If you’re new to the world of diet and exercise, the term “calorie cycling” may sound like an advanced strategy that’s too complex for you to implement.
Calorie cycling is actually simple to understand and easy to implement.
Here’s how it works with Hack Your Fitness, where we work out three times a week:
- On workout days, you have a maintenance calorie budget (we’ll help you calculate this).
- On rest days, you slash your calorie budget to achieve a caloric deficit for the week.
As we go through this piece and unpack the science behind calorie cycling and discuss how to implement it, don’t be freaked out by the terminology or calculations.
The math is simple and the concepts are easy to grasp.
By the end, you’ll be able to cycle your calories just like a fitness expert!
Let’s get started with the reasoning behind calorie cycling.
Calorie Cycling Keeps You on Track
If you’ll recall from the piece we did on calorie counting, there are two fundamental truths when it comes to humans and their calorie consumption:
- We do not need as many calories as we think we do.
- We consistently underestimate the number of calories we ingest.
When combined with a switch from calorie-rich foods to wholesome foods, calorie cycling has the potential to be an eye-opening shift for fitness newbies.
Not only does their weight begin to drop consistently each week, but they’re now eating more food than they ever thought was possible on a fat-burning program.
“How can you lose weight eating this much food?” is a question I get all the time.
When you abide by a calorie budget, you can eat like a king and still lose weight if you make the right food choices. The first step, of course, is calculating your calorie budget.
Let’s do those calculations now for workout and rest days.
How Many Calories Do You Need?
The goal with calorie cycling is to feed your body the energy it needs on training days while slashing your calories on rest days to maintain a long-term caloric deficit.
The first step in this process is determining your weekly calorie budget, and to do this, we’re going to calculate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
Here’s part one of the equation, which involves determining your basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the calories you need each day just to live – your coma calories, if you will:
- Men = 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)
- Women = 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)
Here’s an online calculator if you need it.
Once you have your BMR, multiply it by an Activity Factor of 1.2. (I like to underestimate activity because the “downside” of underestimating is losing more weight!)
Take your TDEE (daily calorie needs) and multiply it by 7 to get your weekly budget.
If your TDEE is 2,000, then you have 14,000 calories for the week.
Adjusting Your Budget to Shed Body Fat
One pound of body fat equals 3,500 calories.
So, in order to shed 1 pound per week, you must deduct 3,500 calories from your budget.
Now your weekly budget of 14,000 calories is down to 10,500.
On workout days, you follow the TDEE (or maintenance) budget and consume 2,000 calories.
So where does that leave you on rest days? The math is simple:
- Rest Day Calories = [Total Weekly Calories – (3 x TDEE)] / 4
- Using our example = [10,500 – (3 x 2,000)] / 4 = 1,125
Going from 2,000 calories on workout days to 1,125 calories on rest days is quite a jump, but it makes sense – on rest days, your energy needs are far lower.
As you make progress with your lifts and your diet, your weight will change and you’ll need to recalculate your TDEE to maintain an accurate calorie budget.
Matching Your Macros to Your Calorie Budget
Knowing your calorie budget for workout and rest days is the first step in a proper diet.
The second step is knowing the macronutrient intake you need for each day in order to properly fuel your body and keep you satiated (feeling full) longer:
Here’s how 100% of your calories should be spent throughout the week:
- Workout days: 45% protein, 40% carbs, 15% fat
- Rest days: 55% protein, 20% carbs, 25% fat
You’ll tweak these percentages over time, but this is the best place for beginners to start.
How Many Grams of Each Macro Your Body Needs
Using the 4-4-9 rule – 4 calories per gram of protein, 4 calories per gram of carbs, and 9 calories per gram of fat – you can see how many grams of each macronutrient you’ll eat.
Let’s continue with our previous example to see how the math works:
Workout days
- Protein: 2,000 x .45 = 900 / 4 = 225 g
- Carbs: 2,000 x .4 = 800 / 4 = 200 g
- Fat: 2,000 x .15 = 300 / 9 = 33 g
Rest days
- Protein: 1,125 x .55 = 618.75 / 4 = 155 g
- Carbs: 1,125 x .2 = 225 / 4 = 56 g
- Fat: 1,125 x .25 = 281.25 / 9 = 31 g
When people talk about calorie cycling, this is essentially what they mean.
You’re cycling the total number of calories you consume and your macro percentages every day based on what your body needs that day for energy and recovery.
Feeling overwhelmed with all this math? Don’t worry. We got you covered.
When You Don’t Want to Cycle Calories
The only time calorie cycling does not make sense is when you’re trying to bulk up quickly and need to be on a calorie surplus.
Then again, the first step in bulking is getting your body fat down to an appropriate level:
- 10% or less for men
- 15% or less for women
If you don’t cut before you bulk, you’ll end up fat jacked.