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SammyGiu
SammyGiu g Samuel Giumarello
5 Post(s)
5 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: September 9, 2016
Posted

I watched some of Scott's recent videos, including the most recent one addressing acquisitions of him being "fake natty" (which I and anyone else who has watched his videos for the past 2+ years would find ridiculous, Scott is the epitome of a natural bodybuilder). I was just curious as to exactly what he means by "upping calories," as in how substatial of a change this should be. I recently took about 3 months off from lifting due to sickness/personal issues after lifting for 2+ years and I plan to implement his "cheat and recover" technique as well as upping my diet to get back the gains I've lost as soon as possible. If there is already a video/thread addressing what Scott did to his diet or I could get a more in depth explanation that would be great! Current macros are around 240 protein 280 carb 85 fat, am around 160-165 and 17 yrs old. Keep up the great work Scott btw, you continue to be an inspiration/role model. Thank you.

jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: SammyGiu

I watched some of Scott's recent videos, including the most recent one addressing acquisitions of him being "fake natty" (which I and anyone else who has watched his videos for the past 2+ years would find ridiculous, Scott is the epitome of a natural bodybuilder). I was just curious as to exactly what he means by "upping calories," as in how substatial of a change this should be. I recently took about 3 months off from lifting due to sickness/personal issues after lifting for 2+ years and I plan to implement his "cheat and recover" technique as well as upping my diet to get back the gains I've lost as soon as possible. If there is already a video/thread addressing what Scott did to his diet or I could get a more in depth explanation that would be great! Current macros are around 240 protein 280 carb 85 fat, am around 160-165 and 17 yrs old. Keep up the great work Scott btw, you continue to be an inspiration/role model. Thank you.

Typically to do lean gains in a calorie surplus you add about 500 additional calories per day over your maintenance level. Maintenance level is a daily calorie amount to neither grow nor lose size. A calorie deficit - again in a lean gains protocol to lose body fat and maintain as much muscle as possible - would be a deficit of no more than 500 calories.

 

When natural, you will lose a bit of muscle when in a calorie deficit and you will gain a bit of body fat when gaining muscle. By keeping the surplus and deficits no more than 500 additional calories, you minimize muscle loss (when leaning out) and body fat gain (when adding muscle).

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
jorgeegroj
jorgeegroj g Jorge Villarreal
106 Post(s)
106 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

I mean, when I 'up' my calories, I usually do it by switching my protein shakes to have milk, drinking OJ at most meals and stuff like that since little changes like that will up me from 2500 to 3200 for the most part, I also add in a few more tortillas/breads into my diet

I don't think he went that slow though. If he's trying to reach 185 this year (not being a newb), he's going to have a super hard time doing it and will have to reach his goal with a lot more fat on his body. There's no escaping the bulk/cut cycle if he wants to grow THAT much. but he does have super-human abs so that's probably going to help keep him motivated.

Frat bro turned barbell boss. Two black belts. (Tae-Kwon-Do and Ai-Ki-Do)
Limitless_Derek
Limitless_Derek g Derek Libenstein
21 Post(s)
21 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: February 2, 2017
Posted

I've recently implemented the cheat and recover method and I've found it very effective. Havn't been this sore in a while so I'll definitely continue to use it. I don't know all your stats so jsut double check your macros on the calculator on the meal plan section of the site. Also for how large the surplus should be. For minimum fat gain during your bulk, so lean gains, its a 250 calorie surplus. and 500 for heavy gains. more than that is excessive and you'll get too much fat. I made that mistake before using the calculator and making adjustments.

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: SammyGiu

I watched some of Scott's recent videos, including the most recent one addressing acquisitions of him being "fake natty" (which I and anyone else who has watched his videos for the past 2+ years would find ridiculous, Scott is the epitome of a natural bodybuilder). I was just curious as to exactly what he means by "upping calories," as in how substatial of a change this should be. I recently took about 3 months off from lifting due to sickness/personal issues after lifting for 2+ years and I plan to implement his "cheat and recover" technique as well as upping my diet to get back the gains I've lost as soon as possible. If there is already a video/thread addressing what Scott did to his diet or I could get a more in depth explanation that would be great! Current macros are around 240 protein 280 carb 85 fat, am around 160-165 and 17 yrs old. Keep up the great work Scott btw, you continue to be an inspiration/role model. Thank you.

Some great responses here @SammyGiu!!

 

Upping your calories is as simple as eating an extra serving of rice, or having more chicken than usual. Maybe even having two servings of oatmeal instead of one. Simple things like that.

 

I would aim for an increase of about 100-200 calories per day (Higher than your previous calorie intake per day) for about 1-2 weeks. If you see positive changes, stick with that until you stop making progress and need to increase it again.

 

It's best to do it slow like that to keep the gains nice and lean :-)

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SkateCaptain59
SkateCaptain59 g Duncan Blatherwick
18 Post(s)
18 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: June 6, 2017
Posted

I first upped my calorie count at the start of this year, but after a couple of months I found the gains started to level off and my body weight even dropped a few pounds (though I was maintaining my measurements). I decided to increase them again and gained back the weight (5lbs) in just 3 weeks.

 

I assume it's normal to have a faster rate of weight gain after an initial calorie increase? I'm trying to control my bulk as much as I can, and I just want to know how soon should I start to worry about the rate of weight gain?

muscular strength
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