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Question about calorie intake as a beginner
Hello. Sorry for bothering earlier as I sort of forgot this forum exists for asking questions.
I am currently in a good workout routine and I've been eating in surplus just in case since starting as it's my understanding that to build muscle one needs to eat in surplus.
Last year I lost about 10% body fat by just eating less, but my body fat was still quite high at 20%. I was basically skin, fat and bones, so I started building muscle to support all of it. But now after a while of eating in surplus, I've started to fear gaining too much fat and I don't want to go back to what I was.
I've read some sources (not reliable nor scientific) that a beginner doesn't have to care that much about eating in surplus. My question is to confirm whether or not that is true. Can I for example eat 2500kcal a day and expect results or should I keep eating "too much"?
It's certainly true that surplus mitigates potential gains less in beginner trainees. We should understand though that no individual, experienced or not, can gain muscle at their optimal rate (fat and all) without being in a caloric surplus, that's just how biology works. That said, beginners to intermediates can grow meaningful muscle while in maintenance or in a deficit.
The concept of 'caloric surplus equals maximum gains' applies to both muscle and fat. In order to gain as much muscle as your body is able to produce, you will gain excess adipose tissue. This is why 'bulking and cutting' is a popular recourse, trainees will eat in a surplus, build as much muscle as possible while taking the fat that comes with it, then have a shorter period where they eat in a deficit, attempting to retain muscle and lose the excess fat. Fat can be lost far quicker than muscle, and muscle can be regained far quicker then the time it took to initially build.
So my recommendation, find your caloric maintenance. The caloric intake which maintains your current weight. There are calculators online that you can use to get an estimate, and tracking for a month should allow you to have a good idea of your maintenance. For example, I maintain weight on about 2,750 calories/day. Once you've found your maintenance level, reduce it by 500 calories/day, and begin losing fat until you achieve a physique that you're happy with. Keep in mind that this isn't your final physique, it's just a body-fat percentage that you feel comfortable and happy at. Once you're there, re-calculate your maintenance calories, (likely still quite similar) and then add 250/day. Keep training and growing until you find you have more fat than you'd like, then cut back down.
Cycling this behaviour can lead to very profitable results.
Thanks for the question,
Steve.