Calorie total daily or weekly?

jesshanley12

I’m looking to become stronger and put on weight and I was wondering whether or not to calculate my calories weekly so I can fluctuate throughout the week. At the moment I’m eating around 2000 calories a day so if for example on Monday i ate 1700 calories and on the Tuesday ate 2300, will this affect my muscle growth as Monday may be maintenance rather than the calorie surplus that I need??

sardelsa

Typically when trying to gain I always recommend being more consistent vs. calorie cycling. While it will come down to overall calories at the end of it, I would not bank too many calories for a few days especially if you are trying to gain muscle... first for many it can make it more difficult and become a snowball effect where they can't catch up with their intake on those high days, also there is only so much muscle you can build at one time and excess calories will be more likely to go to fat if consumed all at once. However it doesn't sound like you are going too crazy with the calorie difference with 1700 vs 2300... just something to keep in mind if you want to have a bigger gap.

jesshanley12

Ok thankyou... I’ve lost a stone however now I’m underweight and need to put weight on, my maintenance is 1700 so I’m trying to eat 2000 and put weight on slowly as I’m scared to put all my weight back on

sardelsa

Best thing to do is take it slow.. so 250 cals over maintenance per day which is around where you have it. Also make sure you are getting adequate protein and following proper progressive training since that will help some of the gain be muscle.