I was just cruising the net and read this on about.com. How accurate do you think it is?

"3) The calories should be cycled. I strongly believe in caloric cycling as this will not allow the metabolism to get used to a certain caloric level; something that leads to stagnant results.

Therefore, bodybuilders in search of just muscle mass should follow 5 days of high calories (lean body mass x 15) with two days of lower caloric intake (lean body mass x12). Bodybuilders in search of losing fat while building muscle at the same time should follow 5 days of lower caloric intake (lean body mass x12) with 2 days of higher calories (lean body mass x 15). (Note: If you build muscle and lose fat at the same time you will not gain muscle as fast as you would if you just concentrated in muscle mass. However, you get to get both goals accomplished at the same time)."

Pretty good actually. Some use lean mass when using those formulas and some use just body weight. You have to do it in conjunction with scale and mirror measurements to make adjustments so that you monitor how fast you are dropping weight.

They're just rules of thumb that allow a person some consistency. How fast I lose at 12 lets say will be very different than you at 12. You may need to use 13 to match my rate at 12 for example.

Not garbage....no way.

The x12 and x15 are rough estimates and won't be the same for everyone. Cycling calories is absolutely important - probably one of the single most important ways I've seen of seeing consistent fat loss without hitting a plateau.

Jeremy

Thanks guys.

Correct me if im wrong, but x15 and x12 LEAN MASS seems absurd. Lean mass x 15 for a high calorie day? For example: You are 180lbs at 10%bf = 162 lbs LEAN MASS. 162 x 15 = 2430. I would ha a hard time believing that could promote any muscle gain- sounds like a good benchmark for cutting, but for doing both at the same time? I would think cycling a little higher might be better?

Correct me if im wrong, but x15 and x12 LEAN MASS seems absurd. Lean mass x 15 for a high calorie day? For example: You are 180lbs at 10%bf = 162 lbs LEAN MASS. 162 x 15 = 2430. I would ha a hard time believing that could promote any muscle gain- sounds like a good benchmark for cutting, but for doing both at the same time? I would think cycling a little higher might be better?

It seems absurd to me too.

Tom Venuto (http://www.freedomfly.net/Articles/Nutrition/nutrition14.htm) recommends 15 to 16 times total body weight to maintain, 12 to 13 to lose, and 18 to 19 times body weight to gain.

I think I've been eating very close to 15 times total body weight for years while staying pretty close to the same weight. I would definitely lose muscle if I dropped that down to 15 X LBM cycled with 12 X LBM. I don't think I have an abnormally high metabolism, and I do minimal cardio.

interesting points...i guess it is garbage.

I wouldn't be trying to gain mass on anything less than 20 x LBM. 12 x seems low to me even for cutting, while 15 x seems about right.

Age, somatotype (if you believe it has any credence), and amount of activity will play into it. Don't forget also, this explanation this was written by a bodybuilder....I believe Hugo Rivera is writing for about.com now (correct me if I'm wrong). Old Hugo
http://www.hrfit.net/bb/images/hugofront1weekbeforeshow.jpg
probably tends to train body part splits more than sports or performance training. Likely blasting body parts once a week (probably fairly high volume in the week but only blasting a body part once a week) so his focus is quite different than those folks and has caloric requirements would probably be different than a performance driven athlete.

I feel the numbers could be valid for cutting (but only as Jeremy said, as a rough estimate). I agree with Tennisball that I don't think lean mass would be a good number to use (I've always used bodyweight with those type of estimates).

The take home message is that for cutting, cycling cals is a good technique. How you approach it and what actual number winds up working for you will be an individual thing. So long as your approach is consistent. The x(some number) X body weight (or lean mass if you want, but why complicate matters?) is a simple, straight forward approach.


The last paragraph is important as well (and was omitted from the above):

People interested in bodysculpting should alternate between two weeks of lower calories (around 2000 for men and 1200 for women) and two weeks of higher calories (around 2500 for men and 1500 for women). These caloric intakes assume a normal activity level that only includes Body Sculpting training. Those of you involved in activities like marathon running or heavy physical labor jobs need to adjust your calories upwards accordingly mainly in the form of carbohydrates in order to support your higher levels of activity.

http://www.hrfit.net/bb/images/hugofront1weekbeforeshow.jpg


That is one hot banana hammock, I might add.

That is one hot banana hammock, I might add.:p :lol:

hey guys, i happened to be reading this topic and i'm experiencing some major issues with my cutting phase. i lost a lot of muscle already and i've never been able to get rid of my protruding gut. i weigh 176 at about 17% bf. if i do the whole cycling thing, that means i should eat 2640 calories (15x176) and then what?? i lift 2-3 times a week and i run for 40min 2-3 times a week as well...? can someone please elaborate on this cycling calories thing? thanks.

currently im eating 1900-2100 calories...is that too much or too little? I've been calculating my bmr, rmr, total energy expenditure, etc... and it came out to ~2600 to maintain so that's why i decreased it by 500 to 2100 in hopes of losing at least 1lb of fat every week while trying to keep whatever i have left...i just feel that im losing my muscle instead of fat. ive been doing this for a month now and i got my bf from 19 down to 17% but my muscles have lost their fullness...

I'm also taking creatine monohydrate and L-glutamine to help preserve some of the muscle.

please somebody tell me how to just get rid of my gut for now :(
any help would be greatly appreciated