Attempting body recomposition by cycling calories on workout/non-workout days... but, I can't find any sources that really agree on how many calories I need to eat. For instance here's two articles written by the same guy that give me an 800kcal difference between them:
http://romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/calorie-calculations-for-body-recompositioning/2 http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-basics-of-body-recomposition-how-to-lose-fat-gain-muscle-at-the-same-time/
Now, one thing most of these calculations (including the above) have in common is the calories are based on your maintenance calories or BMR, plus some modifier for the muscle building.
However, basing it off your average maintenance calories seems like it should create an overall caloric deficit. So, if I normally burn 2,400kcal on an average day then I go weightlifting I'm burning an extra 500kcal for a total of 2,900kcal. Yet a formula that adds 15% to maintenance would only have me eating ~2700kcal for a roughly 200kcal deficit. (And that's assuming I don't do extra cardio!)
So, is it basically a matter of beating your "maintenance" so your body knows you have enough to maintain itself and will build muscle? Or should it be more than my actual calorie burn, meaning I should calculate/track calories I've burned and try to eat a little more than that? (I have a Jawbone UP3 fitness tracker, so the latter is doable... I just need to figure out the right thing to do.)
I'm also still a beginner and fairly overweight, so I know things work a little bit in my favor on this... but I'd like to optimize so I can improve faster, and get in the right habits for when I'm thinner/fitter.