Something I often hear on a Monday from my bespoke clients and my online coaching clients is something like this.
“Shit Tregs, I’ve done my Monday morning weigh in, and I’ve gained 5lb!”
The first thing I tell them is that they haven’t gained 5lb of fat. To gain 1lb of fat you need to eat around 3500 calories. So to gain 5lb of fat, you’d need to eat 17,500 calories over a few days.
And that’s 17,500 calories on top of what you burn.
So if you burn 2,500 calories a day through your basal metabolic rate (unsure of yours, check out our calorie calculator), then you’d need to eat 22,500 calories!
That’s about 40 McDonalds Big Mac burgers or about 14 Dominos pizzas.
Even Eddie Hall would struggle to eat that much extra.
The scale weight will mostly be water. It’s common to overeat carbs over the weekend when most of it comes from beers or takeaway food. For every gram of carbohydrates you eat, your body retains 3g of water.
So it’s unlikely you actually gained 5lb of fat.
The usual reaction from my clients is “Phew!”
But I then I give them the bad news.
You easily added a pound of fat over that weekend.
Let’s face it, if you’ve been out for a meal, had a giant roast or put away a few beers, you can easily over consume 3500 calories on the weekend.
A big Sunday roast, plus dessert and 3-4 beers work out at around 3500 cals easily. And that’s just one meal!
Now, I’m not saying you can’t go and do this once in a while, but if you add 1-2lb of fat over the weekend, then you need to be prepared to adjust your week to compensate.
Here’s how to do it.
You work out your calorie deficit for the week. So, taking me as an example, if I’m trying to get leaner for a race, I drop to 2200 calories a day.
That gives me 15,400 calories for the entire week.
Start tracking on Saturday using an app like MyFitnessPal and be honest! You have to account for everything that goes into your mouth including drinks.
So, let’s say I relax and have a few beers on Saturday, and I go to bed after consuming 3000 calories.
On Sunday I have a decent roast with another couple of beers alongside my usual food intake. That’s about 4000 calories, and trust me lads, this is easy to do.
On those two days, I’ve consumed 7000 calories, which gives me 8,400 for the remaining 5 days which is about 1600 cals a day.
Some of my bespoke clients like to fast on a Monday, so they can divide their balance by 4 days, giving them a pretty decent 2100 calories a day from Tuesday onwards.
Fasting for an entire day might sound hard but on a Monday after a massive weekend is the best time. Your glycogen stores are topped up, and you’ll be feeling pretty full still after the weekend.
Let me know what you think lads. When you look at your calorie intake for the week and factor in some calorie borrowing on heavier days, you can enjoy your food without slowly gaining weight through the year.
Ready to start your transformation?
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