BMR Recalculation

I've been following Martin Berkhan's Leangains protocol for the past year and it's reduced my bodyfat considerably since Jan until now, a lot of that is also due to switching to Paleo. I counted calories to get and idea in the beginning, and now I guess at 2640 (BMR + 20%) on training days and 1760 (BMR - 20%) on rest days. That was using a BMR value of 2200 calories. My bodyfat ranges between 11% and 12% depending on how much beer I drink during the week. Last week I had a friend staying from Denmark and went out on the beers 3 times and BF rose to 12.6%. No drinking this so next time I check BF should be back down under 12.

Just saw this website today with a BMR calculation showing a much lower result. He recommends eating a lot more carbs that I usually eat and less calories overall. It's also interesting what he says about fat on training days. I know it's best to eat carbs post workout to restore muscle glycogen and to spike insulin to shuttle protein to the muscle cells, and less carbs on rest days, but I never gave that much concern to the amount of fat I was eating.


Calculating Leangains Macros based on http://rippedbody.jp/2011/10/23/how-to-calculate-leangains-macros/


Metric BMR Formula
Women: BMR = 655+ ( 9.6 x weight in kilos )+( 1.8 x height in cm ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66+ ( 13.7 x weight in kilos ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) – ( 6.8 x age in years )
Kie: 66 + (13.7 x 76) + (5 x 178) - (6.8 x 35) = 66 + 1041.2 + 890 - 238 = 1759.2 calories


Adjust for Activity
Guides to BMR usually recommend that you use an ‘activity multiplier’ (x1.2~x1.9) depending on your lifestyle/training.
( I won't bother adjusting because I work at a desk and only exercise 3 times a week )

Goal

Choose to ‘Cut’, ‘Slow-Bulk’ or gradual ‘Body-Recomposition’
The calories and thus macros you choose will depend on your goals.

Body-Recomposition: Martin himself refers to a +20%kCal and -20%kCal rule for T-Days and R-Days respectively.
Cut: Your numbers might look something like 2200kCal and 1300kCal. (+10%/-35%kCal)
Slow bulk: Your numbers might look something like 1800kCal and 2800kCal. (+40%/-10%kCal)

Based on the above recommendations, following the 'Cut' guide, I would be eating 1935 calories on training days and 1143 calories on rest days. That seems like hardly any calories at all man, I reckon if I followed that I might lose weight and strength.

I have an "Over-training and Cortisol" experiment that I'm doing first during December, then I'll think about trying this in January.

Main goal is to get stronger, after that start playing with leaning out techniques.

Training Plan I

Overall Rules
Prerequisite of 1 month eating Paleo before start


2200 Calories a day maintenance
 = +20% 2640 on training days
 = -20% 1760 on rest days

Protein around 300-350 on all days.
Fat around 50 on lift days
Fat around 80 on rest days
Carbs around 300-350 on lift days
Carbs around 100-150 on rest days

Workout 3 times a week (Mon Wed Fri)
Drink 4 litres of water a day
Eat Paelo
Sleep 8 hours a night (will add 'in total darkness' when I get some better curtains)

Crossfit Paleo Leangains Method 1
Timeline: Jan 16th to Feb 26th (6 weeks)
8 hour eating window 7AM to 3PM
http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html
Advantages
Whey & Carbs can be ingested immediately after working out thereby taking advantage of the 45 minute window when most muscle synthesis takes place.
Disadvantages
You have to break the rules if you go out for dinner.

Crossfit Paleo Leangains Method 2
Timeline: Feb 27th to April 9th (6 weeks)

8 hour eating window 12PM to 8PM
http://www.leangains.com/2010/05/early-morning-fasted-training.html

Advantages

More time in the mornings

PostWO growth hormone synthesis

Disadvantages

Evening binge eating up to 8pm

You can't eat breakfast

Questions

Q. One of the main advantages of IF is insulin sensitivity, what do I want that for?

A. Insulin sensitivity is a term used to describe people who require relatively normal or low levels of insulin to process glucose. People with insulin resistance, on the other hand, need a lot of insulin to process glucose, and this leads to health problems.

Q. How does IF improve insulin sensitivity then?
A. 

Q. Martin Berkham wrote that muscle synthesis begins 4 hours after exercise, what is the scientific proof of this?

A. (From Leangains)
When the post-workout meal comes around is also when muscle protein synthesis is beginning to take off. Though muscle protein synthesis is acutely stimulated post-workout in response to resistance training and protein intake, studies show some latency in regards to elevation and peak. Protein synthesis starts to climb about 3-4 hours post-workout, reaches a peak at the 24-hour-mark and returns close to baseline values 36 hours post-workout (or 48 hours depending on who you ask; studies on this topic show slightly different results regarding length and peak of elevation). Even if you push back the post-workout meal a few hours, you will be in the fed state at a time when nutrient partitioning is optimized and muscle growth likely to occur.

Q. Mark of Mark's Daily Apple doesn't eat for 2 hours after working out to stimulate production of human growth hormone, what's that all about?

A. He only works out 2 times a week and will never deplete his glycogen stores enough to require 'recovery'.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/post-workout-fasting/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC329619/pdf/jcinvest00482-0014.pdf

Q. (Pasted from leangains) 
Is there a specific reason for the carb-cycling (carb on rest days)? Or is it ok to eat a lot of carbs also on rest days, as long as it is calorie-deficit?

A well rounded diet, not too low in fat, improves diet adherence. For bulking, there might be some benefit not to keep muscle glycogen stores too close to fullness in order to prevent DNL on training days/high carb days. This is of lesser importance on a fat loss setup as mean carb intake is much lower and unlikely to refill muscle glycogen stores fully on training days.