What's the over/under margin for Calories?

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TonyMo25
TonyMo25 Posts: 31 Member
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?

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  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    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: 38,401 MFP Moderator
    edited August 2016
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    Good luck with your fat gain goals of 2016 OP.

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