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If you lost 2 lbs of muscle in a month then 250/day is required just to stop that. You will need to double that at least in order to start to gain again. Start with 500 more than your currently eating plus enough to replace the exercise you do. I would call that your maintenance level. Eat 500 more than that on your workout days and on the weekends eat 500 less than that. Assuming your workout consumes 5000 calories, that will work out to 3500 on workout days, 3000 on non workout days and 2000 on the weekends.

Keep your protein and fat constant, vary the carbs to account for the difference. For example, the 2000 calorie day should be 8000 calories from protein, 800 calories from fat and 400 calories from carbs (fruit and veg only). During the week add a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, 1 cup brown rice at 2 meals, sugar or maltodextrin in your post workout drink, sweet potatoes with 2 meals, etc.

Question, why is it 2000 calories on the weekend?

I plan on working out 5 days a week so I think it'd work out something like this according to your plan:

Monday - Workout = 3500
Tuesday - Rest = 3000
Wednesday - Workout = 3500
Thursday - Workout = 3500
Friday - Rest = 3000
Saturday - Workout = 3500
Sunday - Workout = 3500

Right?

That's the down cycle to remove whatever fat you put on during the week. I thought you were trying to lose fat. The number are just examples. I don't know if 2500 is your actual maintenance diet but 2000 would be minimum.

Stu

Well my BMR is about 2000 and I burn about 500 in my workouts.

BMR may be 2000 but you have normal daily activity to consider. That's part of your maintenance level. BMR doesn't even include eating and digestion. Now use the Harris-Benidict formula to find the multiplier for your total daily calorie needs.
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calcu ... -equation/

I prefer to ignore my main workouts for this calculation and then add it back for the workout day. So lets say you do some cardio and play sports, go for long walks, etc, 3-5 times a week so you are likely moderatly active so the multiplier would be 1.55.

That makes your maintenance requirement is 3100.

Remember to eat up to 20% more on your up days and 20% less on your down days.

That makes your down cycle 2500 and your up cycle 3700. Your heavy workout days should be an extra 500 cal (your pre/post workout drink), so 4200 on those days.

Play around with the multiplier according to your activity level.

Stu

So does the Harris-Benedict multiplier not include the amount burned off in the exercise? i.e. Does the 1.55 multiplier include the amount burned off in the cardio or is it merely elevated to an increase in the metabolism?

I usually burn about 500 calories per workout (whether cardio or weightlifting) so should I just eat an extra 500 in addition to the BMR + 500 or should I eat an extra 500 in addition to the (BMR * Multiplier) + 500?

Sorry for the questions, but thanks for the advice.

As an example, lets say your BMR is 2000. If you are moderately active, not including your heavy lifting exercise, you would use a factor of 1.55 = 3100 calories. Is you included your heavy lifting, by definition you would be very active instead, so your multiplier would be 1.72 or 3440. The difference is 340 a day or 2380/week. This is more than the 1500 you're consuming during the workout.

My point is that the formula is an estimate. How you use it is up to you but it will always be an estimate that may or may not be accurate.

Since for carb cycling you need 3 different levels, high, medium and low, I think my way makes more sense.

Dr. Squat has a more detailed formula where he suggests eating every 3 hours for the calories you expect to expend over the upcoming 3 hours. This is way to complicated for me but if you want to get to the nitty grittty it may be required.

http://drsquat.com/articles/calorieneeds.html

Stu