How to cut/shred after bulking?

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KimmalyS
KimmalyS Posts: 131 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Heyyo! Looking for your suggestions on exercise routine and meals. Thanks!!!!!

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  • carl_camilleri
    carl_camilleri Posts: 4 Member
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    Following a 1200cal net meal plan (i.e. i eat more than 1200 when i put in some cardio). Food tracked with MFP, exercise tracked with Endomodo. First time I ever tried this combination - 11kgs down and shredding! check my pics for progress.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    carl_camilleri wrote: »
    Following a 1200cal net meal plan (i.e. i eat more than 1200 when i put in some cardio). Food tracked with MFP, exercise tracked with Endomodo. First time I ever tried this combination - 11kgs down and shredding! check my pics for progress.

    why on earth would you only be eating 1200 cals?!

    :huh: :noway:
  • carl_camilleri
    carl_camilleri Posts: 4 Member
    edited June 2017
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    it's actually "net" 1200 - and that's tracked. for e.g. with 1 hour cardio i aim for 1600/1700. but on non-workout days I aim for 1200 (any slippage may take me to 1300/1400 max). erring on the side of caution, bearing in mind that tracking is not always 100% accurate and may in fact be a bit over.

    that means i don't beat myself up if the daily circumstances make me eat an extra fruit :)

    ofc may not work for everyone and it's just a target/rule of thumb. ultimately I've found (through lots of trial and error) that it has to fit the lifestyle.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    carl_camilleri wrote: »
    it's actually "net" 1200 - and that's tracked. for e.g. with 1 hour cardio i aim for 1600/1700. but on non-workout days I aim for 1200 (any slippage may take me to 1300/1400 max). erring on the side of caution, bearing in mind that tracking is not always 100% accurate and may in fact be a bit over.

    ofc may not work for everyone and it's just a target/rule of thumb

    but a deficit that large just encourages muscle loss... which makes no sense when you are coming off a bulk to gain muscle...?
  • DresdenSinn
    DresdenSinn Posts: 665 Member
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    carl_camilleri wrote: »
    Following a 1200cal net meal plan (i.e. i eat more than 1200 when i put in some cardio). Food tracked with MFP, exercise tracked with Endomodo. First time I ever tried this combination - 11kgs down and shredding! check my pics for progress.

    I do the exact same thing during my cut, but I only do the 1200kcal/day diet short term, a couple of weeks, as I whittle myself down to my contest (birthday) weight which is next Thursday.

  • carl_camilleri
    carl_camilleri Posts: 4 Member
    edited June 2017
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    but a deficit that large just encourages muscle loss... which makes no sense when you are coming off a bulk to gain muscle...?

    it depends on the goal...as DresdenSinn highlighted it's not something to keep for the long term. I'm aiming for 4 weeks max, then will aim to up the calories slightly, with a focus on the macros.

    Personally I haven't seen a huge reduction in muscle % (cheek-in-tongue measurement with a biometric scale). Have to say that I have kept gym workouts with relatively heavy lifting (i.e. trying not to get lighter on the bar from the "normal eating" phase).

    but I guess it also depends on the body type...I'm probably an endomorph and have always had a huge issue losing weight, and this is the first time I've managed.

    Just my 2c!
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    My advice would be to keep protein at at least 1g per lb bodyweight. You can either eat the same things you were eating on your bulk.. just a lot less or change to a few lower cal higher protein meals. I use some recipes from "The Protein Chef" and meal prep my proteins (chicken breast, meatballs, burgers, hard boiled eggs etc) to make things easy to grab and go. I also use volume to bulk up my food.. lots of veggies, salad, eggwhites etc.

    In terms of your deficit, I would keep it where you aren't suffering too much and at a level that it doesn't tank your training. I think a deficit of TDEE-20% is the typical recommendation maximum. I personally wouldn't go much more than that.

    In terms of excercise routine, some people stay with the same program and others decrease the volume slightly but increase the weight. I tend to stick to a variety of rep ranges so I just keep doing what I was doing before.



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