Little advice & help
Samm471
Posts: 432 Member
I was directed here with my questions as you guys my be able to help!
I'm currently doing 5x5 stronglifts I have been for the past 7 weeks and really enjoy it and I am seeing strength gains and to me it looks like a little muscle gain ( not sure because I'm on a deficit) I'm happy with my weight but not bf% Id like this lower. I am 22.7% well when I checked with calipers but I know these are or can be so innacurate. I was going to reverse diet and do a recomp however I'm not totally sure if this is the right thing to do. Am I too high in bf% to do a bulk and too new to lifting .. Someone had mentioned to me that because I'm new to lifting that I may be better waiting about a year before bulking but to sit at maintenace because again being a newbie I can gain some muscle but only for a short time. I just need a little help where to go next on this journey. I'm 5'1 weigh 120lbs and bf is 22.7% (not sure it's totally accurate though ) I do SL 5x5 three times a week and two other days a week I do LISS cardio for about 20/30 minutes. Thanks
I'm currently doing 5x5 stronglifts I have been for the past 7 weeks and really enjoy it and I am seeing strength gains and to me it looks like a little muscle gain ( not sure because I'm on a deficit) I'm happy with my weight but not bf% Id like this lower. I am 22.7% well when I checked with calipers but I know these are or can be so innacurate. I was going to reverse diet and do a recomp however I'm not totally sure if this is the right thing to do. Am I too high in bf% to do a bulk and too new to lifting .. Someone had mentioned to me that because I'm new to lifting that I may be better waiting about a year before bulking but to sit at maintenace because again being a newbie I can gain some muscle but only for a short time. I just need a little help where to go next on this journey. I'm 5'1 weigh 120lbs and bf is 22.7% (not sure it's totally accurate though ) I do SL 5x5 three times a week and two other days a week I do LISS cardio for about 20/30 minutes. Thanks
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Replies
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If you want to lower body fat % there are pretty much 2 ways to do it.
1) Eat at a deficit, lose weight, will be mostly fat, and a little muscle. This happens in a few months depending on how much weight you want to lose. Then you can do bulk/cut cycles.
2) body recomp - where as I understand it, you eat at maintenance, and use strength training to build up your muscles, your body will utilize energy from fat stores to build muscles. This is a much slower process, think in terms of years not months.
Which ever route you go, find someone who has been there/done that to help you with your specifics and tips for how to make it work for you. Personally, I just lost weight and did a lot of body strength exercises along the way. I liked how my body looked when I hit goal weight, but I'm not super picky either.0 -
If you want to lower body fat % there are pretty much 2 ways to do it.
1) Eat at a deficit, lose weight, will be mostly fat, and a little muscle. This happens in a few months depending on how much weight you want to lose. Then you can do bulk/cut cycles.
2) body recomp - where as I understand it, you eat at maintenance, and use strength training to build up your muscles, your body will utilize energy from fat stores to build muscles. This is a much slower process, think in terms of years not months.
Which ever route you go, find someone who has been there/done that to help you with your specifics and tips for how to make it work for you. Personally, I just lost weight and did a lot of body strength exercises along the way. I liked how my body looked when I hit goal weight, but I'm not super picky either.
I don't really want to stay in a deficit I'm not happy to lose anymore weight .. I didn't realise a recomp took years it's only a few more %bf I need to lose not loads and I thought if I could stick to maintenance for a while get it down I could start bulk/cut0 -
Surely it all depends on how much body fat you have to lose to determine how long you need to be at maintenace for? Someone at 22.7% is going to reach a goal of say 20% before someone at say 30% body fat it wouldn't take years to achieve this0
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If you like the weight you are, then recomp is probably the route for you. It may not be years for results, and yes it does depend on your goal, but you certainly should be looking further ahead than 2-3 months for results.
I'm not an expert on recomp, but maybe this thread will help you:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p10 -
It doesn't take years to see results in a recomp. You'll see them, slowly, gradually. I started noticing little things like veins here or there, or a half an inch lost in one area along with more definition. I did it for about 3 months. If you have the patience, it can be a great route for someone who is happy with their weight but not ready for a bulk.0
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arditarose wrote: »It doesn't take years to see results in a recomp. You'll see them, slowly, gradually. I started noticing little things like veins here or there, or a half an inch lost in one area along with more definition. I did it for about 3 months. If you have the patience, it can be a great route for someone who is happy with their weight but not ready for a bulk.
Awesome thanks! Yeah I'm happy with weight and I do want to bulk eventually but my body fat isn't where I want it to be so recomp I thought would be best ..
Do you have to be lifting a while before a bulk someone had said to me that since I'm not an experienced lifter and still a beginner that bulking Isn't a good idea for me. I don't really wanna wait a year to bulk but if I have to then so be it. How long was it before you bulked?
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The other thing is, you could recomp for a few months and then reassess. Someone on here (sorry, it escapes me who) doesn't do bulk/cut cycles, but instead runs recomp/bulk cycles. He realizes it's a longer process, but it gets him where he needs to be.
Was it @Hornsby ?0 -
The other thing is, you could recomp for a few months and then reassess. Someone on here (sorry, it escapes me who) doesn't do bulk/cut cycles, but instead runs recomp/bulk cycles. He realizes it's a longer process, but it gets him where he needs to be.
Was it @Hornsby ?
I didn't realise you could do that. See I'm like 7 weeks into lifting so I'm totally new and still learning which is great I'm enjoying it and making errors along the way but I guess that's part of it. When you cut and bulk though how do you know when to stop bulking and more importantly how do you know when to stop cutting after a bulk? I can't get my head around that part0 -
The thing with recomps is it depends on the person level of leanness, dedications and how their body response. I worked with a women who recomped from 26% to 18% body fat and it took about 18 months. Others might be quicker or slower. She did this while doing 5 days of crossfit. But she also was ridiculous with her eating (ate the same thing almost daily because she enjoyed it).
Others prefer the bulk/cut or cut/bulk/cut. Ideally, if you don't have timeframe, then a recomp is fine and like others said you can always change your plan as you make progress (or realistically, if you don't make the progress you prefer).0 -
The thing with recomps is it depends on the person level of leanness, dedications and how their body response. I worked with a women who recomped from 26% to 18% body fat and it took about 18 months. Others might be quicker or slower. She did this while doing 5 days of crossfit. But she also was ridiculous with her eating (ate the same thing almost daily because she enjoyed it).
Others prefer the bulk/cut or cut/bulk/cut. Ideally, if you don't have timeframe, then a recomp is fine and like others said you can always change your plan as you make progress (or realistically, if you don't make the progress you prefer).
Okay thanks. When you say she was ridiculous with her eating do you mean as in poor food choices? Ineat the same a lot like a lot of sweet potato chicken nearly most days etc can that effect your goals? I thought If its healthy and good for you then it is fine. I don't have a time frame really I just always wondered if I would be spinning my wheels spending time doing a recomp when the time spent on it could be spent bulk/cut and seeing better results0 -
The thing with recomps is it depends on the person level of leanness, dedications and how their body response. I worked with a women who recomped from 26% to 18% body fat and it took about 18 months. Others might be quicker or slower. She did this while doing 5 days of crossfit. But she also was ridiculous with her eating (ate the same thing almost daily because she enjoyed it).
Others prefer the bulk/cut or cut/bulk/cut. Ideally, if you don't have timeframe, then a recomp is fine and like others said you can always change your plan as you make progress (or realistically, if you don't make the progress you prefer).
Okay thanks. When you say she was ridiculous with her eating do you mean as in poor food choices? Ineat the same a lot like a lot of sweet potato chicken nearly most days etc can that effect your goals? I thought If its healthy and good for you then it is fine. I don't have a time frame really I just always wondered if I would be spinning my wheels spending time doing a recomp when the time spent on it could be spent bulk/cut and seeing better results
Ridiculous as she literally ate the same thing daily.. almost the old chicken and broccoli mentality. It was nutrient dense and healthy choices... but didn't have much change. For some, it's a rather difficult thing to always hit the same number of calories week after week (i know life gets in the way for me).0 -
The thing with recomps is it depends on the person level of leanness, dedications and how their body response. I worked with a women who recomped from 26% to 18% body fat and it took about 18 months. Others might be quicker or slower. She did this while doing 5 days of crossfit. But she also was ridiculous with her eating (ate the same thing almost daily because she enjoyed it).
Others prefer the bulk/cut or cut/bulk/cut. Ideally, if you don't have timeframe, then a recomp is fine and like others said you can always change your plan as you make progress (or realistically, if you don't make the progress you prefer).
Okay thanks. When you say she was ridiculous with her eating do you mean as in poor food choices? Ineat the same a lot like a lot of sweet potato chicken nearly most days etc can that effect your goals? I thought If its healthy and good for you then it is fine. I don't have a time frame really I just always wondered if I would be spinning my wheels spending time doing a recomp when the time spent on it could be spent bulk/cut and seeing better results
Ridiculous as she literally ate the same thing daily.. almost the old chicken and broccoli mentality. It was nutrient dense and healthy choices... but didn't have much change. For some, it's a rather difficult thing to always hit the same number of calories week after week (i know life gets in the way for me).
Aw I see! I'm not that bad haha ☺️0 -
Also, general recommendations for bulk cycle is 2 to 1 (maybe 1.5). So you can bulk for 12 weeks (and assuming about 50% of it is muscle gain) then you would cut for 6 weeks (but this also assumes you can sustain all muscle gains and it assumes you don't transition to maintenance for a few weeks so you don't have huge swings in calories). But that can also be dependent on the type of bulk you run and how big your surplus.0
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A year to bulk?!? Yeah, no. That is bad advice.
Maybe 2-3 months, as you can put muscle on even in a small deficit during the "newbie phase". It definitely won't hurt though to be in a small surplus even in the newbie phase.
22% is about middle of the range if I am looking at the numbers for females correctly, so you can pursue basically whatever option you want at this point. Personally, I like bulk/cut phases better than recomping, mostly because I am impatient and I need some kind of changes happening in a reasonable time to stay motivated, but some people do great on recomps too.0 -
_Bropollo_ wrote: »A year to bulk?!? Yeah, no. That is bad advice.
Maybe 2-3 months, as you can put muscle on even in a small deficit during the "newbie phase". It definitely won't hurt though to be in a small surplus even in the newbie phase.
22% is about middle of the range if I am looking at the numbers for females correctly, so you can pursue basically whatever option you want at this point. Personally, I like bulk/cut phases better than recomping, mostly because I am impatient and I need some kind of changes happening in a reasonable time to stay motivated, but some people do great on recomps too.
Who said a year to bulk?0 -
_Bropollo_ wrote: »A year to bulk?!? Yeah, no. That is bad advice.
Maybe 2-3 months, as you can put muscle on even in a small deficit during the "newbie phase". It definitely won't hurt though to be in a small surplus even in the newbie phase.
22% is about middle of the range if I am looking at the numbers for females correctly, so you can pursue basically whatever option you want at this point. Personally, I like bulk/cut phases better than recomping, mostly because I am impatient and I need some kind of changes happening in a reasonable time to stay motivated, but some people do great on recomps too.
I haven't actually got my body fat tested by a pro it's just my own calipers I use so I know they're probably not that accurate? I would like to bulk/cut because I am a little impatient too lol
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Also, general recommendations for bulk cycle is 2 to 1 (maybe 1.5). So you can bulk for 12 weeks (and assuming about 50% of it is muscle gain) then you would cut for 6 weeks (but this also assumes you can sustain all muscle gains and it assumes you don't transition to maintenance for a few weeks so you don't have huge swings in calories). But that can also be dependent on the type of bulk you run and how big your surplus.
I would like to bulk/cut but it's the cutting back down I have no idea about. When it comes to cutting do you slowly cut the cals and how far back do you cut them and you mean don't sit at maintenance? I thought a decent bulk as in eating the right things not just shovelling pizza and chips and crisps etc into my body and maybe a little 250 cals surplus a day is that okay for a bulk I have no idea lol you can tell I'm a newbie eh!? Lol0 -
Also, general recommendations for bulk cycle is 2 to 1 (maybe 1.5). So you can bulk for 12 weeks (and assuming about 50% of it is muscle gain) then you would cut for 6 weeks (but this also assumes you can sustain all muscle gains and it assumes you don't transition to maintenance for a few weeks so you don't have huge swings in calories). But that can also be dependent on the type of bulk you run and how big your surplus.
I would like to bulk/cut but it's the cutting back down I have no idea about. When it comes to cutting do you slowly cut the cals and how far back do you cut them and you mean don't sit at maintenance? I thought a decent bulk as in eating the right things not just shovelling pizza and chips and crisps etc into my body and maybe a little 250 cals surplus a day is that okay for a bulk I have no idea lol you can tell I'm a newbie eh!? Lol
It will vary by person but would probably recommend a mod cut (250 less than tdee or 10%).0 -
Also, general recommendations for bulk cycle is 2 to 1 (maybe 1.5). So you can bulk for 12 weeks (and assuming about 50% of it is muscle gain) then you would cut for 6 weeks (but this also assumes you can sustain all muscle gains and it assumes you don't transition to maintenance for a few weeks so you don't have huge swings in calories). But that can also be dependent on the type of bulk you run and how big your surplus.
I would like to bulk/cut but it's the cutting back down I have no idea about. When it comes to cutting do you slowly cut the cals and how far back do you cut them and you mean don't sit at maintenance? I thought a decent bulk as in eating the right things not just shovelling pizza and chips and crisps etc into my body and maybe a little 250 cals surplus a day is that okay for a bulk I have no idea lol you can tell I'm a newbie eh!? Lol
It will vary by person but would probably recommend a mod cut (250 less than tdee or 10%).
Okay thank you 0 -
_Bropollo_ wrote: »A year to bulk?!? Yeah, no. That is bad advice.
Maybe 2-3 months, as you can put muscle on even in a small deficit during the "newbie phase". It definitely won't hurt though to be in a small surplus even in the newbie phase.
22% is about middle of the range if I am looking at the numbers for females correctly, so you can pursue basically whatever option you want at this point. Personally, I like bulk/cut phases better than recomping, mostly because I am impatient and I need some kind of changes happening in a reasonable time to stay motivated, but some people do great on recomps too.
Who said a year to bulk?
OP mentioned someone gave her that advice. Not anybody here (I hope)0 -
_Bropollo_ wrote: »_Bropollo_ wrote: »A year to bulk?!? Yeah, no. That is bad advice.
Maybe 2-3 months, as you can put muscle on even in a small deficit during the "newbie phase". It definitely won't hurt though to be in a small surplus even in the newbie phase.
22% is about middle of the range if I am looking at the numbers for females correctly, so you can pursue basically whatever option you want at this point. Personally, I like bulk/cut phases better than recomping, mostly because I am impatient and I need some kind of changes happening in a reasonable time to stay motivated, but some people do great on recomps too.
Who said a year to bulk?
OP mentioned someone gave her that advice. Not anybody here (I hope)
Op was told to wait a year while lifting before bulking. I think it's because she was new to lifting and that she should address neurological efficiencies prior to trying to bulk.0 -
_Bropollo_ wrote: »_Bropollo_ wrote: »A year to bulk?!? Yeah, no. That is bad advice.
Maybe 2-3 months, as you can put muscle on even in a small deficit during the "newbie phase". It definitely won't hurt though to be in a small surplus even in the newbie phase.
22% is about middle of the range if I am looking at the numbers for females correctly, so you can pursue basically whatever option you want at this point. Personally, I like bulk/cut phases better than recomping, mostly because I am impatient and I need some kind of changes happening in a reasonable time to stay motivated, but some people do great on recomps too.
Who said a year to bulk?
OP mentioned someone gave her that advice. Not anybody here (I hope)
Op was told to wait a year while lifting before bulking. I think it's because she was new to lifting and that she should address neurological efficiencies prior to trying to bulk.
^^ yeah exactly that lol I am new and well I would like to bulk just when my body fat is a little lower I don't really want to wait a year but if need be0 -
I would like to bulk/cut but it's the cutting back down I have no idea about. When it comes to cutting do you slowly cut the cals and how far back do you cut them and you mean don't sit at maintenance? I thought a decent bulk as in eating the right things not just shovelling pizza and chips and crisps etc into my body and maybe a little 250 cals surplus a day is that okay for a bulk I have no idea lol you can tell I'm a newbie eh!? Lol
Cutting involves picking a moderate deficit, lifting consistently, and battling to keep those lifting numbers from dropping. You have to signal to your body, through the stimulus of lifting, that it is not allowed to thrift muscle to stay calorie efficient because you need that muscle to "survive". Your body just needs to suck it up and use up some fat stores.
Remember, our bodies are hardwired through years of evolution to be calorie-efficient to maximize our survival, and large muscles and a high bodyweight are not calorie efficient. If you go into a calorie deficit, and don't lift, you will drop a lot of lean mass (muscle) along with the fat. This is the difference between dropping bodyfat and just losing weight. One is definitely harder than the other.
Lifting is almost more important in a cut than a bulk. Your body doesn't know you are artificially providing the stimulus, all it can tell is that it is being asked to do things that are close to its maximum ability, and thrifting muscle might not allow you to do that anymore, and hence you might get "eaten". Obviously, no real danger, but thinking in terms of evolutionary analogies can help a lot when trying to understand what to do and how our bodies work.
You are going to lose a little bit of muscle cutting no matter what, but if you do it right, it will be minimal. First rule is to keep the deficit reasonable. Any more than 20% deficit is too aggressive. You can get away with 15%, that is what I cut at, it might require you to take "refeed" days periodically where you eat at maintenance for a day. The reason behind it is you are going to have the same protein goals (0.8g per lbs of bodyweight) you did on your bulk, but with fewer calories to get them in now, the fats/carbs get crowded out. You will certainly notice a difference in the gym after about two weeks in a deficit; I was like clockwork and needed a refeed about every 6 or 7 days. My lifts would bounce back up for a few days after I did the refeed, then it would get tough again to meet my training volume.
Most sources I have read say to take cuts only to a max of 20 weeks before taking a break to eat at maintenance for a few weeks if you plan to continue cutting. You can slow your metabolism down temporarily if you don't (again, the body trying to be calorie efficient).
Hope this helps, cutting is hard, but the results are worth it.0 -
_Bropollo_ wrote: »_Bropollo_ wrote: »A year to bulk?!? Yeah, no. That is bad advice.
Maybe 2-3 months, as you can put muscle on even in a small deficit during the "newbie phase". It definitely won't hurt though to be in a small surplus even in the newbie phase.
22% is about middle of the range if I am looking at the numbers for females correctly, so you can pursue basically whatever option you want at this point. Personally, I like bulk/cut phases better than recomping, mostly because I am impatient and I need some kind of changes happening in a reasonable time to stay motivated, but some people do great on recomps too.
Who said a year to bulk?
OP mentioned someone gave her that advice. Not anybody here (I hope)
Op was told to wait a year while lifting before bulking. I think it's because she was new to lifting and that she should address neurological efficiencies prior to trying to bulk.
^^ yeah exactly that lol I am new and well I would like to bulk just when my body fat is a little lower I don't really want to wait a year but if need be
I would like to point out that I concur with the statement though. If you are new to lifting, you will probably not want to bulk right away. From what I have read, your body would be more inclined to become more efficient prior to building new muscle.0
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