Is 2400+ kcal excess per day too much

[iCookie]

I keep reading on the bodybuilding forums that in order to gain as much muscle as possible without gaining too much fat you should eat 500kcal excess every day.

With my current diet, I am eating around 5500 kcals per day. I only need about 3000-3300 per day according to cunningham. This means an excess of about 2500 kcals....is that too much you think?

I'm 20% bodyfat @ 175lbs @ 6"1' (79kg / 185cm)

I have the skinny-fat look and don't know wheter this is right for me or not. I fear getting a huge stomach...

[luco]

How long have you been eating 5500 kcals/day? What have the results been?
If you're skinny-fat it might not be a good idea to overeat. The muscle you'll be adding will be immediately hidden by the fat you put on. Have you read Mehdi's piece on the slow approach to weightgaining? Thing to take out of that: If you're packing on 10 kg's a month, 70% of that will probably be fat. If you eat healthy foods and have a slight caloric surplus you should be able to make the same muscle gains without the fat gains.

What's your strength level?

(..If you're squatting 400 lbs I didn't say a damn thing and I'll buy you a double quarterpounder with cheese..)

[iCookie]

The results have basically been that my stomach area has grown from 98cm to 105 cm in 1 week...on the rest of my body I haven't noticed any changes. I've only done 5x5 for a week so far...and I squat about 27,5kg as you start pretty low in mehdis 5x5. But I decided to up it so now I'm going to try 35kg squat tomorrow. Then if that's easy I might jump straight to 45 or 50 next time...I want to make it as hard as possible as soon as possible or else I'll probably just put on loads of fat...

[luco]

I think you just answered your first post with your last post.. Your stomach has grown 7 cm in 1 week.
If that doesn't concern you I don't know if you're gonna be safe by yourself. To make clear, that's 30 cm (1ft) a month. You'd be the fattest skinny person in the world in 2 months. Don't start increasing weights beyond your real capabilities. Mehdi has you start with weights that low because you NEED form as close to perfect as it's gonna get before you're gonna handle heavy weights. I suggest just eating maintenance (Cunningham) kcals of healthy foods and lifting 3x/week for at least a month or two and evaluate the results. Chances are you'll build muscle and lose fat (just like the SL slogan promises ).

[Sam277]

The BB forums over on TNation will advocate 5k plus calories, but also advocate 5-6 day splits. And they're expecting you to be going full out intensity with heavy weights. So you'd be using more calories following their advice anyway.

Could get by with less on a 3 day split, especially when starting out.

[mjh]

I don't think it's wise to eat so much when you're just starting out. Eat at about 500 above maintenance and see how things go. Pay attention to the changes you see... if you're not gaining, add another 500 cals. You'll find you need to up your calories as the weight you're lifting goes up.

[iCookie]

I reduced it to around 1000-1500 kcals a day...I'll try that for a week and see how it goes when I measure my weight/bodyfat

[Rockfella]

U are loading very fast. The main idea of starting light (20kgs) is to get used to squatting 3 x week. Your approach is flawed towards training and food intake! i'd say keep an excess of 500 extra (i am not absolutely sure but this is the consensus here) Follow BB OR stronglifts, don't mix them up LOL! Think of split routines/extensions/dumbells/eating 6k calories later... perhaps a year!

The results have basically been that my stomach area has grown from 98cm to 105 cm in 1 week...on the rest of my body I haven't noticed any changes. I've only done 5x5 for a week so far...and I squat about 27,5kg as you start pretty low in mehdis 5x5. But I decided to up it so now I'm going to try 35kg squat tomorrow. Then if that's easy I might jump straight to 45 or 50 next time...I want to make it as hard as possible as soon as possible or else I'll probably just put on loads of fat...

[iCookie]

Yea I don't do split routines.

Anyways I cut calorie intake down to about 850 (excess) a day for training days, and 600 (excess) for non-training

[luco]

Be sure to measure your progress, body composition wise, and let us know how it works out. Good luck!

[s0ku]

I don't think it's wise to eat so much when you're just starting out. Eat at about 500 above maintenance and see how things go. Pay attention to the changes you see... if you're not gaining, add another 500 cals. You'll find you need to up your calories as the weight you're lifting goes up.

My vote goes here. This worked for me.

With your vitals, I think 5,500 a day is too much on this program unless you're trying to achieve a certain weight goal in a short period of time or unless you have an insanely fast metabolism. There are a lot of other factors too to consider like how active you are outside weight lifting. I'm 6'2" at 180 lbs with 14% body fat, and I consume 3,400 calories on workout days and 2,900 on non-workout. I usually walk 2 hours a day on top of weight training, and this allows me to maintain my body weight and to slightly increase it over time. If I were to throw an extra 1,000 on to those days, I know that most of it would just be going into fat with my body. I know because some days I overeat, and I see it on the scale the next morning. I only wish muscle would grow that fast. =P