Inconsistent caloric intake

[Tim]

Right now I am trying to maintain, not really cut or bulk. Most days (especially workout days) I take in a good amount of calories, much more that 12 per lb bodyweight, but not 18-20 like during a bulking phase. But there are some days were I only get 10-12 cals per pound bodyweight, about one or two days per week. I am wondering what, if any, impact this has on my body. Will it put me in danger of muscle wasting? Might it be an effective way of slowly losing fat while retaining muscle? Also, I'm doing cardio once or twice a week, always on the weekends, as I only have time then (I probably woundn't want to do more cardio than that anyway).

[Nayl]

This follows a more natural eating pattern. It should be effective for burning fat since days where you are low should burn more stored fat for energy but the body doesn't get a chance to go into survival mode because you workout a day and hit it with excess calories.

As long as your weekly intake of protein and carbs and fat is correct you should be fine. I'm trying to develop a similar strategy for myself.

Another thing to work toward on days off is to eat low GI carbs to avoid insulin rush. This will activate fat storage.

[Tim]

Yeah, I eat mostly low glycemic carbs anyways, and on days I don't work out, my total carbs are significantly lower. But with my current schedule it is necessary for me to eat two protein bars everyday, but those are low-gycemic anyways even though they are definitely a very processed food. Maybe if I experiment with this diet a little bit making minor adjustments (like raising cals slightly on hardcore workout days) I might even be able to slowly increase strength/ muscle without gaining any fat.

[fitnessman]

Diet is like training Tim....Keep the body guessing!

[Tim]

So since my body is "confused" by the inconsistant caloric intake, it may be posible to slowly get both leaner and stronger? A few years ago, when I didn't know about BB nutrition, my caloric intake was inconsistant as well, and I often slowly actually got leaner while getting stronger (I wasn't building up lots of muscle rapidly though).