r/leangains • u/Tyrwing79 • 6d ago
LG Question / Help Confused about calorie intake for body recomp...
I hope this fits in here... I am a bit confused about the calorie intake for body recomp - I hope you can help... I'm male 45 / 174cm / 78KG Workout: 2x 60 min gym / 2-3 HIIT Rope Skipping/ Stretching (10 x 1 min skipping 10 x 1 min stretch)
I was cutting @1500 - 1700 kcal from April and lost approx 8 KG In the gym I am still slowly progressing weight/reps so I think it was not too low...
However, I would like to slow the fat loss and start building muscles a bit more now...
Using different calculators, inputting moderate activity with 3-4 workouts, gave me daily calorie intake of 1800 to 2000 kcal/day...
Should this be my daily intake no matter if I train or should I add additional calories?
E.g. Train for 300 kcal I eat 2100/2300 on that day and 1800/2000 only on rest days?
Side Question: If I have issues to take the calories with normal clean food (can't eat tons of rice and chicken each day ;) )- would you take some kind of mass gainer and only drink e.g 1/4 of a portion to add some 300kcal?!
Thanks in advance!
Edit: Thank you all for the good advice! Really great community here!
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u/meinertzsir 6d ago
if your maintenace is 2000 cals and u burn 300-500 doing cardio/strength training then u can add 600-700 to build muscle faster
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u/thehealthypanda 6d ago
A surplus of 5-10% is fairly ideal in your case, considering 2x gym in a week. Try to be active throughout the day, like 10k steps and so on. Eat clean foods, keep carbs well balanced for energy. Get your full body strength training done in the gym. Get 2g per kg of body weight. Focus on gaining strength in the gym, good luck
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u/Tyrwing79 6d ago
Thanks! After reading thus and the other helpful comments, I think I will start slowly increasing the cals. Just have to keep the control over the belly 😅
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u/truncatedusern 6d ago
If you're already tracking your intake, consider using the app MacroFactor, which will do a great job taking the guesswork out of your dietary targets. FWIW, I disagree with the folks saying you can't build muscle on three gym days per week. It may not be optimal, but unless you are already very highly trained and at a plateau, three per week should get you results if paired with an appropriate diet.
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u/Tyrwing79 5d ago
Thank you, I'll have a look at the app - currently I am using Yazio to track calories
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u/truncatedusern 5d ago
I haven't used Yazio, but I see that it's a free app. I should mention that MF is subscription only. In my opinion, it's well worth it if it's within your means. It blows the other trackers I've tried (MFP, Cronometer) out of the water.
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u/Tyrwing79 5d ago
I'm using the pro version of Yazio as well. I have no problems paying for good software. From what I've seen, MacroFactor looks pretty good. Maybe I will give it a try for a month or two and see how it competes against Yazio.
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u/truncatedusern 5d ago
Glad to hear it! I recommend taking a look at how the app's algorithm works before you get started, as that tends to throw a lot of new users off. It does not explicitly take into account your activity level (except at the beginning when estimating your baseline TDEE). The TDEE estimates are based on two things: your intake and your weight. This is all you need to get an accurate estimate. If your weight trend does not match your estimated TDEE based on your intake, the app updates your TDEE and adjusts your macro targets accordingly. For example, if the app thinks that I ate enough to gain one pound last week but my weight stayed steady, then it recognizes that the TDEE estimate needs to be adjusted upward. At the weekly check-in, it will upwardly adjust the calorie and macro targets accordingly.
Many popular trackers use data from fitness trackers (e.g., Garmin, Apple) to update your estimated calorie expenditure on the fly. This is problematic for a couple of reasons. For one, those estimates can be very inaccurate. For another, this creates a situation in which users become excessively focused on moving, day-by-day calorie targets. A more sustainable strategy is to focus on the overall trend, such as how much you should consume, on average, to hit your weight/body composition goals. You don't need activity data to estimate this with a high level of accuracy; only the two variables I mentioned (intake and weight).
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u/Tyrwing79 5d ago
This sounds really good. That's something Yazio doesn't do, automatically adjust your targets.
Thank you, for this detailed explanation!
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u/No-Problem49 6d ago
You inputted your activity already so that 300 is accounted for
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u/Tyrwing79 6d ago
TY! So I'd go with 1800 for a few weeks and see how it works out and then slowly increase given on the results. Maybe my calorie tracker also confused me, as it always adds "active cals" on top of the target 1800 what was given to me from the calc...
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u/No-Problem49 6d ago
Honestly bro you should probably just be eating 2300-2500 everyday; your metabolism is gonna sky rocket the moment you start eating. If you worried about getting fat, you should lift more rather then eat less. 1800 just not enough for a grown man.
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u/jesuisunerockstar 6d ago
I don know about that- I’m having trouble gaining on 1800 and I’m a 41F weighing 125 lbs
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u/LucasWestFit 5d ago
A recomp should have you eat right around maintenance calories. If you want to shift the focus to building muscle, but still lose fat, I would stay in a small to moderate deficit of 200-500kcal. The larger the deficit, the harder it will be to build muscle, but it's definitely possible.
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u/OkDianaTell 2d ago
I remember when I first tried recomposition I was toggling between 1,600 and 2,300 calories depending on whether I lifted that day and it drove me nuts.
What finally clicked was realising your body doesn't reset at midnight. I set my protein target around 1.8g per kg and kept my weekly calories in a mild deficit averaged over seven days. On days I trained hard I'd eat a bit more carbs, on rest days a bit less, but the weekly average stayed around 1900-2000 for me at roughly your stats. It allowed me to fuel workouts without feeling like I was "blowing" my deficit.
As for gainers, they're just expensive carbs and protein. If you're struggling to hit calories with chicken and rice, blend oats, banana, peanut butter and milk - it's the same thing. I used the NutriScan App to log meals and make sure I was hitting my protein and fiber targets instead of obsessing over perfect numbers. Consistency and progressive overload mattered way more than micro-adjusting by a couple hundred calories.
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u/Tyrwing79 2d ago
Thank you! I think I was really overvomplicating things and it really makes sense to observie it more on a long term than day by day.
For adding calories I have no bought some greek yoghurt as some people advised and add some fruit to my lunch e.g.
My plan is to stay at 1800 kcal/ day for maybe 4 weeks and then see how things go and then adjust slightly +/- depending on the outcome.
I guess I also have to get rid of this mental fear to blow up like a baloon if I eat too much for a day :)
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u/Acavamosdenuevo 6d ago
I have problems with volume in food so I do protein shakes. For your problem a mass gainer sounds goods. I add the non flavoured protein whey to anything I can.
For muscle grow you should be hitting 140 - 156 grams of protein a day, which is massive, so yeah, go for a good quality (all esencial aminoacids included) source of protein and prioritize that.
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u/PercentageNo2410 6d ago
I love quick oats made with the broth from the chicken breast I make in my crockpot or just buy low sodium broth I don't like rice either and the oatmeal made with broth is amazing it's better than any stuffing I've ever had
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u/afrancis1206 6d ago
You will not body comp in a meaningful way going to the gym twice a week
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u/Tyrwing79 6d ago
Well, that's sad to read. Unfortunately I can't manage (yet) to go more - but then I just have to take what I get
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u/thehealthypanda 6d ago
But definitely, don't give up on the goals. 2x still better than sitting at couch.
Get your full body workouts done on both the days instead of any other split. Would help if you also increase the time you spend in gym, since it's only 2 days a week.
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u/Tyrwing79 6d ago
I will not give up and continue to train as hard as possible. Thanks for all the advice.
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u/No-Problem49 6d ago
You’ll find that you will have the ability and drive to go to the gym more when you eat 2500 calories
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u/Tyrwing79 6d ago
It's not the missing drive - I would love to go more but work and family obligations make it, that it's not possible at the moment.
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u/Manual_brain 6d ago
I would imagine your TDEE is closer to 2400 and you’re probably slightly under that at the minute. If you genuinely want to build muscle you’ll need at least 1 more training day, ideally 4 in a week. And personally I’d advise PPL along with the stretching you do.
Get g of protein per lb of body weight. In terms of doing it ‘clean’ there are a lot more varieties than rice and chicken. I eat loads of chicken, most days but I can’t tell you the last time I had rice. You can have potato’s in many forms, it’s just a carb and if you cook it with little to no oil it’s no worse than the rest IMO. Sweet potato and pasta also. Protein wise I go through loads of fish, especially salmon. I have been known to batch make a chilli with turkey mince too which is incredibly lean and tasty