SUPER High Maintenance Calories

[brothermaurice]

So I’ve got terrible insomnia, and as such last time I bulked, the only real way I was able to make progress was to dirty bulk. After such, I dove headfirst into what in the end turned out to be a 5 month cut, ending with crazy leg, ab, back and chest veins. I ended up crashing my hormones (no duh). By the end of my cut, my maintenance calories shot down to around 1800-1900 as gauge by my fitness pal and the scale (been consistently tracking for years).
Since then, I’ve committed to a bulk fresh off the cut and as my hormones recover, my maintenance calories seem to keep driving upwards which is great, however the leap is seemingly nonsensical. I began my bulk in July and now my maintenance calories are at ~4500 kcal as gauged by the scale and tracking every little thing I eat. If I eat anything under 4000 kcal, I lose weight and strength without fail. For reference, I’m 21 y/o, 6’0”, and 183 lbs, with 6-7 years of training under my belt. Also I lift 4x a week and average around 5 miles of walking a day. I’m just curious how this can be, and if anyone else has encountered a similar situation. Thanks!

 

[dawn16]

@brothermaurice So you’re telling me your maintenance is 4500 kcal, so you must lean bulk on around 5000 kcal, when you lift 4x a week? Utter nonsense. For reference I lift 6x a week and bulk at 4000 kcal, at 90kg. You’ve went from 1900 to 4500 kcal in the space of 3 months? You couldn’t possibly have gained that much weight in that space of time unless your dirty bulk is the dirtiest bulk ever seen. Walking 5 miles a day? Questionable, although that might explain your unrealistic maintenance calories. If in fact you do walk that distance every day. You’ve been consistently training and tracking calories since you were 14? Really.

I smell bullshit.

 

[kay19]

@dawn16 Not saying I’m with OP, but walking 5 miles a day is totally reasonable if you live somewhere walkable, and a mate of mine with similar training age to OP was certainly on 4500 cals maintenance. We lived together while at uni and he was absolutely fucking wham.

I’ve had my calories crash on a cut as well. 1300 to cut and 3k now to maintain.

Again, just saying, it can happen.

 

[brothermaurice]

@dawn16 Yeah all the stuff your reasoning for bullshit is why I’m so confused (I too would call bullshit if I wasn’t living it). And I theorize that my calories jumped because of how crashed my hormones were off no sleep and 5 months in an extreme deficit. Also a student on a large campus with house far from my classes and gym so I do a ton of walking, not sure why 5 miles a day is unreasonable, some days I walk closer to 8. Also note sure how 4 days a week is an issue, I’ve hit a 505 Squat to my ankles by training 4x a week. Also no, the food tracking has only been past 2.5 years, training has been 6

 

[pebbles86]

@dawn16 i smell jelousu

 

[comyn7]

@brothermaurice If I had to guess I’d probably say your activity is very high and drives that high TDEE, and at the end of the cut your thyroid function was suppressed. As you reintroduced cals your thyroid regained function and starting driving back to your normal (high) metabolic rate.

Have you had blood work that includes a thyroid panel at any point?

 

[brothermaurice]

@comyn7 Yeah, I’ve probably gotten blood taken 10 times over the past few months, everything always comes back normal which is good and bad since I’d love to pinpoint the issue

 

[comyn7]

@brothermaurice What were your T3, TSH, and RT3 values when you were very lean and when you were bulking? When it comes to blood work normal and optimal are different things

 

[brothermaurice]

@comyn7 Only could find TSH which was 2.41uIU/mL which is dead smack in the middle of the normal ranges.
Also, love the pfp Art Vandelay! finally giving Seinfeld a run and it’s amazing

Edit; Also B12 was only thing that was out of range as high, but I can’t imagine it’s the culprit

 

[comyn7]

@brothermaurice What were cortisol, ferritin, and CRP?

Thanks man, he’s my favorite importer/exporter

Edit: TSH on its own doesn’t really give a full picture of thyroid function, we’d want to see T3 and RT3 as well. It’s possible to have be in a state of hypothyroidism with normal TSH.

 

[weeppee]

@brothermaurice Olympia-winning bodybuilders and olympic athletes have 4500 calorie maintenance. I sincerely doubt you are in one of those categories. I think you need to take a very close and detailed look at your calorie counting methodology because I suspect there is some gross mis-estimation happening here.

 

[brothermaurice]

@weeppee Ngl, I expected this whole thread to call bullshit. I’m meticulous about tracking, weigh my beef raw by the oz, berries by the g and even tracks the fucking 5 calories in a Ghost. MyFitnessPal is pretty straight forward, not hard to learn it especially when I’ve already had it for years. Anyways, I think it might be due to medical problems I’ve been having and my TDEE being so high. I mean I’m literally walking 2 miles home from a 3 hour gym sesh rn

 

[weeppee]

@brothermaurice Yeah, I just saw your comments about the blood in your stool. If you have something like Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis, that’s going to significantly change your ability to absorb calories from your food.

 

[thomasjames]

@brothermaurice It seems like your body is expending alot of energy, explained through your activity levels and insomnia, but also not absorbing much through food.

The latter part is key to understand what's going on. Hormones play a big part, but I'd also see a doctor to rule out any kind of digestive disorders.

 

[brothermaurice]

@thomasjames That’s actually probably pretty valid. Through doctors visits for other stuff I was recommended someone to look at my gut more (was shitting blood for a prolonged period of time, though largely now in check)

 

[thomasjames]

@brothermaurice Blood in your poop is a big red flag, good thing you've been to a doctor for it.

If you've received treatment recently for it, your body might just need time to recover. But worth going to a specialist.

 

[dawn6580]

@thomasjames This is not medical advice but a training anecdote from a lifter I knew, he had Hemorrhoids due to pressure he exerted while squatting over 400 Lb.s for reps. He backed off the super heavy weights, and no more Hemorrhoids.

You also mentioned 3 hour gym sessions? With really heavy weights?

 

[skynet]

@brothermaurice Consider MacroFactor

 

[jcreigns]

@brothermaurice My first guess would be your tracking something wrong. But it sometimes happens that (usually males) get extremely high maintaince calories, but if you have to cut you have to go very low.

Much of this could be that you have very high neat. In some experiment people who are given 500 more kcal a day burn as much as 700 kcal more a day just from fidgeting.