How to cut/shred after bulking?

KimmalyS

Heyyo! Looking for your suggestions on exercise routine and meals. Thanks!!!!!

carl_camilleri

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.