Cutting??

ivyylam333

I know bulking means to do eat more and all but when people say cut does that mean to go back to your original calories after you reach a certain weight? When do you cutt? What does it it mean to cut? Sorry I'm new to all this and I just want a clear understanding

AnvilHead

"Bulking" means eating in a caloric surplus (usually accompanied with strength training) in an effort to gain weight / add muscle. "Cutting" means eating in a caloric deficit (also usually accompanied with strength training) in an effort to lose weight, but preserve what muscle mass you currently have.

"Cutting" means basically the same thing as "dieting" or "losing weight".

ivyylam333

Oh okay thanks !

ivyylam333

When should I cut?

tcs1991ts

You can cut whenever you want, but usually people do it for a few weeks to months at a time and follow it up with a bulk. I do disagree with someone above though. When you cut you will lose muscle mass....you can cut very slowly which will lessen the lose but extended cuts do result in lose of muscle.

Carlos_421

tcs1991ts wrote: »

You can cut whenever you want, but usually people do it for a few weeks to months at a time and follow it up with a bulk. I do disagree with someone above though. When you cut you will lose muscle mass....you can cut very slowly which will lessen the lose but extended cuts do result in lose of muscle.

Anvil's point was that a cut has the goal of losing fat while preserving the greatest amount of fat possible. It is possible to greatly minimize the amount of muscle lost during a cut.

vvento

ivyylam333 wrote: »

I know bulking means to do eat more and all but when people say cut does that mean to go back to your original calories after you reach a certain weight? When do you cutt? What does it it mean to cut? Sorry I'm new to all this and I just want a clear understanding

If you are new to this, I wouldn't suggest worrying about bulking/cutting unless you are at a level where you feel comfortable with creating a macro meal plan, and strength training regimen for yourself.

Focus first on Maintenance with a healthy habit of measuring and understanding portion sizes, after a couple of months. you will have probably understood the way your body reacts to various foods and training in which you can better focus your goals.

Bulking doesn't mean just eating more food, there is a very specific way of eating at a caloric surplus to maximizing muscle growth/strength while the same applies to cutting (doesn't mean just eating less, but fitting better foods into less daily calories).

What are you goals currently, if you just started and want to lose weight then you should just focus on measuring a daily caloric intake for maintenance and slowly getting your body acclimated to a workout routine.

ivyylam333

My goals currently is to gain muscle overall. I did cardio for a good 4 month while eating at a 1000 calories or less everyday. I ended up losing a lot of weight and muscle and I feel really weak. Now I want to reverse it and gain muscle and my strength back without gaining all the fat but I know you have to gain some fat in order to gain some muscle

AnvilHead

Carlos_421 wrote: »

tcs1991ts wrote: »

You can cut whenever you want, but usually people do it for a few weeks to months at a time and follow it up with a bulk. I do disagree with someone above though. When you cut you will lose muscle mass....you can cut very slowly which will lessen the lose but extended cuts do result in lose of muscle.

Anvil's point was that a cut has the goal of losing fat while preserving the greatest amount of fat possible. It is possible to greatly minimize the amount of muscle lost during a cut.

Thank you, that was exactly my point. Of course you won't preserve 100% of your LBM in a cut, some of that loss will be muscle.