Should I eat less on rest days to minimize fat gains?

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Hi everyone. I'll make it as quick as possible.

Let's say I train 3x/week. And let's assume I have an accurate estimate of my TDEE for both rest days and training days, and they look like this:

On training days I have a TDEE of 2800kcal.

On rest days I have a TDEE of 2400kcal.

Should I eat 3100kcal on training days and 2700kcal on rest days to minimize fat gains? Or should I stick to 3100kcal every day?

Thanks for reading!
 

Jin

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Yes. Eat less on your non training days to avoid gaining fat.
 

CJ

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In one of your options, you're eating 1,600 less Cals in the week, so you will definitely gain less weight on that.
 

Deadhead

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Hi everyone. I'll make it as quick as possible.

Let's say I train 3x/week. And let's assume I have an accurate estimate of my TDEE for both rest days and training days, and they look like this:

On training days I have a TDEE of 2800kcal.

On rest days I have a TDEE of 2400kcal.

Should I eat 3100kcal on training days and 2700kcal on rest days to minimize fat gains? Or should I stick to 3100kcal every day?

Thanks for reading!

I would just cut the carbs back a lil. Keep fats and protiens where they are. But thats just what works well with me.
 
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I normally just drop my intra drink which drops my calories by around 100, but I still try to get 3-5 miles of walking in.
 
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It makes sense that you spend less energy on rest days, so you need less food. I do the same. Plus, on such days you don't really want to eat either, because there is no activity. Do you count the number of calories?
 

white ape

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Yes, lowering carbs on rest days is the best way to reduce those calories that you won’t need.

Had an ex that did a carb cycling program and she was able to lose a ton of weight combining that with exercise.
 

BigSwolePump

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I eat the same calories either way. My workout burns like 200-300 calories max unless I am doing cardio. Unless you are doing this consistently for days at a time, you aren't going to put on anything noticable if at all.

I pretended that I do cardio.:32 (18):
 

BrotherIron

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Personally, I try to keep Kcal the same on all days. I just manipulate the carbs, fats, and protein. On non training days you don't need nearly as many carbs so up the protein and fat those days to keep Kcal similar.
 

white ape

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pretend cardio is my favorite type of cardio

I eat the same calories either way. My workout burns like 200-300 calories max unless I am doing cardio. Unless you are doing this consistently for days at a time, you aren't going to put on anything noticable if at all.

I pretended that I do cardio.:32 (18):
 
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Gibsonator

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How do you get from the bench, to the rack, to the cables, to the locker room? CARDIO!

If ur a substantial amount of weight this kind of makes sense. Or I'm just gonna use it for an excuse for why I don't do cardio.
 

lfod14

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I would just cut the carbs back a lil. Keep fats and protiens where they are. But thats just what works well with me.

I'd second this, I'm more of a fan of macro manipulation as I've slowed my metabolism down in the past. I keep my carbs lower on rest days and raise my fats since most of us aren't getting enough of them in to begin with. The fat's aren't going to make you fat when the carbs are lower unless you get stupid or choose high GI carbs.
 

Send0

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IMO, you only need to eat 200-300 calories less on non workout workout days. Nothing dramatic... alternatively, keep your calories the same and add in some light/moderate cardio sessions on your non-liftitng days.

Lately I lean towards the latter approach, after all the heart is a muscle that should be worked out as well.
 

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