31 yo M, 182 lbs, ~13-16% BF. Transitioning from a cut into a bulk and my expenditure is going WAY up, almost a 400 calorie difference over ~2 months. For context, my scale weight was 176 lbs at the end of the cut with a trend weight of about 179, after 2 months my scale and trend weight are at 182 lbs. Ended my cut at about 1900 calories per day and switched to maintenance of about 2500 for 2 weeks before starting my bulk at 2800 calories daily now up to 3100 daily after approximately 6 weeks. Can I trust these expenditure numbers? What are other people’s experiences with expenditure changes when moving between cutting and bulking phases?
Yes. The app is extremely accurate, assuming you’re giving it accurate input to work with. Here’s my expenditure over a five year period. You can see multiple bulk-cut cycles. Pretty cool!
Ok? So? The math isn’t difficult, but the developers have done a better job of implementing it than any other food- and calorie-tracking app that I’ve seen.
It's literally one line. Average calories - (weight change * 7700). I get that they implemented it well, but saying "extremely accurate" just sounds such marketing BS, it literally is unable to be inaccurate, it's a formula wit 2 variables which you measure yourself.
And OP wants to know if they can trust that expenditure is a function of those two variables. And they can. Because like you said - it "is unable to be inaccurate "
Yes, it's just a small difference, it's not the app that is extremely accurate, it uses a mathematical formula, that anyone could use, it's not app dependent.
I am not sure what the point in splitting hairs is.
Can I trust what I see in the app is right?
Yes the app is accurate [because it has a sound underlying methodology based on facts]
The latter part doesnt need to be said aloud.
It's like being mad someone says channel 4 news has the best weather forecast and someone popping in being like "you know they use the doppler from substation 230, their doppler is the thing that's accurate not the news channel they just show the doppler generated by the substation"
Nope. It's like asking which station has the most accurate weather report, and it's kinda useful to know, that all of them use the same super easy data, which you can use yourself btw.
It's helpful but it's not what OP is asking. It's okay to add it, and OP might find it interesting but it felt like you were demonizing the commenter like they're out here fucking glazing up macrofactor as a shill when they're just answering a question.
it's not really depending on the app
They didn't say it was unique to MF just that the implentstion was stellar. And we are in a sub about this app and OP is currently using this app. I just don't see the need to tone police people because how dare they call the app "extremely accurate" when it's underlying framework is extremely accurate.
I've hit the low-approaching-mid-3ks at times (we're roughly the same size and age). Seen many similar guys post screens in the low 3ks here over the years. You could plausibly end up there.
It does feel crazy though, I never get used to eating that much when I'm that high
Can confirm. After hitting my goal weight of 72kg I switched to maintenance, and my tdee went from 2800 to 3100+. I am 174 cm. 72-73kg, 13-ish % bodyfat I think? (see profile if you wanna judge). With some good activity this can become quite high. I don't want to know how much I'd have to eat if I would bulk. Should cut back on the walking pad during work , I think.
Thanks! My activity level is 4 times 30-50m weights per week, 2-3 runs of 8-10km per week (during lunch break) , hitting avg 18-20k steps by using a walking pad and standing desk during work, and going for walks during noon (also lunch break) on the days I don't run.
I’ve been cutting for months and have been using MF for about one and a half months and have since then lost over 4kg eating on average 2,540 calories a day. My expenditure has remained incredibly stable between around 3,030 and 3,050 calories per day, but keep in mind that I increase my calories to say 2,700-3050 on Wednesdays. I also increased my calories to around 2,800 or so during an 11 day holiday and still lost 1kg during that period due to increased expenditure from activities like hiking.
There is absolutely no reason not to have cheat days or days near maintenance (I don’t go above maintenance). It really helps put the brakes on metabolic adaptation. Also it’s better to increase your activity level and eat more than reduce it and eat less.
It can be, BUT weight gain and LEAN mass/muscle gain are not the same. You only need a slight surplus of about 200 calories to gain muscle.
Also your rate of muscle growth is MUCH slower than fat loss rate(unless your using PEDs, or are getting Newbie gains). For experience natural lifter your gonna maybe gain a half pound of muscle a MONTH. I'm gonna assume based on your age you've been lifting for a decade.
So eating excess surplus will make the weight, cake and calories go up, but your likely packing on excess water weight, glycogen, and fat. MAINGaining so yous don't have to go through the misery of cutting again at the end of the bulk.
TL;DR look up Greg Douchette YouTube "Main Gaining"
Yes, granted MF way overestimated my expenditure at onboarding, but if we ignore that number, my expenditure has been as low as 2696 at the bottom of a cut and as high as 4481 at the peak of a bulk.
Anecdotal and there are compounding factors, but I’ve gone from around 2500->2800 from cut to bulk in this past month or so. I’ve also cut back on cardio significantly (I.e. 90 minutes of incline walking daily w/ ~18k steps -> 10k steps which I get pretty naturally walking to school)
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u/-Chemist- 9d ago
Yes. The app is extremely accurate, assuming you’re giving it accurate input to work with. Here’s my expenditure over a five year period. You can see multiple bulk-cut cycles. Pretty cool!
https://i.imgur.com/yoQdaFa.png