Confused about bulking/cutting or recomp

jeepinshawn
jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been going at this weightloss thing for a long time now, recently I was down to 165. I had been primarily running for exercise. I decided to build some muscle and began eating more, had a freakout because I gain about 5lbs, posted said freakout and decided to stop eating back everything myfitbit said to eat. I am doing a popular dumbbell routine, and have been successful all month at adding 5lbs per week to most of my lifts. Also still running 3 days a week for 6 miles.
My weight has been stable now since the initial freakout at 170. I began reading more about cutting and bulking but it seems that is not recommended until you are at like 10% bodyfat? I don't think I am anywhere near that. so maybe I should just work on a recomp? IDK with all of my loose skin I can't get an accurate picture of my muscle mass, and there are no options in my town except maybe a dexa scan which seems pretty pricey....For reference I'm 5'9"

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    It really depends what you are looking for, if there is time frames, your current body composition and ultimately your goals. If you are tired of dieting or fear fat gain and do not have a timeframe, than a recomp is a great idea. If you are under a timeline, are lower body fat (generally sub 12%) and want to get big, then bulk/cut is the way to go. For recomp, your results will largely depending on nutrition and training. So at some point, you may need to transition from to a barbell since DB have limitations.
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    It really depends what you are looking for, if there is time frames, your current body composition and ultimately your goals. If you are tired of dieting or fear fat gain and do not have a timeframe, than a recomp is a great idea. If you are under a timeline, are lower body fat (generally sub 12%) and want to get big, then bulk/cut is the way to go. For recomp, your results will largely depending on nutrition and training. So at some point, you may need to transition from to a barbell since DB have limitations.
    Thanks, I have no real way to assess my current body comp. Should I go back to eating at a deficit until I get to like 155 or something?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    You decided to gain some weight then freaked out when you gained some weight?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    What are your goals?
    Strength, physique, ultimate goal weight.....

    Recomp or bulk/cut cycles are just tools to get to your goal(s).
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    You decided to gain some weight then freaked out when you gained some weight?

    Yes. I gained like 5 lbs in 2 weeks, it freaked me out because I was eating close to what my fitbit calculated tdee was.
  • jeepinshawn
    jeepinshawn Posts: 642 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    What are your goals?
    Strength, physique, ultimate goal weight.....

    Recomp or bulk/cut cycles are just tools to get to your goal(s).

    I have a lot of loose skin, I want to fill it out some. So gaining muscle mass is my goal, with minimal fat gain.
  • McCloud33
    McCloud33 Posts: 959 Member
    jeepinshawn wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    You decided to gain some weight then freaked out when you gained some weight?

    Yes. I gained like 5 lbs in 2 weeks, it freaked me out because I was eating close to what my fitbit calculated tdee was.

    Just like when you start a calorie deficit and you can expect a quick drop in weight the first couple of weeks, the reverse is true when going on a calorie surplus. Your body holds water depending on how much food/what kinds of food you're eating. I know that when you've been cutting for so long that any jump in weight can mess with your mind, but you really need to give it a month to really level out.

    The other thing that you can try is go with a set number of calories every day regardless of activity and slowly increase that by 100ish calories a week until you find your true TDEE. Then you can go up from that 1-200 calories for your bulk and if you're logging accurately, any big jump in weight you know will just be water.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    edited August 2016
    jeepinshawn wrote: »
    I began reading more about cutting and bulking but it seems that is not recommended until you are at like 10% bodyfat? I don't think I am anywhere near that.

    I've read that several times also and I'm highly sceptical of it.

    First, people seem to go on about nutrient partitioning but I've not see (happy to find that it exists though if anyone has the proof - It's not something that I've spent any time looking into) any evidence of this phenomenon.

    Second you need to remember that %BF is hard to determine with any accuracy. The common methods carry a hefty lump of error and, where I've seen this 10% "rule" cited the most is on BB.com where the most common method of assessing %BF is to post up some shirtless pictures so the bros can all have a guesstimate and argue whether a person is 11.5 or 12% BF. Laughable.

    And so what IMHO we have is, a bro-science figure of 10%, based upon the anecdotal evidence that a certain % figure is OK whilst another is not OK, based upon wildly subjective assessments of, the loudest shouters/most prolific posters, of a non-representative sub-set of people (...under the supervision of the reverse vampires...).
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    jeepinshawn wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    What are your goals?
    Strength, physique, ultimate goal weight.....

    Recomp or bulk/cut cycles are just tools to get to your goal(s).

    I have a lot of loose skin, I want to fill it out some. So gaining muscle mass is my goal, with minimal fat gain.

    My suggestion would be to continue lifting at maintenance calories (or even a tiny deficit) while you are making good strength progress in the gym (muscle development should follow....).
    Once your progress stalls then review where you are and consider increasing your calories slightly to a small surplus. But you will need to be patient and trust the numbers rather than freak out when/if you get a weight gain totally out of proportion to your calorie increase.

    You may find training at a surplus improves your exercise performance / recovery / results.
    Personally it makes very little difference for me - it's not a universal response. Training has a far bigger impact on my results than calories....

    Would ignore the "don't bulk until you are 10%" thing, that's a recommendation for optimal results rather than a rule. Lyle McDonald is worth a read on the subject but unless you are interested in getting that lean then it doesn't apply to your stated goals.
    With a lot of loose skin going for very lean may not be your best look anyway.

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