[quote]doubleh wrote:
<<< Well Mr. Trib I know your secret from the AD thread. I too use the AD (was once a long-time lurker) and had tremendous success bulking with it last year. I’m using it to cut right now (holiday season overindulgence and all).
When I bulked, I rarely hit 4800-5k cals outside of a carb-up, and I went from 238-240ish to 255ish in 5 months. I still put on a bit of fat (but only a bit - love the AD), so my question is: if I was averaging less than what you eat EVERY DAY at a higher BW, how are you not putting on fat? The answer is either: A) you are more active (probably; I work behind a desk, but I do cardio 3x week and lift very hard), or B) you were much leaner than me to start (not too probable; from your description, it sounds like our BF levels are fairly close).
Anyway, comparing your calorie needs to the OP is not a fair comparison. You, by virtue of having more LBM, by default have a higher BMR. So if you are active and have a great metabolism, maybe you can get away with 20x for a while. But I can’t see you eating that amount consistently and not putting on fat, as you said, AD be damned.
Look, maybe the OP is a metabolism freak, maybe not. But I feel 3500 is likely too high given what info we have to work with, and I think giving him an idea of where to begin to look is better than saying “just experiment around with cals”. He could have figured that out on his own. >>>[/quote]
Mr. Trib huh? Well How can I not be nice to a guy who calls me Mr. Trib?
Some fair points and you’re right about the AD. There is no way, I at least, could eat this much without being adapted without getting fat. I don’t count calories really. Once in a while I add it all up and see where I am. By adding a bit to that it’s easy to be pretty close when I increase intake. I’ve been tipping 5000 for over a year, well over and probably up to 5300-5500 now.
The area I see it different is, with a guy like this I’d rather see him over shoot and cut back if he sees himself getting too fat rather than the other way around. That way he gains and with a little adjustment he’s on track. If he trickles his way up he could potentially lose months of gains which will be much harder to make up for than pinching back a bit later.
Now, under that plan of attack it isn’t that useful to worry about calories, though it won’t hurt if the person has the right frame of mind, but for so many nowadays it quickly turns into an exercise in unnecessary and distracting precision.
He’ll have plenty of warning before the fat gets out of control, but I’d be pissed if six months later I have to fantasize about the muscle I gave up in the name of avoiding a little fat.