Anyone cutting after a bulk?
Replies
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Things on my end are going... alright. Kind of. I am being hard on myself, I know.
I keep comparing my progress to after my second pregnancy. I felt like I just bounced back faster body composition-wise, even though I gained less and was more fit (at least I felt like it) this third time around. And I'm worried I won't get my post-pregnancy body back. Probably has to do with my gym progress (or lack of) as well as my diet. While I am in a deficit, I really need to up my protein intake as well as eat more nutritious. I hate how my weight is going down but I am just not seeing it... that freaks me out. I feel like as I get closer and closer to my "goal" and my body comp is not where it should be it makes me go crazy and feel like I am doing everything wrong. I know, just had a baby, I know I know.
Also I know it will be the best thing for me but I am TERRIFIED to recomp (which I hope to start some time in January). It's funny because I can run bulk/cuts no problem. But maintain at a body composition I am not happy with and hope that I make progress? Nope. It freaks me out. I feel like I am going to spin my wheels and waste time. I know it is irrational, probably how others feel about gaining. I know I can always cut if I have to, I am trying to remember that this is the best thing for me right now and to trust the process.
Spot on with my current situation, leveling back to maintenance can be much more challenging than can getting ripped could ever be! Little known fact
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As for myself...
I'm pretty much holding steady, still up about 5lbs from that last cut 174—175lbs, probably just the muscles resaturating from the initial depletion...
Have allowed myself a bit extra hear and there compared to what I'd normally eat so I'm not losing or gaining really...
Waist is more or less the same, abdomen and suprailiac pinches are the same... Although I think I see a little more definition in the mirror 👀...
Ultimately I'd like to get bigger but that's not going to happen without gaining weight, and I'm not so worried about seeing the number on the scale rise...
However what I am scared to death of seeing is the waist line I've worked so hard for, increasing... Which is going to be very difficult to maintain while gaining weight...
It's likely going to take a level of dedication, sacrifice and insanity frankly that I just don't think I can give atm...
And at some point, I have to let myself be okay with what I've accomplished...3 -
@fitnessguy266 it's true... I think it's also not seeing the visual progress week to week, the push just isn't there. Plus at least for me, I get used to eating a certain way and when I have to add calories back in it can be a challenge... finding the balance... vs eating in a stricter deficit or eating all the things in a bulk.
@Mr_Healthy_Habits sounds like you are doing well, gotta love those subtle mirror changes!
It is definitely a mind trip, especially for someone like you who lost so much weight, it can be triggering in a way. Honestly, you look absolutely fantastic. You could definitely maintain as you are, or if you want do small increases then small cuts when you feel even slightly uncomfortable. I typically don't recommend this to people that really need or want to gain, but if you are just after some gold sprinkles on your sundae, taking it slow and steady could be a good plan for you!5 -
@Mr_Healthy_Habits sounds like you are doing well, gotta love those subtle mirror changes!
It is definitely a mind trip, especially for someone like you who lost so much weight, it can be triggering in a way. Honestly, you look absolutely fantastic. You could definitely maintain as you are, or if you want do small increases then small cuts when you feel even slightly uncomfortable. I typically don't recommend this to people that really need or want to gain, but if you are just after some gold sprinkles on your sundae, taking it slow and steady could be a good plan for you!
Thanks for all that, tbh when you use to weigh as much as I did, the kind words mean a lot...
That's pretty much the unconscious plan atm. I've always thought the key for me is going to largely be leg work, the more legs I can do, the more weight I can gain while staying relatively lean. Although I've asked a lot of my knees already so I have to protect them as much as I can as well...
See you on the dance floor 😉
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Bumping. Cos, erm Christmas. Hovering at 135. December lost to maintenance.5
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I might have gained 4 lbs over Christmas lol. Back to cutting.5
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Well I'm up about 3lbs over the weekend, not bad really all things considered...
I haven't taken a tape measure to my waist or calipers yet and will wait until after this week to get the water off...
Although I did use my new skulpt aim and the interesting thing is that despite my weight going up a few pounds, my bf% has trended down about a 1%...
Which actually makes a lot of sense, if the extra weight is just water being stored in the muscle, then you would expect to see your bf% drop, considering you now have extra mass in the muscle tissue...
However my bf scale has always told me every time my weight has gone up over a weekend like this that it is body fat... Which never really made sense, and the calipers basically tell me no change. However with loose skin I don't have a lot of faith in the calipers, changes happen so slowly and it gives you a range that's difficult to trend...
Hence why I bought the skulpt aim... It's got its problems but it's pretty consistent... And now after seeing my bf level decline a hair after some weekend weight gain, which I always suspected should happen... I kind of have a new outlook on it...
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@Mr_Healthy_Habits what is the skulpt, is it a type of scale? I never trust my bf% readings, they are all over the place. So if anyone asks I usually say 75%
Of course I am down 3lbs after the holidays, mostly because of sporadic workouts and eating one large meal a day. So not really a good thing. I am excited to try some new things though. Starting in Feb I have decided to try to recomp. I don't expect much, but maybe muscle memory along with some focused workouts will do something! The only issue (and I hate to complain about this....) but my intake. In order to maintain is going to be a lot of work for me, so my already high maintainance cals plus breastfeeding... it's actually crazy. It's going to be tough, but at least I'm not bulking!
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@Mr_Healthy_Habits what is the skulpt, is it a type of scale? I never trust my bf% readings, they are all over the place. So if anyone asks I usually say 75%
Of course I am down 3lbs after the holidays, mostly because of sporadic workouts and eating one large meal a day. So not really a good thing. I am excited to try some new things though. Starting in Feb I have decided to try to recomp. I don't expect much, but maybe muscle memory along with some focused workouts will do something! The only issue (and I hate to complain about this....) but my intake. In order to maintain is going to be a lot of work for me, so my already high maintainance cals plus breastfeeding... it's actually crazy. It's going to be tough, but at least I'm not bulking!
@sardelsa
Be careful about what you say... You're going to have half of mfp shooting for 75% then 😉
It's a handheld body fat and muscle quality tester, you can use it to get a bf percentage on like 24 different muscles and it gives you an overall percentage as well... It also has a quick test that just measures 3pts, triceps, abs, and thigh...
From what I've found the overall test is usually about 1% less than the quick test... But several people have videos on YouTube where it comes within 1% of a dexa scan... Sometimes it's off so you usually have to go with the second reading, or keep scanning until you get pretty close numbers...
It works like crap tho, poor battery quality and sometimes it's super hard to get a scan, like if you move even slightly it will error...
And I like your plan, don't think you could go wrong either way... 💕
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I am down 6 pounds this month and lost some inches as well. I've lost weight before many times but it's my first time losing while lifting this heavy. It was a really tough transition the first two weeks but I've adapted and now am just a little tired. Eating around 1700-1800 calories and 90-100g of carbs per day seems to be the lowest I can go without feeling awful. Also consistently getting 130g of protein per day.
My arms/shoulders are getting a lot more definition, it's so cool seeing that in the mirror! Thighs still have a lot of fat but they have better muscle tone. I worked on my back and chest more this month so I feel those muscles more while I lift. Still making strength gains every week but I suspect that I'm not lifting as heavy as I could be.
Now I need to figure out if I should continue training full body 4 days a week or reduce it to 3 and replace the extra day with LISS cardio. I'd trade gains for extra energy right now.1 -
My plan was to cut till Christmas then have a 2 week diet break, unfortunately due to work commitments ive spent the last 7 weeks in a small surplus, currently dropped to maintenance till the new year then ease into prep
Currently bulked up but itching to start prep
Current starting point
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My plan was to cut till Christmas then have a 2 week diet break, unfortunately due to work commitments ive spent the last 7 weeks in a small surplus, currently dropped to maintenance till the new year then ease into prep
Currently bulked up but itching to start prep
Current starting point
Jeez... your bulked up is leaner than my cut.
Very nice.
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i spent the last 10 years in a bulk phase, currently in a cut for the last 9 months
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My plan was to cut till Christmas then have a 2 week diet break, unfortunately due to work commitments ive spent the last 7 weeks in a small surplus, currently dropped to maintenance till the new year then ease into prep
Currently bulked up but itching to start prep
Current starting point
You are a beast!
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Starting 2020 with my HappyScale trend at 178.6 - the highest I've trended since Fall of '17 though I feel like my composition is better than the 2% body fat difference my BF scanner indicates (I also have skulpt, which Mr Healthy Habits mentioned).3
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I might have gained 4 lbs over Christmas lol. Back to cutting.
Started the week at 176 and now sitting 172. Love that glycogen depletion, even while eating a crap ton at New Year's (are about a lb of cheese).
I started to incorporate 16:8 with no logging about a week ago. Interesting note, this is a lot easier for me while on keto. Still eat a lot of breakfast foods but I eat my first meal around 11-12 and dinner around 5-6.5 -
Coach says I get to do a mini-cut when I hit 200 lbs. Six more pounds! I can't wait. Who'da thunk a person can get sick of food?!?6
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I've actually lost weight while on vacation. It's a good reminder to me of why I never used to have a weight problem. When you are super active and don't have time to sit around boredom eating it's easy to lose/maintain. Especially since I've never had very active hunger cues.7
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I'm up about 3lbs since Christmas eve... I haven't measured my waist, nor pinched myself since then but the skulpt device I have says basically there's been no bf change...
If I can retain a few lbs and keep my waist and pinch the same... I'm going to call it a huge win...
If I can't keep the measurements, I will totally panic and start cutting again immediately 😂...
I'll see what happens tomorrow... But, I've definitely either added a rep or 2, or increased the weight on a number of key lifts...4 -
Day 1 of cutting, going to miss the muscle fullness and performance in the gym
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Nice to see so many pumped after the Holidays. Keep it up everyone!
So after dropping around 3 lbs, I am back up after getting some good workouts in, so basically I have about 3lbs of water in the glutes haha.. what a difference, I look so much better 7 -
mom23mangos wrote: »I've actually lost weight while on vacation. It's a good reminder to me of why I never used to have a weight problem. When you are super active and don't have time to sit around boredom eating it's easy to lose/maintain. Especially since I've never had very active hunger cues.
This is totally me. I've had two weeks off work and grabbing that bag of nuts, or those chocolate covered cherries, is so tempting when you're sitting around doing nothing. I can ignore a little hunger when I'm active. Not so easy when I'm binge watching the drop of season 2 of Lost in Space on Netflix.2 -
Yea of course
Diet wise is high carb low fat, very bro
With set meal times, I have alarms set on my phone to tell me when to eat, 4of my 5 meals per day are pretty much set. The evening meal with the wife is my treat/enjoyable meal where I aim for highly palatable food, Usually post training
Training wise I’m currently running a hybrid PPL twice per week, at 41 years old and over 25 years training history I know what works for me, but always open to different training approaches. I run a basic 5 week block, 1 week deload then repeat the same block aiming to improve slightly on reps and or intensity, then deload and change exercise selection for the next block, I also rely on auto regulation for quite a few sessions due to unpredictable work schedules.
I believe the phrase “ consistency over time”
Represents the most important part of training especially for an advanced trainer, gains are slow, but over several years significant changes can be made.
I guess the bro in me majors in the minors,
I Focus on carb timings around workouts
Caesin protein pre bed, any slight potential benefits I will incorporate into my training regimen while still following a sicentific approach
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Yea of course
Diet wise is high carb low fat, very bro
With set meal times, I have alarms set on my phone to tell me when to eat, 4of my 5 meals per day are pretty much set. The evening meal with the wife is my treat/enjoyable meal where I aim for highly palatable food, Usually post training
Training wise I’m currently running a hybrid PPL twice per week, at 41 years old and over 25 years training history I know what works for me, but always open to different training approaches. I run a basic 5 week block, 1 week deload then repeat the same block aiming to improve slightly on reps and or intensity, then deload and change exercise selection for the next block, I also rely on auto regulation for quite a few sessions due to unpredictable work schedules.
I believe the phrase “ consistency over time”
Represents the most important part of training especially for an advanced trainer, gains are slow, but over several years significant changes can be made.
I guess the bro in me majors in the minors,
I Focus on carb timings around workouts
Caesin protein pre bed, any slight potential benefits I will incorporate into my training regimen while still following a sicentific approach
Nothing wrong with that. If it works, no need to change. And i do it, too. I take a pre-workout, creatine and add additional L-Citrulline in to get better performance and recovery. I also started to time some carbs pre-workout.
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Less than a month into this bulk... I've put on about 5 pounds but I've been eating way above my targets. I'm bringing it down to reasonable levels now. lol
Interesting thing is I've already added another 10 pounds to my bench. I'm going to test my 3 plate next week - I think I've got it finally. Everything has shot up pretty quickly. I should have cut that recomp short months ago. Well, live and learn.3 -
jseams1234 wrote: »Less than a month into this bulk... I've put on about 5 pounds but I've been eating way above my targets. I'm bringing it down to reasonable levels now. lol
Interesting thing is I've already added another 10 pounds to my bench. I'm going to test my 3 plate next week - I think I've got it finally. Everything has shot up pretty quickly. I should have cut that recomp short months ago. Well, live and learn.
Good luck with the 3 plate bench,
Sounds silly but a very satisfying achievement, even better than hitting 2 plates for the first time2 -
jseams1234 wrote: »Less than a month into this bulk... I've put on about 5 pounds but I've been eating way above my targets. I'm bringing it down to reasonable levels now. lol
Interesting thing is I've already added another 10 pounds to my bench. I'm going to test my 3 plate next week - I think I've got it finally. Everything has shot up pretty quickly. I should have cut that recomp short months ago. Well, live and learn.
Could be some extra water weight due to more food, carbs, more intense workouts? Mine jumps up then levels off, unless it's 5lbs on top of that.
Sucky that recomp wasn't successful for you. I think I am going to attempt it in a few weeks until September, I keep having huge doubts about it though. Arg I don't know what to do 1 -
Good luck with the 3 plate bench,
Sounds silly but a very satisfying achievement, even better than hitting 2 plates for the first time
Thank you - I've been working on that target for almost two years now. I really thought I was going to hit it a year ago but stalled pretty hard way short. It's been a frustrating battle since. I can still remember my dad poking fun at my lack of chest so it's always been one of my fixations. It doesn't help that all my gym buddies can do it easily. lolCould be some extra water weight due to more food, carbs, more intense workouts? Mine jumps up then levels off, unless it's 5lbs on top of that.
Sucky that recomp wasn't successful for you. I think I am going to attempt it in a few weeks until September, I keep having huge doubts about it though. Arg I don't know what to do
I think I'm just starting to getting fluffy... I went to visit my parents and son for a week this Christmas. I did workout - Planet Fitness (son has a membership... got in trouble there too) but my mother and father just kept rolling out this incredible food. Also, they have Arby's which we don't have in the Bay Area so I probably ate 10 of those .5 pound roast beef sandwiches. Then my son traveled back with me and my wife and I spent a week taking him to all my favorite restaurants.
Don't be too worried about recomp... just temper your expectations. I keep seeing people on these forums who like to recommend it more than anything else. They commonly misrepresent how painfully slow the process is... and the success stories I've seen are usually just great angles and lighting taken by guys that are pumped and already pretty damned jacked to begin with. Otherwise I have to squint and give them the benefit of the doubt that anything even changed. That was my problem. I knew it was slow - I just didn't fully realize how slow.1
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