# Do I really need 4200kcal/day?



## Stork (Jun 21, 2008)

So I worked through the 'formulating your diet for beginners' thread...

and I came out with this:

bodyweight: 85kg (185lbs)

bodyfat: 15% (estimate)

therefore, lean body mass: 72kg (160lbs)

therefore, RMR: 2100kcal

activity factor: 1.5

so new RMR: 3150kcal

As for activities...

a) 1 hour of weight training: 510kcal, but since that's only every other day I'm gonna divide it by two (is this right??) giving me 250kcal,

B) Walking my dogs twice a day (I do this with a weight in my backpack to work on endurance, calves, traps so it's pretty intense) for 1.5 hours, 765kcal.

Bringing my total up to a pretty hefty *4200-ish calories*!

I tried bulking on 4000 before but my diet wasn't so clean (was eating pretty high fat, maybe that was bad??) and I got a little fat. I also wasn't doing the intense walking that I am now...

Any/all input on this would be appreciated!


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## Darylbethyname (Dec 2, 2008)

lol sometimes i have to wonder....

i train hard, i eat, i sleep. i grow.

i think people make it way to complicated. satisfy your hunger with the good foods you normally eat, rest till your hearts content etc.

i dunno how you could eat 4k a day? without resulting to crap like chocolate. is it a manageable amount of food?


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## Stork (Jun 21, 2008)

Darylbethyname said:


> lol sometimes i have to wonder....
> 
> i train hard, i eat, i sleep. i grow.
> 
> ...


I did it once with good food but fairly high fat, my ratios were like 40% cals from fat, %30 from protein and 40% from carbs. It was the only way I could make it worth. Still had killer heartburn most of the time, like 4 days a week 

Typical evening dining was (two meals)

5 chicken thighs (skin on, fat not drained) with couscous and spinach, a lot of fat in that there meal.


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## Growing Lad (Feb 14, 2009)

jeez i told u this already,

u didnt gain fat cos u ate junk calories, u gained fat cos u ate to many calories period. "clean" food is not magic.

so no u dont need 4200 as 4000 was to0 much.

start with 3000. add 10% evry couple weeks if no weight gain


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

it is true that if you eat to many calories than you burn you will gain bad weight but the amount and speed this bad weight comes on is down to if you eat good or junk foods if it wasn't then we could all eat jaffa cakes and pizza when dieting and still lose weight...

the problem with these figures is just that they are figures based on your estimates, the best thing you can do is follow Growing lads advice start with 3000cals then go from there...many do not need as many calories as they think i only eat between 3000 - 3500cals a day i grow and i weigh 230lbs at approx 10% BF...


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## Stork (Jun 21, 2008)

I just wrote up a diet for 3500 lol so I'll try that. Thanks for the input guys!


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## Sean Byrne (Feb 2, 2009)

I read a post saying to eat 7000 calories a day and 3500 wouldnt work.


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## Stork (Jun 21, 2008)

Sean Byrne said:


> I read a post saying to eat 7000 calories a day and 3500 wouldnt work.


Cool story bro.


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## stone14 (Mar 24, 2005)

Sean Byrne said:


> I read a post saying to eat 7000 calories a day and 3500 wouldnt work.


no one can tell you how many carbs, prot,fat calories you need to eat, its down to find out since everyone is diffrent. you can be gven rough guides and estimates as a starting point but thats it, from there your on your own.

simply put if you want to be big then eat big, big everything. if you want to cut then eat clean. finding the correct cals if dwn to you.


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2009)

Purely depends on how your body reacts, how quickly fat is put on, how quickly fat comes off for you, does your body become unhealthy ie high bp.....are all questions that must be addressed.

Imo heavy eating is great to build the base that you need if you want to look like a bodybuilder in the shortest period of time but things such as cardio and lower carb days should not be neglected.


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## invisiblekid (Jun 18, 2006)

Con said:


> Purely depends on how your body reacts, how quickly fat is put on, how quickly fat comes off for you, does your body become unhealthy ie high bp.....are all questions that must be addressed.
> 
> Imo heavy eating is great to build the base that you need if you want to look like a bodybuilder in the shortest period of time but things such as cardio and lower carb days should not be neglected.


How often do you factor in lower carb days and what percentage do you drop your carbs by mate?


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2009)

invisiblekid said:


> How often do you factor in lower carb days and what percentage do you drop your carbs by mate?


 Completely individual but on non training days in the off season i will constistantly lower carbs and up good fats and then do the reverse on training days. By rotating carbs your insulin sensitivity will stay good.


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