Knowing how your metabolism functions is key to any bodybuilders arsenal. So let me break this down and simplify it for everyone. Lets go all the way back to the caveman days. As humans we have struggled, thrived, and adapted since day one. Our bodies are designed for survival. Your body will continue to fight and struggle to survive whether your brain likes it or not. With that in mind lets look at how our metabolisms are effected. There are many factors that effect your metabolism. The number one factor is caloric intake. It is a very simple concept. The more you eat the higher your metabolism, and the less you eat the lower your metabolism. Which is why fat people initially find it very easy to lose weight. And as our bf% dwindles down it becomes harder to lose those excess pounds. But losing weight does not mean we need to sacrifice our sufficient metabolism. Dont forget that your body is built for survival so cutting calories drastically over a period of time will only destroy your metabolism because your body recognizes its not receiving enough calories for maintenance, this is where your survival instincts kick and and drop your caloric maintenance. If this wasnt the case we would all be extinct by now. With a small adjustment in caloric intake it will take the body about 7 days to adapt to this change. With drastic adjustments such as not eating anything for an entire 48 hours will shock the system making your body drop your metabolism down to nothing for survival purposes. With that in mind we need to approach our contest prep very conservatively. Take about 2 weeks keep your caloric intake exactly the same. A balanced macro nutrition plan is essential for our health, but is irrelevant when figuring out our maintenance for the day. After 2 weeks with the exact same caloric intake measure how much your body weight has changed. NOTE- keep weigh in consistent, If you initially weigh yourself in the morning on an empty stomach repeat that at your final weigh in to ensure data is accurate. Now it takes approximately 3500 calories to gain or lose a lb of fat. If you gained 1 lb of fat in those 2 weeks you now know you were about 250 calories above maintenance on average per day.