Fats or lipids

On the contrary, the closer the subject is to being a beginner, the greater their potential for muscle growth: this is because they will have more room for progression in training and, therefore, for an anabolic stimulus. Potentially their caloric requirement can go even beyond 25% compared to the TDEE. In this context, a fundamental parameter which can make a big diff erence in results, is age. Physiologically, a young individual has higher IGF-1, free testosterone, and growth hormone than a more mature individual, and will therefore be able to handle larger caloric increases, while limiting the parallel fat gain that could occur.

Let’s take an example: • a man of 80 kg of weight × 180 cm tall, 30 years old; • 4 weight workouts per week; • average activity during the day (6000 steps per day); • estimated body fat is 10% using the plicometry method; • formerly overweight. By calculating the TDEE through the formulas, we get a value of 2650 Kcal; these are the estimated Kcal that would keep him at the indicated weight. However, if, as in the case of our example subject, we are faced with a person who has suff ered from obesity in the past, that is, a person who has a rather high weight set point, we must consider the fact that this person will tend to accumulate fat easily and will be infl exible at the metabolic level.

At this point, we must consider our subject’s level: if we have an advanced athlete with years of training and in or near his maximum natural genetic potential, we can do as follows:

TDEE 100% maintenance

BULK ZONE

+15% intermediate

+10% advanced +20% beginner +30% under 23

Figure 12.2 Th e fi gure represents the personally elaborated range of the caloric demand regarding the TDEE. Th e interval is divided according to the age and the starting level of the subject, and it is focused on the “construction” period (bulk phase).

2650 + 10% = 2915 Kcal If instead, our subject is at an intermediate level:

2650 + 20% = 3180 Kcal Finally, if our subject is at the beginning or already has/tends to have a condition of very low body fat, we can do as follows:

2650 + 30% = 3445 Kcal In order to better choose the macronutrients that we’ll use, we should also take into account the body composition. Furthermore, although the TDEE is a “maintenance” level, it does not exclude the fact that there may be variations in the muscle mass and in the fat tissue; consequently, the TDEE itself is a dynamic value to be evaluated along the way.

I purposely stopped at a calorie surplus of 30%, because exceeding this level can result in an indiscriminate increase in fat and muscle that I would not recommend. It is true that both beginners and adolescents and/or “ectomorphs” could benefit from high caloric increases, since they have a sensitivity to nutrients, and consequently a response that is different than that of the advanced or mesomorphic/endomorphic subjects. However, this is another matter that will not be dealt with here.

From Kcal to macronutrients

Keeping ourselves on a practical level, knowing how much our body actually consumes at a given moment, and how much it needs, is basic and necessary. If we refer to the population in general and in the long term, for the restoration of the ideal body composition, in a perfect physiology, a calorie is a calorie. However, as it really happens in bodybuilding, when you try to overcome a limit or any obstacle “imposed” by genetic and hormonal peculiarities, it is essential to go into more detail by applying adjustments to the percentages of the daily macronutrients and single meals. It is necessary to define a linear or wavy trend for the Kcal and decide which nutrients to include according to the training time (the so-called timing) and many more factors.

If we talk about the macronutrient percentages, we have a very wide choice and it is linked to: • the starting body composition of the subject: it would be better to set the quantity of carbohydrates and proteins in an inversely proportional way to the body fat, and vice versa for fats (Elia, 1999); this factor implies, but not absolutely, a subjective insulin sensitivity; • the training method: the more the training will tend towards a metabolic work, the more it will require attention to the carbohydrate quota; • the type of the daily activities that influence the energy expenditure, i.e. beware of

NEAT: a very dynamic subject has a greater tolerance to high percentages of diet fats (Ruderman, 1998). Let’s report the numbers that we just mentioned: • proteins: 15-30%; • fats: 25-40%; • carbohydrates: 60-30%. We could also evaluate macronutrients by referring to them as grams per kg of body weight (abbreviated to g/kg), which in the case of a caloric surplus could be: