Is it possible to maintain on 3500-4000 cals?

So I've been tracking my eating this week, and it was around 3500-4000 cals a day. I did a two hour intense martial arts workout twice this week, and ran for 5 miles on another day. However, this week my weight went as follows: 147.4, 146.8, 147.4, 147.0, 147.4, 146.8, 147.4.

CC says that if I eat 2600 cals a day I will maintain, but I'm eating well over that and I haven't gained anything. Is it possible that my body is has such a fast metabolism that I'm burning 3500-4000 cals a day?

Alright, so I'm no expert here, but I do think it's possible that you're body actually needs upwards of 4,000 calories just to maintain.  This might be old news to you, but Michael Phelps (the swimmer) famously eats 12000 calories a day to maintain (check this story out!)  So with you being a fairly young, active, and muscular guy it wouldn't necessarily surprise me (and I'm pretty sure the CC calculators aren't too reliable - they've never been right for me either).

Original Post by xmohamm1:

 Is it possible that my body is has such a fast metabolism that I'm burning 3500-4000 cals a day?

 Absolutely.  Keep most of those calories healthy ones and there will be no stopping you!

I think so... I agree with likearock; cc calculators are not always accurate. I think that if you can get away with maintaining at 3-4k a day then by all means the more the better. Just a question, but what exactly does your day-to-day menu consist of? What are the source of your calories??

absolutely.

I've maintained on 4000 cals during periods where I wasn't even doing activity--not even dumbell stuff, not one crunch.

Bottom line is figure out what it takes for you.

Also, I was eating 1600cals and 150g protein a day for a long time and was losing about .5-1 lb a week with much more heavier activity than I did this week. Then I got too low, and my hair started dropping, I got frequent nose bleeds, and a whole bunch of medical problems. My metabolism was slowing too. Plus, my strength went down, like my bench went from 220 to 190 in a few months. Doctor and family convinced me to stop counting cals, stop training so hard with cardio and just eat w/moderate exercise (mostly lifting to rebuild muscle/metabolism), and I started eating a lot to gain weight a few weeks ago. I gained 10lbs quickly, but stayed at the same bodyfat percentage of 12%, then plateaud.

So this week I decided to track my cals for fun and i came up with this, which suprised me, since I was barely losing weight at 1600cals, but maintaining at 3500cals. Now I've started to train back to normal, but still eating alot. My menu varies day to day, but I try to get in around 200g protein a day. Something like this usually:

Breakfast: oatmeal, two turkey sandwiches. (670cals, 46g protein)

Snack 1: Protein shake, granola bar. (420cals, 51g protein)

Lunch: 10oz berries or melon, turkey wrap, something sweet like a couple cookies. (790cals, 40g protein)

Snack 2: Protein Bar, some beef jerky (400cals, 44g protein)

Dinner: Some kind of pasta or rice with veggies & meat (650 cals, 60g protein)

Snack 3: 1 cup cottage cheese and pop-tarts (600 cals, 32g protein)

TOTAL: 3530cals, 273g protein. Plus I sometimes snack on little things that add a few hundred cals.

XM-that is awesome!  i dont do cardio and try, time permitting, to do moderate free weights 2/wk, girly stuff i suppose, about 3000 cals, havent weighed in 2weeks tho. 

thats great that you maintain on that!! how long have you been maintaining on that?  if you want to gain more, add 500 cals to that.

im jealous, i hope i can get my metabolism to be like that!!

lol!! Wow that's a ton of food... I wouldn't know what to do with all that, but that's really awesome that you're that much of a machine where you can just use the food for fuel. My bf eats like that, and I love to cook for him. :)

Hope my metabolism can get up to that when I get more muscle!!!

Lol thanks. I think around three weeks. This was the first week I've actually counted, so before it might have been a little more or less. this week im starting my pre weight gain intense workouts again (Heavy lifting 5times and 2.5 mile runs 5 times a week, plus karate workouts), up from the smaller amounts I was doing during recovery, so i may hav to add more.

What i dont understand is why at 140ish i was losing at 1600 and would be able to maintain at 2200cals (with tons of exercise), but now after just letting go pretty much at 150 i need so much more, like 1.5times that, even with do less exercise. doesnt make sense! anyone know y?

i dunno, maybe 150 is your "happy weight" and your body is fighting for you to sta there and not gain or lose?  also, the heavier you are the more you need to maintain that weight.

i cant see myself ever being that active, even after ive gained it all back, thats just not me, never was.  i dont really like cardio tho bc i think its so boring and prefer weights when i have a chance.  im not worrying about excercise +the future, ill deal w it when it comes, itd be awesome to eat a good amount+ just do weights a few times a week, who knows.

I know a lot of body builders do "cutting" phases where they reduce their body fat percentage and they up their muscle lb per lb. Maybe that's what you did by accident? Then that would make much more sense as you need more cals to fuel those muscles... in fact you might have just got on that good loop where you are gaining more muscle and still losing body fat... I'm trying to get there now since I am on my 50day cycle for gaining muscle. I have to eat more to sustain muscle growth and then back on the cutting phase for 50 days again. I would think your bod is just doing well now maintaining and growing muscle on that amount.

Idk, the weird thing is that at both weights and calorie intakes i had the same body fat and looked the same. But when I was lighter I was much weaker (For example I was benching 190 instead of 220). So I think I lost both fat and muscle at the same ratio, then put it on at the same ratio, but maybe the muscle I put on burns a lot more cals...but almost twice as much? I doubt it. Maybe it's really cuz 150lbs is my "happy weight".

Also, this week I started back my heavy exercise routine and already I have dropped more than 5lbs in two days, yet I'm still fully hydrated and everything. But looking back on both days, I only had around 2500 cals (Because exercising somehow decreasing my appetite a lot), and I lost weight, so I guess to maintain around 3500 (at least) would actually be right.

It is possible, but I would honestly watch how your eating and what. 3500 calories at 147, you must never sit still..lol I am 235lb, and eat 3000 average to gain about 1 lb a week. I am in the gym every day 75 minutes of weight lifting, and 30 min cardio 2-3 days a week. noting your diet, watch your cholesterol levels. One of the dangers of maintaining a high protein diet ( trust me I do the same being a body builder) is a lot of cholesterol. Watch your whey protien, it is generally high with it.

One note, if you want to maintain, or even gain in muscle , if your still 147, bring your protien down to about 200 grams a day, and make the difference up with carbs, veggies fruits.... the other fall back of high protien is gut back log. so maintain fibers to clean ya out.

good gainin'

i would agree with the above. i read another one of your posts and from what i gather you are a wrestler who restricts pretty severly pretty frequently?? and have the odd binge.

when  you have been restrictive for a long time the first while you eat large amounts of food there is a lot of calorie wasting, and much of it goes into restoring general health, glycogen stores and overall energy levels. chances are though that this will catch up with you.

while struggling with and eating disorder but getting my cal levels up i was eating about 3500-4000 cals, and doing moderate exercise (going for runs etc..... but not 3000-4000 cals worth!) anyway i wasnt gaining a thing. i wasnt even maintaining. but after a while of this my body sufficiently healed and i started to gain. (i needed to - i dunno if you do or dont)

i dont maintain on 3000 cals now!! ha no sir.... so just be caredful..... i think when you arent michael phelps in height and design best not to follow them footsteps - nutritionally anyway!

so fidget, how much do you maintain on then?

anywhere from 1800-2300 now..... i feel sufficiently satisfied but safe on around 1800. but actually if im totally honest i dont count cals anymore. so it could be more like 2200-2300.... i was just happy to get away from counting