Is it dumb to offset calories the next day?

[siranthony]

@awoods88 this is lowkey the first step to ED lol

 

[christianmom21]

@awoods88 Yes it's stupid when it's just to get shredded for summer. 8% just for that reason is stupid to begin with.

 

[awoods88]

@christianmom21 Why’s that?

 

[christianmom21]

@awoods88 Because single digit bodyfat is unsustainable, you'll feel like shit and you'll look flat and dyel. Trust me everyone's going to think you look bigger and better at 12% than 8%

 

[kervinjacque]

@christianmom21 Agree, unless you’re on gear. Never pinned in my life but everyone has told me I look better with afew more percentages than being stripped to the torso. The abbs are good but you have smaller proportions of width everywhere else so so that trade offs not natural.

Been training 17 years.

 

[seunkemikola]

@awoods88 Don't worry about it. This kind of thinking can lead to an ED if you're not careful. Gaining weight takes consistent caloric surplus, one day won't do anything to derail your progress.

 

[oneheart76]

@awoods88 You’re all in your head bro. Your body will shake those extra calories in no time. Go back to your diet and keep eating

 

[eighty]

@awoods88 don't

 

[dawn16]

@awoods88 Yes, it is dumb. Just hop back on your diet like normal. Starving yourself that much can cause more harm than good even if it’s for a couple days.. I’m sure you’ll be back to normal within half a week or so. I get you have goals and I’m in the same position as you (12% wanting to get to 8%) however I went camping and indulged for 3 days. I came back and I was 2 pounds heavier and it took me 2 days to shed that water weight. No big deal. Now we can focus for the next few weeks before we think about having a little cheat again.

 

[asperd]

@awoods88 My scale weight jumped +2.9lbs after a wedding reception Saturday. And then it dropped -1.8lbs the next morning and dropped another -0.8lbs this morning. So I'm a net +0.3lbs so far after 3 days. The water weight will come off.

Unless you're competing for a show, don't rush the process. Having a beach body for summer is not going to give you the validation that you think it will.

I probably will not be 10-12% body fat in time for my first shirtless event in a month. But this is a long game. Going forward im not going to be doing 200+ calorie surplus bulks ever again and will stick to slight surpluses because I hate cutting and hate cardio.

 

[plharg]

@asperd is 200 calorie surplus a lot? i thought that was pretty standard for a slow bulk

 

[kaylads]

@plharg Depends on the person. That poster might be short but is likely over estimating how big 200 cals are.

 

[asperd]

@kaylads I gained 24.8 lbs across 373 days on my first bulk. Which is +0.46 lbs/week. Which at most is a 229 daily calorie surplus. As even one pound of fat is only 3,500. And one pound of muscle takes only 2,500-2,800 surplus calories to create. Im also 167cm tall. So yeah 200 calorie surplus I think is too much for short kings. I did make some mistakes with my training for that first bulk to be fair. And I took the bulk faster at first and then slowed it down. But for my second bulk, even with improved training and programming, I have to account for the fact that I already made gains. And that subsequent gains will be harder.

To bulk 200, you have to really know what you are doing and also not have much muscle mass to begin with. Most beginners and novices have no clue what they are doing in the gym so they're not putting the surplus to good use. I was really green when I did my first bulk. And the intermediate and advanced lifters need to bulk even slower because of the diminishing returns on gains. A 188cm tall man (which is really tall) only has like +34% the max weight potential that I do. Tall people can bulk more but not a whole lot more. Like if a 188cm man does +200, I should be doing +149. Thats not a huge difference. I will play it by ear with my second bulk too. If my scale isnt budging and my lifts are plateauing and I know the problem isnt programming, recovery, etc. Then I know to eat more. With my first bulk, I paid too much attention to the scale and would eat more if the weight wasnt going up even if my lifts were going up. The scale is a distraction because of all the day to day fluctuations in water weight, glycogen, food, waste, etc.

 

[dawn16]

@awoods88 Just get back on your diet. There’s no sense in trying to catch back up. You’re going to be absolutely miserable, for no real gain. Plus, that’s a good recipe for losing more muscle than you otherwise would during a cut. Not worth it

 

[uniqueperception]

@awoods88 Both yesterday's binge and cutting even more calories off today to make up for it are entirely negligible if you keep the rest of your diet on lock. You'll look exactly the same as you would by July. Call it a cheat day and move on. Even professional body builders cheat once in a while and if you're this broken up about one day breaking diet it's safe to say it doesn't happen enough to start to matter.

 

[lloyu]

@awoods88 800 calories is insanity. It’s one day not one month.

Just get back to your regular diet. A lot of your weight gain will be water weight “

I’d wager you’re probably already pretty shredded at 12%, going down to 8% will be tough and you’ll definitely not enjoy yourself as much during summer because of the maintenance it takes to actually stay at 8% body fat.

 

[aeradom]

@awoods88 Sounds like a ed is in your future

 

[tallest]

@aeradom Doesn't sound like an ED at all to me. I do the same thing when I'm cutting and tracking. I don't enjoy it and look forward to going back to maintnence.

Some people are passionate about what they do and enjoy to challenge themselves. Not everything is a disorder.

Its actually healthier and less wasteful to eat at maintnence or a slight surplus and to cut down to a lower body fat level for longetivity. Not everyone is obsessed with food and eating.

 

[aeradom]

@tallest Offsetting a 5k calorie day by eating 800 calories for the rest of the week, nothing healthy about that

And that is not a method of cutting, it's unhealthy. It's starving yourself. That isn't maintenance levels.

 

[tallest]

@aeradom Still don't see how that's an ED by doing that for a week. Would have to be a continuous sustained 800 cals before id even consider it an eating disorder.

I've done several week long fasts. It shows mental fortitude and toughness. I wouldnt do a deficit to 800, but that's why he's asking for advice. Id definitely cut an extra 3 to 500 off for a few days and there's nothing wrong with that if you have a goal in mind for summer.

Some people are driven to succeed and will make it happen.