When To Stop Cutting

BklynFitGuy

I had 2 goals when I began using MFP. One was to lose weight(fat) and the other was to add muscle. At what point do you adjust your calories/macros? My profile pic is how I look currently. I want to make sure I'm not losing muscle if I eat at a calorie deficit.

Hornsby

Recomp or cut. Your body fat still needs to come down quite a bit for a bulk in my opinion.

Hornsby

Generally people bulk when they get to low teens or below body fat.

BklynFitGuy

Great, thanks.

HamsterManV2

Cutting doesn't magically kill your muscles! You will still make muscle gains while cutting, just not as quickly as bulking. The only exception is when you get down to ~12% body fat, where you have minimal fat for your body to take energy from (and even then, you maintain/lose muscles slowly if you are still lifting).

Just keep on cutting and keep on lifting. You will make it!

rainbowbow

You will inevitably lose SOME muscle mass while eating a caloric deficit over a long period of time. To minimize this make sure you are lifting weights often, and consuming enough protein in your diet. I wouldn't worry about this too much.

As far as when to stop cutting, i'd say you have quite a far ways to go. Generally most people wait until they are in the 10-12% range so their current muscle mass is actually visible. It's hard to just bulk when you don't know how much mass you have, how much you really need to gain, etc. It's all covered by fat right now.

best of luck!

BklynFitGuy

Thanks all. I think I have a better understanding now.

Liftng4Lis

You lifting?

BklynFitGuy

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

You lifting?

A few weeks into Stronglifts