Cut after Bulk question (for my husband)
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steph2strong
Posts: 426 Member
This is a question about my husband in regards to his current cut, I'm posting it here not the loosing weight section because I am looking for lifters advice.
My husband just completed his third bulk lasting approximately 9 months. He is a serious lifter, does 90 minute sessions 3-5 times per week with a trainer (who was a competitive body builder, Mr. Canada in the 90's) but he knows nothing about nutrition and i manage his diet. During his bulk he ate about 3500-4000 calories a day, during maintenance he eats about 3000-3500 calories a day. He finished this bulk at 200 lbs (he's 6 ft tall).
about 12 weeks ago he started a cut, calories 2400 per day with 200-220 gm protein, fat usually around 40 gm the rest carbs. He lost and continues to loose at around 2 lbs/week, except for one week we were on vacation and he maintained his weight that week. He is now 180 lbs. At this point I think he's lost enough weight, and I've told him that, and his arms, legs, chest and back look shredded, but he has a little bit of fat left at the love handle region and this really bothers him. I don't notice it, but it's something that bothers him so he doesn't want to stop the cut. Ok thats fine if thats what he wants, but I don't want him to start to loose the muscle he's worked so hard to build so I'm trying to figure out what to do with his diet . His trainer has told him these exact words "you don't get lean eating bread", so my husband has asked me if I should just cut out the majority of carbs in his diet and overload the protein. My issue with this, is that in the past when he has tried to follow a very low carb diet he has crashed and burned and also given into craving binges. With his job he can't afford to crash and burn throughout the day. Up to this point I haven't made any foods off limits, just fit everything into a 2400 calorie budget and made sure protein was at least 200 calories day.
I've told him that I think the best idea is to increase his calories a bit to slow the rate of loss at this point, and eventually he will loose the last little stubborn love handle fat... however I don't know if this is true? So my question is (after this very long post) in your experience what has worked to loose the last little bit of ab fat, is it just patience and time? is there benefit to cutting carbs or carb cycling or a specific macronutrient ratio? Any advice is appreciated, I don't want my cooking to be the reason he doesn't reach his ultimate goal.
My husband just completed his third bulk lasting approximately 9 months. He is a serious lifter, does 90 minute sessions 3-5 times per week with a trainer (who was a competitive body builder, Mr. Canada in the 90's) but he knows nothing about nutrition and i manage his diet. During his bulk he ate about 3500-4000 calories a day, during maintenance he eats about 3000-3500 calories a day. He finished this bulk at 200 lbs (he's 6 ft tall).
about 12 weeks ago he started a cut, calories 2400 per day with 200-220 gm protein, fat usually around 40 gm the rest carbs. He lost and continues to loose at around 2 lbs/week, except for one week we were on vacation and he maintained his weight that week. He is now 180 lbs. At this point I think he's lost enough weight, and I've told him that, and his arms, legs, chest and back look shredded, but he has a little bit of fat left at the love handle region and this really bothers him. I don't notice it, but it's something that bothers him so he doesn't want to stop the cut. Ok thats fine if thats what he wants, but I don't want him to start to loose the muscle he's worked so hard to build so I'm trying to figure out what to do with his diet . His trainer has told him these exact words "you don't get lean eating bread", so my husband has asked me if I should just cut out the majority of carbs in his diet and overload the protein. My issue with this, is that in the past when he has tried to follow a very low carb diet he has crashed and burned and also given into craving binges. With his job he can't afford to crash and burn throughout the day. Up to this point I haven't made any foods off limits, just fit everything into a 2400 calorie budget and made sure protein was at least 200 calories day.
I've told him that I think the best idea is to increase his calories a bit to slow the rate of loss at this point, and eventually he will loose the last little stubborn love handle fat... however I don't know if this is true? So my question is (after this very long post) in your experience what has worked to loose the last little bit of ab fat, is it just patience and time? is there benefit to cutting carbs or carb cycling or a specific macronutrient ratio? Any advice is appreciated, I don't want my cooking to be the reason he doesn't reach his ultimate goal.
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Replies
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This is a question about my husband in regards to his current cut, I'm posting it here not the loosing weight section because I am looking for lifters advice.
My husband just completed his third bulk lasting approximately 9 months. He is a serious lifter, does 90 minute sessions 3-5 times per week with a trainer (who was a competitive body builder, Mr. Canada in the 90's) but he knows nothing about nutrition and i manage his diet. During his bulk he ate about 3500-4000 calories a day, during maintenance he eats about 3000-3500 calories a day. He finished this bulk at 200 lbs (he's 6 ft tall).
about 12 weeks ago he started a cut, calories 2400 per day with 200-220 gm protein, fat usually around 40 gm the rest carbs. He lost and continues to loose at around 2 lbs/week, except for one week we were on vacation and he maintained his weight that week. He is now 180 lbs. At this point I think he's lost enough weight, and I've told him that, and his arms, legs, chest and back look shredded, but he has a little bit of fat left at the love handle region and this really bothers him. I don't notice it, but it's something that bothers him so he doesn't want to stop the cut. Ok thats fine if thats what he wants, but I don't want him to start to loose the muscle he's worked so hard to build so I'm trying to figure out what to do with his diet . His trainer has told him these exact words "you don't get lean eating bread", so my husband has asked me if I should just cut out the majority of carbs in his diet and overload the protein. My issue with this, is that in the past when he has tried to follow a very low carb diet he has crashed and burned and also given into craving binges. With his job he can't afford to crash and burn throughout the day. Up to this point I haven't made any foods off limits, just fit everything into a 2400 calorie budget and made sure protein was at least 200 calories day.
I've told him that I think the best idea is to increase his calories a bit to slow the rate of loss at this point, and eventually he will loose the last little stubborn love handle fat... however I don't know if this is true? So my question is (after this very long post) in your experience what has worked to loose the last little bit of ab fat, is it just patience and time? is there benefit to cutting carbs or carb cycling or a specific macronutrient ratio? Any advice is appreciated, I don't want my cooking to be the reason he doesn't reach his ultimate goal.
Your problem is not so complicated, it is pretty simple. from experience, I dropped to 9% bodyfat once, now I'm at 12% you can't lean out that last bit of 4% with high carbs, no way, just no way, and low carbs, when LOW enough it erases cravings at all, but it risks losing muscle, you don't want that.
so if his diet worked, keep doing it, no need to change unless he hits a plateau. if you are afraid of losing muscle, simply up your protein by 10% to match 30-40% and lower his carbs a bit, Doesn't have to be very low, 20-25% are optimal for his current lean state. rest 30-40% are fats.
And in this stage of his, cutting calories should be mostly from workouts, let him cut only 100-200 calories from food or none at all, rest calories from cardio, this with high protein, equals almost no muscle loss (from experience)
at the end, don't do something you can't handle doing it long term, if he doesn't fit with low carb, don't let him do it.2 -
Those last stubborn lbs are usually the hardest especially when you get to really low bodyfat percentages and it can take some patience and experimentation with different methods to get it off. Has he always had problems getting rid of it with previous cuts or is this a new thing?
I would imagine he would just have to keep dropping cals until it eventually comes off. It could get painful and uncomfortable. With adequate protein and training he shouldn't lose too much muscle (if any) in the process.
Sorry I don't have more advice.. but maybe someone with bodybuilding experience can chime in how they get those last few off.1 -
Stubborn fat is as the name suggests. In males it accumulates around the mid section. Ultimately it comes down to persistence and a sustained calorie deficit. Personally I feel that fasted cardio has its place for the last few % and yohimbine HCL could be implemented.
I would recommend reading Lyle McDonalds Stubborn Fat Solution 2.0 which has a very specific protocol which works a treat.3 -
This is a question about my husband in regards to his current cut, I'm posting it here not the loosing weight section because I am looking for lifters advice.
My husband just completed his third bulk lasting approximately 9 months. He is a serious lifter, does 90 minute sessions 3-5 times per week with a trainer (who was a competitive body builder, Mr. Canada in the 90's) but he knows nothing about nutrition and i manage his diet. During his bulk he ate about 3500-4000 calories a day, during maintenance he eats about 3000-3500 calories a day. He finished this bulk at 200 lbs (he's 6 ft tall).
about 12 weeks ago he started a cut, calories 2400 per day with 200-220 gm protein, fat usually around 40 gm the rest carbs. He lost and continues to loose at around 2 lbs/week, except for one week we were on vacation and he maintained his weight that week. He is now 180 lbs. At this point I think he's lost enough weight, and I've told him that, and his arms, legs, chest and back look shredded, but he has a little bit of fat left at the love handle region and this really bothers him. I don't notice it, but it's something that bothers him so he doesn't want to stop the cut. Ok thats fine if thats what he wants, but I don't want him to start to loose the muscle he's worked so hard to build so I'm trying to figure out what to do with his diet . His trainer has told him these exact words "you don't get lean eating bread", so my husband has asked me if I should just cut out the majority of carbs in his diet and overload the protein. My issue with this, is that in the past when he has tried to follow a very low carb diet he has crashed and burned and also given into craving binges. With his job he can't afford to crash and burn throughout the day. Up to this point I haven't made any foods off limits, just fit everything into a 2400 calorie budget and made sure protein was at least 200 calories day.
I've told him that I think the best idea is to increase his calories a bit to slow the rate of loss at this point, and eventually he will loose the last little stubborn love handle fat... however I don't know if this is true? So my question is (after this very long post) in your experience what has worked to loose the last little bit of ab fat, is it just patience and time? is there benefit to cutting carbs or carb cycling or a specific macronutrient ratio? Any advice is appreciated, I don't want my cooking to be the reason he doesn't reach his ultimate goal.
if he is getting adequate protein and still lifting he should not lose a lot of muscle. he can still have bread too. if its just a little stubborn fat he can continue the cut or do a recomp which takes time.how much weight does he need to lose? 2lbs a week may be too much/too aggressive.ab fat takes time to come off so yeah patience will be needed as well.as long as he is in a deficit he will lose fat and weight as he has already. just the less fat you have to lose the slower its going to be and should be.cutting carbs will results in water/glycogen loss(at first) but its not a magical fat burning way to eat.0 -
Thanks everyone for your input.
@sardelsa, his last major cut was about 7 years ago after his first bulk and he got very lean, but he was following a program and the diet was Severe, i think there was one point he almost passed out during the day and then binged on rice cakes (seriously what a horrible thing to binge on). He was doing it for a photo shoot though and so he followed his trainers program rigorously. He got good results, but life doesn't really allow for that kind of severe dieting these days and I also was hoping that it wouldn't be completely necessary to be that miserable to get results.
@trigden1991 he has started fasted cardio in the morning about 3 days a week. Thank you for your input. I will read Lyle McDonalds Stubborn Fat Solution 2.0.
Thanks all to the input about muscle loss during cutting. I might try increasing his protein and total calories bit (extra calories all coming from protein), a bit more calories to support the extra cardio might be a good thing.
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This is a question about my husband in regards to his current cut, I'm posting it here not the loosing weight section because I am looking for lifters advice.
My husband just completed his third bulk lasting approximately 9 months. He is a serious lifter, does 90 minute sessions 3-5 times per week with a trainer (who was a competitive body builder, Mr. Canada in the 90's) but he knows nothing about nutrition and i manage his diet. During his bulk he ate about 3500-4000 calories a day, during maintenance he eats about 3000-3500 calories a day. He finished this bulk at 200 lbs (he's 6 ft tall).
about 12 weeks ago he started a cut, calories 2400 per day with 200-220 gm protein, fat usually around 40 gm the rest carbs. He lost and continues to loose at around 2 lbs/week, except for one week we were on vacation and he maintained his weight that week. He is now 180 lbs. At this point I think he's lost enough weight, and I've told him that, and his arms, legs, chest and back look shredded, but he has a little bit of fat left at the love handle region and this really bothers him. I don't notice it, but it's something that bothers him so he doesn't want to stop the cut. Ok thats fine if thats what he wants, but I don't want him to start to loose the muscle he's worked so hard to build so I'm trying to figure out what to do with his diet . His trainer has told him these exact words "you don't get lean eating bread", so my husband has asked me if I should just cut out the majority of carbs in his diet and overload the protein. My issue with this, is that in the past when he has tried to follow a very low carb diet he has crashed and burned and also given into craving binges. With his job he can't afford to crash and burn throughout the day. Up to this point I haven't made any foods off limits, just fit everything into a 2400 calorie budget and made sure protein was at least 200 calories day.
I've told him that I think the best idea is to increase his calories a bit to slow the rate of loss at this point, and eventually he will loose the last little stubborn love handle fat... however I don't know if this is true? So my question is (after this very long post) in your experience what has worked to loose the last little bit of ab fat, is it just patience and time? is there benefit to cutting carbs or carb cycling or a specific macronutrient ratio? Any advice is appreciated, I don't want my cooking to be the reason he doesn't reach his ultimate goal.
Wow first of all what a lucky man to have you be his chef & the support you sound like you give him. In my experience with cutting for a comp so losing that very last little bit of fat you want to 1. Make sute you have enough healthy fats in your diet 2. Dont drop your calories significantly but only about 25cals every 3 days you wont crash & feel week 3. Steady state cardio if hes not doing it already but not high intensity so you dont lose muscle mass. Hope this helps1 -
This is a question about my husband in regards to his current cut, I'm posting it here not the loosing weight section because I am looking for lifters advice.
My husband just completed his third bulk lasting approximately 9 months. He is a serious lifter, does 90 minute sessions 3-5 times per week with a trainer (who was a competitive body builder, Mr. Canada in the 90's) but he knows nothing about nutrition and i manage his diet. During his bulk he ate about 3500-4000 calories a day, during maintenance he eats about 3000-3500 calories a day. He finished this bulk at 200 lbs (he's 6 ft tall).
about 12 weeks ago he started a cut, calories 2400 per day with 200-220 gm protein, fat usually around 40 gm the rest carbs. He lost and continues to loose at around 2 lbs/week, except for one week we were on vacation and he maintained his weight that week. He is now 180 lbs. At this point I think he's lost enough weight, and I've told him that, and his arms, legs, chest and back look shredded, but he has a little bit of fat left at the love handle region and this really bothers him. I don't notice it, but it's something that bothers him so he doesn't want to stop the cut. Ok thats fine if thats what he wants, but I don't want him to start to loose the muscle he's worked so hard to build so I'm trying to figure out what to do with his diet . His trainer has told him these exact words "you don't get lean eating bread", so my husband has asked me if I should just cut out the majority of carbs in his diet and overload the protein. My issue with this, is that in the past when he has tried to follow a very low carb diet he has crashed and burned and also given into craving binges. With his job he can't afford to crash and burn throughout the day. Up to this point I haven't made any foods off limits, just fit everything into a 2400 calorie budget and made sure protein was at least 200 calories day.
I've told him that I think the best idea is to increase his calories a bit to slow the rate of loss at this point, and eventually he will loose the last little stubborn love handle fat... however I don't know if this is true? So my question is (after this very long post) in your experience what has worked to loose the last little bit of ab fat, is it just patience and time? is there benefit to cutting carbs or carb cycling or a specific macronutrient ratio? Any advice is appreciated, I don't want my cooking to be the reason he doesn't reach his ultimate goal.
Wow first of all what a lucky man to have you be his chef & the support you sound like you give him. In my experience with cutting for a comp so losing that very last little bit of fat you want to 1. Make sute you have enough healthy fats in your diet 2. Dont drop your calories significantly but only about 25cals every 3 days you wont crash & feel week 3. Steady state cardio if hes not doing it already but not high intensity so you dont lose muscle mass. Hope this helps
how is hiit better than steady state cardio? and how is he going to lose muscle mass from this? if he is getting enough protein and lifting still?1 -
My trainer is an IFBB Pro and he's been cutting for a competition in 5 weeks. The last 8 weeks he's been having his carbs (Mostly Oats and Rice) Only Pre and Post workout. He says your body really doesnt need many carbs the rest of the day. But he does eat broccoli and stuff in other meals. He's somewhere around 6-7% bf right now and totally shredded. Hes been eating around 2200 calories a day but he is only 5'8". Buy I would agree with the post above that he shouldn't be trying to lose 2 lbs a week at the end. My trainer been cutting about .5 lbs a week.0
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My trainer is an IFBB Pro and he's been cutting for a competition in 5 weeks. The last 8 weeks he's been having his carbs (Mostly Oats and Rice) Only Pre and Post workout. He says your body really doesnt need many carbs the rest of the day. But he does eat broccoli and stuff in other meals. He's somewhere around 6-7% bf right now and totally shredded. Hes been eating around 2200 calories a day but he is only 5'8". Buy I would agree with the post above that he shouldn't be trying to lose 2 lbs a week at the end. My trainer been cutting about .5 lbs a week.
An IFBB pro is not a good example for the average natural lifter.3 -
trigden1991 wrote: »My trainer is an IFBB Pro and he's been cutting for a competition in 5 weeks. The last 8 weeks he's been having his carbs (Mostly Oats and Rice) Only Pre and Post workout. He says your body really doesnt need many carbs the rest of the day. But he does eat broccoli and stuff in other meals. He's somewhere around 6-7% bf right now and totally shredded. Hes been eating around 2200 calories a day but he is only 5'8". Buy I would agree with the post above that he shouldn't be trying to lose 2 lbs a week at the end. My trainer been cutting about .5 lbs a week.
An IFBB pro is not a good example for the average natural lifter.
"Eat clen, tren hard, anavar give up!"2 -
Thanks for the input everyone. I have uped his calories by 250 per day, mostly protein, because he was continuing to loose 2 lbs per week and thats not necessary now. He just has that tiny little bit left at his low back/stomach. I'm going through Lyle McDonalds book, it's an interesting read, we are implementing some of the training techniques. At this point it's just going to be patience and persistence. I'll see how things are in one month.0
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