Caloric Guidelines As Estimates

Caloric guidelines for fat loss and muscle gain are not to be taken as as absolutes. They are simply educated ESTIMATES to serve as a starting point.

Once you’ve decided upon a caloric amount, you then need to implement that with high compliance for at least a couple weeks and then adjust based on the OUTCOME.

This means that, if you’re aiming for fat loss, you might start with a caloric intake of 12 X BW. But after two weeks if you’ve been exceptionally compliant to the plan and you’re still not making any progress then you need to adjust that intake accordingly.

This is called outcome-based decision making and it is a central tenet of the physique change process.

This serves as a constant refinement of your program over time based on your changing caloric needs.