why eat less than a surplus on "rest days"

1985mansfield

I prefer to maintain the same amount 7 days a week. If I was to eat less on my non lifting days, the low energy levels will continue onto training day and the session wouldn't probably suck.

PwrLftr82

Huh? No reason to eat less on rest days. I eat the same (2700 cals/day--okay, more on weekends, whatever) every day of the week.

SideSteel

This is an old thread but I like this topic.

There's a theoretical framework around eating less on rest days and more on training days but I'm not claiming it to be true and I'm not aware of any research that may have examined it.

The belief is that you may be able to take advantage of nutrient partitioning by shuttling additional calories around the training bout to promote growth and slightly less around rest days to mitigate potential fat gain.

This is an appeal to authority in it's entirety, but I spoke to James Krieger about this a few months ago and he thinks there's merit to taking this approach, at least in an energy surplus. Now that doesn't mean this is correct (although he's freakin' brilliant IMO), and one would still have to look at things like personal preference and recovery/performance when taking an approach like this. So for example if the reduced intake on the rest day impairs recovery or performance on the following day then you'd probably face problems that would outweigh any theoretical (if any) benefit to taking this approach.

Finally, he's competing soon so this could also be a case where we're talking about maximizing a theoretical benefit under competitive conditions --- something general population may not even care about.

PwrLftr82

SideSteel wrote: »

So for example if the reduced intake on the rest day impairs recovery or performance on the following day then you'd probably face problems that would outweigh and theoretical (if any) benefit to taking this approach.

This is how I feel. If, supposedly, muscle repairs and, therefor grows on rest days, to me it makes sense to maintain my surplus on those days to aid in the process.

SideSteel

PwrLftr82 wrote: »

SideSteel wrote: »

So for example if the reduced intake on the rest day impairs recovery or performance on the following day then you'd probably face problems that would outweigh and theoretical (if any) benefit to taking this approach.

This is how I feel. If, supposedly, muscle repairs and, therefor grows on rest days, to me it makes sense to maintain my surplus on those days to aid in the process.

Sure, and it probably does aid in the process. But you'd also have to wonder, if you're resting you're likely expending less energy on your rest day than your training day. If you're eating the same calories daily, are you then creating a larger surplus on the rest day vs the training day and is this sub optimal for partitioning?

Protein synthesis is still elevated on the rest day so I'm not claiming it would all go to fat but it does raise the question as to whether or not it makes sense to pull intake down a bit to account for that.

For what it's worth, I tend to eat similarly on training and rest days so despite my posting here I'm not suggesting that either way is optimal, I just find the discussion interesting and I'm presenting what I understand to be a potential basis for cycling intake.

PwrLftr82

SideSteel wrote: »

PwrLftr82 wrote: »

SideSteel wrote: »

So for example if the reduced intake on the rest day impairs recovery or performance on the following day then you'd probably face problems that would outweigh and theoretical (if any) benefit to taking this approach.

This is how I feel. If, supposedly, muscle repairs and, therefor grows on rest days, to me it makes sense to maintain my surplus on those days to aid in the process.

Sure, and it probably does aid in the process. But you'd also have to wonder, if you're resting you're likely expending less energy on your rest day than your training day. If you're eating the same calories daily, are you then creating a larger surplus on the rest day vs the training day and is this sub optimal for partitioning?

Protein synthesis is still elevated on the rest day so I'm not claiming it would all go to fat but it does raise the question as to whether or not it makes sense to pull intake down a bit to account for that.

For what it's worth, I tend to eat similarly on training and rest days so despite my posting here I'm not suggesting that either way is optimal, I just find the discussion interesting and I'm presenting what I understand to be a potential basis for cycling intake.

Good point!