THIS is Almost Like a Performance Enhancing Drug?

I’m having some of my best lifting days recently while staying lean.

Been using a strategy.

I’ll outline it here.

It’s not something you would want to do if you need to cut a lot of body fat.

But works extremely well if you are already lean.

Or are super close to your target weight.

The trick is to eat in surplus after stringing together several days of being in a deficit.

I have been adding muscle recently while staying lean using this strategy.

It’s called calorie cycling, which isn’t new or anything.

But my approach is just a bit more nuanced than what I’ve seen outlined.

Here are the principles of traditional calorie cycling.

• Eat more calories on training days (a calorie surplus)
• Eat fewer calories on rest days (a calorie deficit)
• Keep protein constant each day (.8g per lb of body weight)
• Adjust your carbs and fats to increase or decrease calories

I don’t quite do it like this.

I prefer to keep my calories in a deficit for most of the week.

Then just have 1-2 days of higher calories, typically on the weekend, when it makes sense.

Works better for a good social life.

The key is not to overindulge.

I recently went out to brunch with a girl I’m dating and had an omelet and half a stack of pancakes.

*Sure, I could have eaten this whole pancake stack, but I have trained myself to stop before I’m stuffed.

Most guys I know will finish what is on their plate “no matter what.”

I was stuck in this cycle.

It’s a tough habit to break but believe me…

You don’t want the restaurant-sized portions to dictate how many calories you eat… this will keep you fat (like most of the population).

So, make a habit of stopping before you finish a plate of food.

YOU choose how many calories to eat.

Not the restaurant.

And don’t go crazy and eat 4,500+ calories on these surplus days because that will absolutely screw up your diet.

*Check out this bloody mary. It has a sub sandwich, onion rings, buffalo wings, a mini pizza AND another bloody mary on top of it, lmao.

I’ll aim to be in a deficit about 5 days per week.

Then, for 1-2 days, I go up to maybe 2,800-3,300 calories.

If I went up to 4,500 and beyond, like many people do following calorie cycling, I wouldn’t be able to stay lean.

The difference between 3,300 and 4,500 is 1,200.

That is almost a half a pound of fat.

So you want to be maybe 400-500 calories above maintenance on those 1-2 days.

I typically have been having the most epic workouts of my life the days following these slight surplus days.

*I recently put up 15 reps with 100 lb dumbbells in shoulder press the day after eating in a calorie surplus.

I find my best workouts happen a day or two after these higher-calorie days.

The reason why this works…

It’s due to “Glycogen Supercompensation.”

When you are in a deficit for several days in a row, the stored carbs in your muscle (glycogen) get depleted.

When you reintroduce carbs and calories in a surplus.

Your muscles store more carbs than they normally do.

This not only makes your muscles appear larger and gives you a better pump, but this increase in muscle size also allows you to lift more weight.

You will feel like a f*ckn superhero.

More weight lifted also means more gains over time.

The best part about this is that this supercompensation effect can last several days.

Studies show up to 5 days.

This is why I don’t worry about training exactly one day after my higher-calorie day.

I just know that if I work out a day or two after a brunch day…

I’m going to be stong as f*ck.

This explains why almost all of my PRs are hit while I’m on vacation.

I plan on covering this eating strategy in more detail at some point.

I might add it as a course module, etc.

The main idea is to be in a slight deficit throughout the week and then just allow about a 500-calorie surplus 1-2 times per week.

Works well!

Talk Soon,

Greg O’Gallagher