We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

What's the over/under margin for Calories?

TonyMo25
TonyMo25 Posts: 31 Member
edited December 2024 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
So my calorie intake is 3,800 per day to gain 1.5lb a week, I'm curious, what's the margin for error? How far over and under can I be and not lose or get too fat? Cuz i Know some days I will go over like 300 cal or under 300...same for macros?

Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Not sure what you mean

    It's not a 24 hour period but a commitment over time

    Weight is not linearly related to calories you can't say on this day I ate 3500 calories in surplus so I now weigh 1lb more

    Over time hit your surplus, many work on a rolling 7 day basis and all will be fine if you judge over 6-8 weeks
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,439 MFP Moderator
    edited August 2016
    TonyMo25 wrote: »
    So my calorie intake is 3,800 per day to gain 1.5lb a week, I'm curious, what's the margin for error? How far over and under can I be and not lose or get too fat? Cuz i Know some days I will go over like 300 cal or under 300...same for macros?

    This is the reason why you need crazy amounts of calories. You want to gain a ridiculous amount of weight per week. If you do actually gain that much, it means a few things; 1. maintenance is around 3000 calories, and 2. if you aim that high, it will mostly be fat.

    Back calories down to 3300, do some HIIT and a progressive lifting program and make it easier on yourself.
  • jdscrubs32
    jdscrubs32 Posts: 515 Member
    TonyMo25 wrote: »
    So my calorie intake is 3,800 per day to gain 1.5lb a week, I'm curious, what's the margin for error? How far over and under can I be and not lose or get too fat? Cuz i Know some days I will go over like 300 cal or under 300...same for macros?

    I wouldnt worry about it. As @Sued0nim said "It's not a 24 hour period but a commitment over time. Weight is not linearly related to calories you can't say on this day I ate 3500 calories in surplus so I now weigh 1lb more. Over time hit your surplus, many work on a rolling 7 day basis and all will be fine if you judge over 6-8 weeks".

    I was on 4,000 calories daily when I was bulking. Most days I hit, some day I didn't. I still gained. As long as you can hit in or around 3,500 most days, you will be fine. Do a nice slow bulk and take your time. That way the increase in fat will not be that high.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    TonyMo25 wrote: »
    So my calorie intake is 3,800 per day to gain 1.5lb a week, I'm curious, what's the margin for error? How far over and under can I be and not lose or get too fat? Cuz i Know some days I will go over like 300 cal or under 300...same for macros?

    This is the reason why you need crazy amounts of calories. You want to gain a ridiculous amount of weight per week. If you do actually gain that much, it means a few things; 1. maintenance is around 3000 calories, and 2. if you aim that high, it will mostly be fat.

    Back calories down to 3300, do some HIIT and a progressive lifting program and make it easier on yourself.

    I misread the 1.5 as 0.5lbs a week

    He's right you know
  • TonyMo25
    TonyMo25 Posts: 31 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    TonyMo25 wrote: »
    So my calorie intake is 3,800 per day to gain 1.5lb a week, I'm curious, what's the margin for error? How far over and under can I be and not lose or get too fat? Cuz i Know some days I will go over like 300 cal or under 300...same for macros?

    This is the reason why you need crazy amounts of calories. You want to gain a ridiculous amount of weight per week. If you do actually gain that much, it means a few things; 1. maintenance is around 3000 calories, and 2. if you aim that high, it will mostly be fat.

    Back calories down to 3300, do some HIIT and a progressive lifting program and make it easier on yourself.

    Thanks, i appreciate the feedback
  • TonyMo25
    TonyMo25 Posts: 31 Member
    Sued0nim wrote: »
    psulemon wrote: »
    TonyMo25 wrote: »
    So my calorie intake is 3,800 per day to gain 1.5lb a week, I'm curious, what's the margin for error? How far over and under can I be and not lose or get too fat? Cuz i Know some days I will go over like 300 cal or under 300...same for macros?

    This is the reason why you need crazy amounts of calories. You want to gain a ridiculous amount of weight per week. If you do actually gain that much, it means a few things; 1. maintenance is around 3000 calories, and 2. if you aim that high, it will mostly be fat.

    Back calories down to 3300, do some HIIT and a progressive lifting program and make it easier on yourself.

    I misread the 1.5 as 0.5lbs a week

    He's right you know

    Yeah i gotta eat eat eat
  • pinggolfer96
    pinggolfer96 Posts: 2,248 Member
    That's way too much gain per week. Look at a lot of that to be fat I'd be happy seeing that every 3-4 weeks for minimal fat gain
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Good luck with your fat gain goals of 2016 OP.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories