How do you get enough calories?
Discussion
LimaDelta said:
Inspired by the protein thread, I often burn 4500+kcal per day (my average for August so far is 4222) and find it hard to eat that much, never mind maintain a surplus. How do you get enough quality calories in, without resorting to calorie dense junk?
It’s not answering your question but what are you doing (on ave) to warrant that surplus - 1750 day ? For me, as an example, that would be 17/18 hrs of cycling a week, so I’d be eating on the bike, plus regular eating during the day. When I did that volume I struggled.thepritch said:
LimaDelta said:
Inspired by the protein thread, I often burn 4500+kcal per day (my average for August so far is 4222) and find it hard to eat that much, never mind maintain a surplus. How do you get enough quality calories in, without resorting to calorie dense junk?
It’s not answering your question but what are you doing (on ave) to warrant that surplus - 1750 day ? For me, as an example, that would be 17/18 hrs of cycling a week, so I’d be eating on the bike, plus regular eating during the day. When I did that volume I struggled.It's also not so much the 'what to eat', but finding the time to eat!
Been digging into the opposite angle recently so few possible suggestions: large portions of nuts as snacks, full bowls of cereal for breakfast (especially granola as a “proper” portion is tiny), 1 tbsp of olive oil is 120 calories.
ChatGPT can be quite useful for meal suggestions, ask it to create a 4000cal meal plan. Can tell it what macros you want and similar to tweak the results.
ChatGPT can be quite useful for meal suggestions, ask it to create a 4000cal meal plan. Can tell it what macros you want and similar to tweak the results.
LimaDelta said:
It's also not so much the 'what to eat', but finding the time to eat!
I hear you! When I was alot more active with training, there was a period I lost my love for food and felt I just became a food processing machine. I was a skinny as a rake (6ft and 61kg), and on the rare occasions we ate out, I’d order dinner and a second main course of pasta something alongside it …. Much to the bewilderment of the waiter! I am 50 years old and I wish I had this problem. When I was in my 20s I was rake thin and could literally eat anything. At the time a guy I worked with bought in a box of 48 milky bars and between us we ate the whole lot in two days.
I used to get annoyed that I was so skinny and could not understand why there were so many over weight people. In my mind if I was this thin eating as much junk as I wanted then they must be eating twice as much as me.
At 40 years old I was 70KG, today I am 84KG. Now if I even think of eating and drinking over a weekend I put on another Kilo.
I used to get annoyed that I was so skinny and could not understand why there were so many over weight people. In my mind if I was this thin eating as much junk as I wanted then they must be eating twice as much as me.
At 40 years old I was 70KG, today I am 84KG. Now if I even think of eating and drinking over a weekend I put on another Kilo.
ThingsBehindTheSun said:
I am 50 years old and I wish I had this problem. When I was in my 20s I was rake thin and could literally eat anything. At the time a guy I worked with bought in a box of 48 milky bars and between us we ate the whole lot in two days.
I used to get annoyed that I was so skinny and could not understand why there were so many over weight people. In my mind if I was this thin eating as much junk as I wanted then they must be eating twice as much as me.
At 40 years old I was 70KG, today I am 84KG. Now if I even think of eating and drinking over a weekend I put on another Kilo.
Unless you have an underlying health problem the only reason you have piled on the pounds is because you are not as active, people metabolism generally doesn’t change until much later in life.I used to get annoyed that I was so skinny and could not understand why there were so many over weight people. In my mind if I was this thin eating as much junk as I wanted then they must be eating twice as much as me.
At 40 years old I was 70KG, today I am 84KG. Now if I even think of eating and drinking over a weekend I put on another Kilo.
LimaDelta said:
Inspired by the protein thread, I often burn 4500+kcal per day (my average for August so far is 4222) and find it hard to eat that much, never mind maintain a surplus. How do you get enough quality calories in, without resorting to calorie dense junk?
Unless you're very tall at 95kg you're overweight. Why do you need to maintain a surplus? Something's slightly out in your post but I can't quite see what. If you're lean and you struggle to eat enough you'd be losing weight. I suspect however you're calculating kcal is off a bit. Dunno but something's skewed.popeyewhite said:
LimaDelta said:
Inspired by the protein thread, I often burn 4500+kcal per day (my average for August so far is 4222) and find it hard to eat that much, never mind maintain a surplus. How do you get enough quality calories in, without resorting to calorie dense junk?
Unless you're very tall at 95kg you're overweight. Why do you need to maintain a surplus? Something's slightly out in your post but I can't quite see what. If you're lean and you struggle to eat enough you'd be losing weight. I suspect however you're calculating kcal is off a bit. Dunno but something's skewed.My kcal figures come from my Polar watch, with wrist HRM, and sometimes wearing a chest HRM (for boxing or KB conditioning sessions). Polar have a decent reputation, and although it may not be 100% accurate, I would expect it to be close.
LimaDelta said:
I'm 187cm, so according to the known-to-be-flawed BMI calculator, I'm overweight. However, I am in pretty good shape, and fairly lean (15-20% BF depending on the measurement time/hydration level etc.). My lifting has plateaued somewhat and I could do with putting on a bit more muscle, which conventional wisdom dictates requires a calorie surplus.
My kcal figures come from my Polar watch, with wrist HRM, and sometimes wearing a chest HRM (for boxing or KB conditioning sessions). Polar have a decent reputation, and although it may not be 100% accurate, I would expect it to be close.
Sure. 6'2" and 15 stone isn't too bad at all, but personally I'd look more towards your training than diet if you want to gain muscle. Yes it may make life easier in a calorie surplus, but done properly (plenty of protein on a calorie deficit) muscle will grow through overload anyway.My kcal figures come from my Polar watch, with wrist HRM, and sometimes wearing a chest HRM (for boxing or KB conditioning sessions). Polar have a decent reputation, and although it may not be 100% accurate, I would expect it to be close.
Summary: concentrate on muscle overload and protein for lean gains.
popeyewhite said:
LimaDelta said:
I'm 187cm, so according to the known-to-be-flawed BMI calculator, I'm overweight. However, I am in pretty good shape, and fairly lean (15-20% BF depending on the measurement time/hydration level etc.). My lifting has plateaued somewhat and I could do with putting on a bit more muscle, which conventional wisdom dictates requires a calorie surplus.
My kcal figures come from my Polar watch, with wrist HRM, and sometimes wearing a chest HRM (for boxing or KB conditioning sessions). Polar have a decent reputation, and although it may not be 100% accurate, I would expect it to be close.
Sure. 6'2" and 15 stone isn't too bad at all, but personally I'd look more towards your training than diet if you want to gain muscle. Yes it may make life easier in a calorie surplus, but done properly (plenty of protein on a calorie deficit) muscle will grow through overload anyway.My kcal figures come from my Polar watch, with wrist HRM, and sometimes wearing a chest HRM (for boxing or KB conditioning sessions). Polar have a decent reputation, and although it may not be 100% accurate, I would expect it to be close.
Summary: concentrate on muscle overload and protein for lean gains.
Are you sure you're burning that many calories and not some health issue preventing you absorbing it? There are studies on African tribes and Ultra Marathon runners showing that as you get fitter the body becomes more efficient and you don't actually burn that many more calories, although I believe that was more focused on cardio, not sure about the impact of lifting.
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S096...
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S096...
horsemeatscandal said:
Get pissed on a bike ride, works a treat.
A former colleague used to go "calorie neutral pubbing", he'd plan a weekend cycling route with pubs about a pints worth of calories apart LimaDelta said:
... mainly compound lifts with progressive overload (though very slow progress now),
I think the problem could be you've plateaued, rather than anything calorie related. Forget about weight/reps/breaks between sets. The biggest driver to overload is whatever causes the most adaptation/shock in the muscle. I've found completely changing the exercise for any given bodypart can do the trick.popeyewhite said:
LimaDelta said:
... mainly compound lifts with progressive overload (though very slow progress now),
I think the problem could be you've plateaued, rather than anything calorie related. Forget about weight/reps/breaks between sets. The biggest driver to overload is whatever causes the most adaptation/shock in the muscle. I've found completely changing the exercise for any given bodypart can do the trick.Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff