So I'm going to start the Rippetoe program soon

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A few years back I had a stretch where I worked out 4 days a week and got stronger, but never more than 5 lbs. bigger. Being able to consume enough food has always held me back. I was naturally hungrier when I worked out, and I ate more but it still wasn't enough.

From doing some research it appears I need to consume a good 4000 calories to really put on some mass. My question is....If i can pull this off and bulk up, when it comes time to work on getting cut do I need to maintain the 4k calories/day to retain the muscle mass I have added?

to Illustrate, i'm currently 6' 170lbs. If I hit say 190lbs and just wanna get cut at that point, do I still need mega amounts of food?

My logic tells me no, I can cut back on the calories. But of course logic isn't always right and there is probably something I don't know.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Greatly simplified, change in body mass is a function of calories in vs. calories out. It does matter the nature of those calories, but basically speaking it comes down to calories in vs calories out.

You should monitor the proportions of the macro-nutrients in your diet. Macro-nutrients are Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates. When bulking you will probably want an even distribution of calories from each macro-nutrient category (maybe skewed higher in the Protein category). As a general rule you should consume at least 1g and up to 2g of protein per pound of your lean body mass.

When cutting, you will still want to maintain your protein levels, but cut your calories out of the other categories, primarily from carbohydrates.

It is your exercise regimen that will instruct your body how to adjust your body composition in the context of a caloric surplus or deficit. When cutting, you will lose weight, but as long as you maintain your heavy lifting program, you are essentially telling your body that it needs to keep that muscle tissue around, and it will instead catablolize primarily fat tissue. Similarly, when bulking, if you do not lift heavily, your body doesn't think that it needs to build new muscle fibers, and instead stores the excess calories as fat.

 

[TmBlackFlag]

Excellent response thank you

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: Cerpin Taxt
Greatly simplified, change in body mass is a function of calories in vs. calories out. It does matter the nature of those calories, but basically speaking it comes down to calories in vs calories out.

You should monitor the proportions of the macro-nutrients in your diet. Macro-nutrients are Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates. When bulking you will probably want an even distribution of calories from each macro-nutrient category (maybe skewed higher in the Protein category). As a general rule you should consume at least 1g and up to 2g of protein per pound of your lean body mass.

When cutting, you will still want to maintain your protein levels, but cut your calories out of the other categories, primarily from carbohydrates.

It is your exercise regimen that will instruct your body how to adjust your body composition in the context of a caloric surplus or deficit. When cutting, you will lose weight, but as long as you maintain your heavy lifting program, you are essentially telling your body that it needs to keep that muscle tissue around, and it will instead catablolize primarily fat tissue. Similarly, when bulking, if you do not lift heavily, your body doesn't think that it needs to build new muscle fibers, and instead stores the excess calories as fat.

Yup. When cutting you need to drop calories or you're not going to lose anything. It's important to keep protein up to preserve LBM though. It's also important to still go hard in the gym.