Lean Bulk and Estimates

dpr73

I am in my 3rd month of lean bulking and am following a pretty steady gain (near 2 lbs a month), but my major issue is deviations from my routine where i cannot count. I usually plan my whole day and track super accurately, but today I had an office party qhere I didnt want to seem rude and took a small piece of cake. I know since im bulking it wont hurt, but how do I account for it? I dont want to cut too many calories for the day such that i stall but i also dont want to make my surplus too large. My cheat day, which is more of a day where i take a break from counting and live more mindfully, is saturday and i am going out for lunch and a few drinks at a party with friends. So obviously, today has to be a day where i am extra cautious because my off day isnt until later in the week.

jdog022

What do you mean how do you account for it? 100-200 calories over lean bulk goal, Especially if not done often, is a drop in the ocean

Erik8484

1lb of fat is equivalent to approximately 3500 calories. Going a few hundred calories over or under daily maintenance will add up over time if you do it every day, but missing your target every once in a while by a few hundred will have no noticeable consequences.

Cahgetsfit

hm. well if you're eating at a surplus anyway to bulk cant you just eat the cake and just have less of something else you already logged or just not eat something else you logged and get on with it? Also - as above, you're not going to get super fat because of a couple of hundred calories extra occasionally.

TavistockToad

dpr73 wrote: »

I am in my 3rd month of lean bulking and am following a pretty steady gain (near 2 lbs a month), but my major issue is deviations from my routine where i cannot count. I usually plan my whole day and track super accurately, but today I had an office party qhere I didnt want to seem rude and took a small piece of cake. I know since im bulking it wont hurt, but how do I account for it? I dont want to cut too many calories for the day such that i stall but i also dont want to make my surplus too large. My cheat day, which is more of a day where i take a break from counting and live more mindfully, is saturday and i am going out for lunch and a few drinks at a party with friends. So obviously, today has to be a day where i am extra cautious because my off day isnt until later in the week.

so we're talking about 200 calories? unless it was actually a massive piece of cake? so eat 50 cals less for the next 4 days? or just don't worry about it as 200 cals over your weekly surplus isn't a massive amount that will have any actual impact on your bulk.

dpr73

I ended up estimating 440 to be safe and going on with my calculation as usual that day. Thank you for putting in perspective. Given that I'm so consistent, that day probably wouldn't matter much