How many calories is enough?

[maxde1]

This calorie intake vs fat gain is doing my head in
When I started ss I was eating 3000 to 3500 calories per day lots of protein and carbs. I put on 11 kg over 6 months but a lot of stomach fat
I have dropped calories now to 2000 on non lift days and 2500 on lift days. My lifts are 120kg squat, 140kg dead, 85kg bench, 57.5kg press current weight 92.5kg and height 6ft stocky build.
I'm not putting on weight now and my lifts are really struggling to progress, maybe ever so slightly on a good day.

What do you guys recommend to do? Just increase calories to say 2750 and increase body weight? I have a tendency to get chubby pretty easily so need to be careful. I want to have good lifts but don't want to be obese getting there lol

Cheers

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

I think you cut your calories too quickly, maxde1. I have this idea about strength gains and dieting, which is people stall/fail reps and sets whilst dieting not due to weight loss per se, but rather a lack of energy intake. It's a working theory. At any rate, I need some more info:

How are you tracking your food and what kind of protein/carb/fat are you taking in? At 6 feet tall and 92.5kg I have my doubts about you being fat, but I've been wrong before. Any idea of your current BF? What are you doing right now training wise?

[maxde1]

Cheers for the reply Jordan
I track all intake using my fitness on iPhone so I assume its accurate
Intake is 270 pro 200 carb 40 fat for a normal day sometimes less carbs say 180
Perhaps fat is overboard but have some nice love handles . Soft around the middle as rip would describe I think
Body fat guesstimate would be 20% approx to 25

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Cheers for the reply Jordan
I track all intake using my fitness on iPhone so I assume its accurate
Intake is 270 pro 200 carb 40 fat for a normal day sometimes less carbs say 180
Perhaps fat is overboard but have some nice love handles . Soft around the middle as rip would describe I think
Body fat guesstimate would be 20% approx to 25

The tracking tool isn't necessarily what I'm concerned with, it's the weighing/measuring of food if that's the route you want to go down. I think you'll end up seeing good results lowering your protein intake a touch, keeping carbs the same, and upping fat towards about 2700-2900 kCal and adjusting from there. Some hard conditioning on Day 3 would be a good idea, too.

[maxde1]

In what form should the extra fat come from? Almonds or something?
What do you mean by conditioning
I do cardio for 20 mins 2-4 times a week like a brisk walk bike ride etc
Cheers mate

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Almonds, oils, avocado, etc.

Conditioning like pushing the prowler, dragging a sled, or similar.

[maxde1]

Curious as to how extra fat would help? Is it just the extra calories? Would this amount of fat be unhealthy?
I only have access to a normal gym so treadmill bike etc are there any alternatives

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Curious as to how extra fat would help? Is it just the extra calories? Would this amount of fat be unhealthy?
I only have access to a normal gym so treadmill bike etc are there any alternatives

It's not necessarily "extra" fat, but just what I think is a decent starting point. This level of fat gives you more calories, keeps certain metabolic pathways and precursors humming along nicely. There's no amount of fat that is unhealthy, except for too much fat; which would also necessitate your calories being much higher than need be.

You can do it on a bike, elliptical, car pushes, small animal drags, etc.