Tip Overfeeding and BMR Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Diet & Fat LossEating Tip Overfeeding and BMR How to use your metabolic rate to keep the gains coming by Andrew Heming August 24, 2018April 5, 2021 Tags Bodybuilding, Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips Research on lean, healthy subjects shows an increase in BMR (basal metabolic rate) for about the first two weeks with overfeeding. That means when you try to eat big, your body's first response is to increase its metabolic rate. For regular folks who want to build muscle but not get fat, this is good news, and a good calorie cycling plan can be devised based on this info. For example, overfeed for two weeks, then back down to maintenance levels for a while, then repeat. But this is precisely why just eating more doesn't always work for hardgainers. They take the advice, start eating more for a couple weeks, and then find the scale won't budge. Now the hardgainer thinks he's a non-gainer. He gives up on nutrition and thinks some magical new biceps curl variation is the real secret to getting jacked. Look, this spike in your already naturally fast metabolism is part of the game. Don't worry, it won't keep increasing forever, but you need to be patient. You need time for your body to get used to consuming larger volumes of food. In fact, you may not even be able to eat and properly digest the amount of quality food you need to build muscle... yet. Stay the course, let your body adapt for about two weeks, and the scale will start moving up after that. If you're not in this for the long haul, you need a different hobby. Reference Harris, A. M., Jensen, M. D., & Levine, J. A. (2006). Weekly Changes in Basal Metabolic Rate with Eight Weeks of Overfeeding. Obesity, 14(4), 690-695. doi:10.1038/oby.2006.78. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Diet & Fat Loss The Truth About Nutrition Eureka! A mainstream nutrition book that pretty much agrees with everything T-Nation's been preaching about for the last 10 years! Chris Shugart interviews the wise, wise author. Coconut Oil, Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Olive Oil, Omega-3 Fatty Acids Chris Shugart August 21 Eating Fat Loss 5 Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Trying to get lean? Even experienced lifters make these diet and training mistakes. Are you? Bodybuilding, Diet Strategy, Fat Loss Training, Losing Fat, Nutrition & Supplements Paul Carter August 1 Supplements How to Change Your Body Weight Set Point The right training and the right supplement can help to move your body weight set point, making it easier to stay lean and build muscle. C3G, Dietary Myth Busting, Fat Loss Training, Losing Fat, Nutrition & Supplements Bill Roberts December 31 Supplements What You Don t Know About Workout Supplements If you don't take care of workout supplementation, you might as well not train. Here's how to get it right. BCAA, C3G, Nutrition & Supplements, Palatinose, Plazma, Workout Nutrition TC Luoma September 19