calorie surplus on certain days?

Q: Hello! I’m going to be working more on my strength and muscle tone soon, so that means I’ll need a calorie surplus, right?

When you’re lifting, should you have a calorie surplus every single day or only on days when you lift?

A: When working to build strength and muscle it is not as critical to have a calorie surplus, as it is to eat an adequate amount (read; surplus) of high quality protein. The most widely recommended amount of protein you should eat each day is 1-gram per pound of lean bodyweight. As a general rule if you weigh 200-lbs you should be near 200-grams per day, as you don’t need to worry about how lean you are for a precise calculation. You should then begin by eating the same amount of carbohydrate as you do protein (low in sugars), keeping an eye on fat intake. Not ultra low fat, but don’t add a bunch of extra fat (oils and butter) to your foods just to add calories you may not need. A good rule of thumb is to eat a fist size portion of protein and carbs at each meal and the rest should work its way out. This approach works for 90% of the population because if you are training hard with weights, your body will begin to get bigger, stronger and leaner.

Once you get your protein and carb and fat intake figured out on this basic level, I like to approach the calorie issue by how energized, or well you feel your training is going. In other words, if after a few weeks you feel drained or slow going up a flight of stairs, you are likely able to add another meal, or bigger portions to boost your energy.

The key is to stick with a basic nutrition plan, of which the program above is much better than most people will ever follow, and let the training create the body you want. This plan is practical, and painless which means you won’t need to do some crazy diet to get leaner or bigger in the future. For more info visit my blog at; http://vandrich.com/

Regards,

Vince Andrich

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