloric surplus you are recommending sounds interesting. 2 questions:
1. Have you done the above recommendations on intermediate to advanced athletes with success.
2. How much weekly bw should I expect to gain? A little less than a pound?
Thanks.
1. I’ve done it personally and consider myself an intermediate and I’ve done similar protocols under the supervision of coaches who were advanced trainees.
My best gains have been when I gained at a slow pace, focusing on strength gains first and body weight gains second.
2. Yes, definitely less than a pound.
with all the emails etc I am just going to write my article about this. It will likely be up next week or so.
“On your off days, a good rule is to stick with maintenance calories. I wouldn’t suggest going lower than this for now. There is a method that many have used to recomp their way to a leaner/bigger body but it deserves an article all to itself. ”
Has this article been written yet? If so, I’d love to read it. If not, please link me to where I can read more about this. I believe it’s probably EOD Refeed type stuff where you still eat the 500-600 surplus on training days (around training), but then create a deficit on the off days, so at the end of the week you’re still in a net 1200 surplus or so, but you’ve effectively dieted off the .5lb fat or whatever you gained in the week, so you can maintain your current bf %age but still gain at a near maximal rate.
article has not been written yet but I am getting a bit of work done this weekend so I’ll get started on it then.
I don’t think many people will fare well with the “overeating for mass” concept… at least if they’re older than 20.
My theory is that the whole concept of bulking rests on two flawed assumptions:
1) “Pro athletes do it, so it must work!”
A likely reason why many competitive athletes are heavier in their off-seasons is that they are just sloppier with their diet while exercising less. I think the average athlete is far less obsessive than the average gym rat when it comes to nutrition: the former just wants to win the contest (and party with his buddies afterward), while the latter wants to look like a photoshopped MH cover model. Therefore, an “offseason bulk” might more accurately be called a binge – due to their unique endowments and support systems, pro athletes are able to get away with it, but what about Joe Blow?
2) “When I was a teen and started lifting I drank a gallon of milk a day and gained 30 lbs of muscle in a month, so bulking works.”
Eating seems to be very low on the priority list for teenagers. Add to that rapid growth spurts, a high metabolism and lots of physical activity, and it becomes clear that the above person would have gained most of the weight anyways over the next couple of months, regardless of training or nutrition.
I don’t think it’s necessary to overeat on purpose to reach one’s natural size potential… or, to state it in a more differentiated way, of course you will gain both fat and muscle, but once you get rid of the fat the muscle vanishes, too, and you end up with about the same gains you would have made in the same time eating according to your appetite (again, teenage trainees may be able to use bulking as a catalyst to realize future gains sooner).
Useful post JC but I really do not like calory counting. I think it restricts people and takes the fun out of food!
As you know, I champion ‘Rule Free’ Fitness and want people to liberate their fitness habbits! I like to use fasting as oppose to counting my calories. I view things more on a weekly basis than daily. For my lifestyle, it’s easier to be a bit looser with my diet on the weekend and then stricer in the week when I am at work with less temptations around me.
I thnk everyone has to find their most effective tools depending on what their fitness goal is but whether you want to bulk or shred, I’d stay away from the calorie counting (on a long term basis) – what kind of life is that!?
Hey JC I just stumbled on your blog from who knows where, but I love it. I’m no longer a calorie counter. I used to be, but it’s just too stressful. Plus, after years of training and learning about health and nutrition, I know my body and I know what I need and what I don’t. I don’t need to bring my calculator to lunch anymore. On days when I don’t train, I make a conscious decision to eat a little less at each meal. This is how my body works and responds. Conversely, on mornings when I train extra hard or run an extra few miles, I know I should intake just a little bit more at every meal – no need to gorge.
It’s all about discipline, consistency, and knowing your body.
Great article, but just what do you mean by slow gains with the almost-perfect approach? Martin Berkhan has successfully put on lean muscle on many of his clients. While it is slow, appreciable strength gains are made in the process. The slowest gains I’ve seen are from already-buff dudes, coming really near to their genetic potential.
And furthermore, who, according to your years of training experience, needs as much as 4000 calories to build muscle? Are you talking about really active skinny kids, or any skinny kid regardless of overall activity level? While I certainly have an appetite, I’m steadily gaining on just 3000 calories on training days.
sure he has. I’ve worked with him a few times and know how the process works. Not everyone has the patience or discipline to do that, though. His methods are surely awesome and I’ve learned a lot from his coaching.
I was simply referring to the really active folks. It’s the spastic guys who are always on the go and whose bodies are like an oven. I met a guy once who worked at UPS. Constantly on the run, handling packages and going door-to-door. 4000-4500 kcals is what he had to eat to make any appreciable strength/body weight gains. Dude drank a lot of Gatorade and whole milk.
Some teenagers are like this too.
What kind of slice is that in the pic?? Looks delicious!
no clue, man. I just searched for ice cream in the creative commons section on Flickr
god it looks yum
Hi JC
I wrote to you late last year. I was asking you about gaining lean mass. Which happens to be what you are writing about today.
I agree that you definately have to gain a little fat to gain some lean mass. That has happened to me…I was at aroung 8% body fat but I am now at around 10-11 % body fat , but I can certainly see a difference in the way I look now. I will be doing this for about another 6 weeks and then I will be going on a calorie defecit so as to get back to my 7-8% body fat..As far as food goes, I pretty much eat what ever I want from Friday to Sunday night.(clean or dirty food) and I keep it clean Monday to Thursaday…I’ve had enough of all these people that say you should eat one way and not another..I believe that as long as you dont exagerarte either way then just eat what you want, but only when you get hungry..
absolutely. Glad to hear things are going well in your pursuits. I am tired of people telling me I’m going to get fat when they see me eating McDonald’s. I just laugh and say “keep enjoying your chicken and broccoli, bro.”
No, eating the odd Quarter Pounder is not going to kill you or banish you to the Big & Tall shops.
But eating shit is just that- eating shit. If you have the financial means and the knowledge to do better, why wouldn’t you?
I can’t in good conscience feed myself or my family garbage when I’m privileged to live in a country where I can so easily do better. Buy some extra lean ground beef or ground bison and make a batch of 8 oz burgers yourself. Or go to a proper restaurant and get a freshly made burger.
There’s more to living a healthy lifestyle than whether or not you have abs or are hitting your physique goals. If you have the gift of a healthy body, respect what you put into it.
heh, I didn’t mean to rile you up. For the record, I do not eat like that all the time. My diet is heavily based around whole foods and lean meat. Make no mistake about that.
However, my point was that many people get so caught up in eating “clean” all the time. In reality, they need to chill out a bit, enjoy some fast food now and then and realize, in the long run, it’s not going to kill you. Now if you make a steady diet of the stuff, yes, you may have problems later on.
carry on, people.
But McDonald’s cheeseburgers and Chicken Nuggets are so good!
Yup, I’ve definitely gone through the stuff you mentioned. They are just misconceptions one has when starting lifting weights. It’s important to have realistic goals in order not to be disappointed.
An easy way to add those calories in on training days is by just adding in a workout shake. You can really pack in the calories if you make it a protein shake with some chocolate milk. Or a “sammich”
I guess your next article could be called the “The Perfect Caloric Deficit”. Since many people assume that a 500 calorie cut works for just about anyone. But this is not true if one doesn’t consume many calories for maintenance ( or if one consumes too much) to begin with. But that’s another topic altogether.
thanks for my next article topic. How much do I owe you? You accept a personal check? lol
Beer is fine, thank you, I can use the extra calories to get in on the surplus days =P.
Really good stuff. It all has been a give & take & a work in progress for me. When I was younger, things were different. I always do what I call “listen to my bod” through all the many years. I think even more important for women with the hormones.
But like you said, I do tend to eat a bit more on workout days & less on no workout days. I have to really be careful & watch my bod as I age though. It definitely works different now!
I also find certain foods work better for me… I am doing a post Wednesday on this & may have some “discussion” on whether people agree or not!
I’ll be on the look out for this post. If I disagree, I’m bringing the hate! I kid, I kid.
Good article considering the ‘state’ of the author. Hah.
I try to find the mid-way point between ‘spinning my wheels’ and going full-on ‘bear-mode’. Its been going pretty well.
In the future i’d like to have the discipline to stay lean all year, while adding .5-1lb a month. I have a problem with vanity striking while trying to add mass…
that ‘state’ was a funny state to be in. Glad you received my text message well, my good friend.
Great article as usual. It happens way too often that people fail to reach their goals because they are afraid of a little bit of fat gain as you’ve described. On the other side, it’s also common to see people turn into fat slobs using “bulking” as an excuse. I think it’s important to find a happy medium between the two, and doing what you’ve described is IMO the best way to go about it as well.
You’ve also touched on clean vs. dirty eating plenty of times before, but I think it’s very important here as well. All too often people try to eat “clean” to prevent fat gain while bulking and fail tor each their goals. Not only that, but it takes all the fun out of bulking.
Go eat a a couple cheeseburgers while still keeping the surplus moderate and enjoy your gains.
all good points. This is why I have my fair share of “dirty” food on my training days. It also makes eating somewhat enjoyable rather than a chore.
cool article….
to maintain an exact 500 cal over your maintenance for a year, would require so much dedication and persistence.. I would go mad from that. I just can’t eat the same foods every day or dedicate that much time to thinking about it.
Professional bodybuilders have on season and off season for a reason.. the only few people who don’t have an offseason are the people who have already achieved their maximum muscle potential like the winners of the olympia…
absolutely. overeating all the time would indeed suck.
Hi JC,
I’m going to start a bulk soon, aiming for a weight gain of 1kg/2 weeks.
So, I’ll be eating about 500cals above maintenance, about 3500cals for me. I usually just eat the same stuff every day. Eg, Meal 2 becomes pre-workout and lunch becomes post-workout on training days. Is there any benefit to eating more on training days and less on rest days? What about if you did cardio on rest days (I’m not, but just wondering about when non-linear dieting is appropriate).
Thanks
it’s all out of personal preference, really. If you want faster gains, a steady surplus might serve you well. It’s just a matter of what your genetics decide to add in terms of lbm or fat. It also depends on how advanced you are, etc.
Cardio is fine as long as it’s not in excess. perhaps 2-3 mild sessions of 20-30 minutes of walking would be okay. If you’re an athlete (read: in better condition) you could get away with more.