Who has it easier? Bulkers or cutters?

Fithealthyforlife

Here on MFP, many people are on a one-time program that takes a year or two, and then maintain after that. As far as starting stats, on one end, you've got your skinny, underweight men and women lacking muscle who have to eat a surplus and gain weight while working out. I belong to this group due to having eaten at a deficit for a long time without realizing it.

And on the other end, you've got your formerly athletic, chubby men and women who ate at a surplus and still did enough exercise that they bulked without realizing it, and have copious amounts of muscle lurking under their fat as a result.

Both groups end up at the same point by lifting and sticking to their diets...the builders build muscle and gain a little fat along with it.

The dieters burn off most of their fat and retain most of their muscle in the process, revealing what they had all along.

Both look similar and look great in the end.

But who has it easier? Or another way to say this, is what's easier when you only have one phase to go through...bulking or cutting?

robdel302

It sounds like an ectomorph vs endomorph. IMO ectomorphs have it easeir since they can damn near eat whatever they want when they're bluking. Endos still need to keep the diet relatively clean or risk putting on excess fat while bulking. But I'm an endo so it could just be "grass is greener" thinking.

I will admit, I do like the fact that putting on muscle isn't that difficult which would cause some ectomorphs to give up.

Fithealthyforlife

It sounds like an ectomorph vs endomorph. IMO ectomorphs have it easeir since they can damn near eat whatever they want when they're bluking. Endos still need to keep the diet relatively clean or risk putting on excess fat while bulking. But I'm an endo so it could just be "grass is greener" thinking.

I will admit, I do like the fact that putting on muscle isn't that difficult which would cause some ectomorphs to give up.

Those body types seem wrong to me. I think the real classifications are bone structure and hormone levels. It seems like everyone gains or loses at about the same rate when they eat at a certain surplus or deficit. But some people need more calories and others need less. You can have two guys or ladies with the same bone structure, but due to different hormone levels, one needs 2700 calories a day to bulk, while the other can cut easily at that level. There's really nothing ecto or endo about it when you look at it that way...Sheldon was mistaken, and his "body types" are psuedo science imho. I'm trying to keep "body types" out of this thread for that reason! It all comes down to insulin sensitivity and other hormone levels and sensitivities, imho. But I want to leave that out, because I'm assuming the bulker and cutter are both eating and training appropriately for their own unique hormonal physiology. No offense meant, btw! I thank you for your thoughtful reply.

highervibes

I think each has their own set of challenges but I'd rather strictly cut because a bulk would be really difficult for me psychologically lol

Fithealthyforlife

I think each has their own set of challenges but I'd rather strictly cut because a bulk would be really difficult for me psychologically lol

That's interesting. Personally, I think I'd rather bulk, assuming I can find enough food and have time to eat it all...lol. But this is swayed because that's what I'm doing right now...I've had to learn to love it.

SideSteel

I think cutting is easier. But both have challenges and I suppose that's going to vary from person to person.

zaccarius

In my opinion cutting is harder, ( coming from someone who has never and probably will never bulk )

While bulking you have a surplus of nutrients to repair any damage done by training, you have alot more energy and most of the time you will be seeing 'gainz', only hard thing is the amount of money you spend compared to a cutting, bulking is generally more,

where as cutting your deliberately restricting calories that could be there for the repair of your body/muscle fibers leaving them damaged for longer, not to mention the body classes fat loss as a bad thing and works against you the whole time, your more then likely tired a lot and not thinking as straight as when your in a surplus, all this while your strength and muscle size go down in the gym only adding to the feelings of anger/sadness/tiredness

crandos

Cutting for sure is harder haha i love food so bulking and eating more would be easier for me.

climbing_trees

Well, I love eating. I could eat all day every day! My appetite is outrageous.
I think bulking would be easier.

My boyfriend is bulking to gain muscle right now and he eats like 7 or 8 meals a day. They're all clean, low carb, lots of veggies, but STILL that is so much food and I'm so jealous... haha

Willbenchforcupcakes

For me personally, bulking is so much harder. I'm so active in just day to day life that my biggest problem cutting is to eat enough to keep my deficit at a sufficiently shallow rate. Had a rant yesterday about how a month into bulking, I haven't managed to gain anything. Once again, down to just moving around so much everyday. Need to start moving less just to keep calories at a sane level!

Fithealthyforlife

Thanks for the replies.

Maybe another way to think of the question (as some of us have been already) is: which would/do you prefer?

I've found that my appetite adjusts to how much I've been shoveling into my mouth duirng a period of time! When I ate 3-4 times per day at a deficit, I felt hungry only before meal times. Now eating a surplus in 4-6 meals, feel hungry more often than before. So hunger is a poor way of knowing when I've gotten enough, despite what all the diet doctors tell people. (Or maybe I'm one of those rare, metabolically flexible people who is both a natural bulker and cutter.)

alpha_andy

Bulking is harder because you are thinking far more about muscle and fat. You're gaining both and you want to find that fine line of gaining muscle without too much fat. In order to clean bulk perfectly, you have to match your body's rate of muscle synthesis with protein and carb intake. It's very tricky to do this in a clean fashion.

Cutting on the other hand is just work. Just sweat it out, stay in deficit and keep drinking BCAAs.

While that is said, it's far more *FUN* to bulk. You're stronger, warmer, more active (yes in bed too) and you can eat a lot.

Fithealthyforlife

Bulking is harder because you are thinking far more about muscle and fat. You're gaining both and you want to find that fine line of gaining muscle without too much fat. In order to clean bulk perfectly, you have to match your body's rate of muscle synthesis with protein and carb intake. It's very tricky to do this in a clean fashion.

Cutting on the other hand is just work. Just sweat it out, stay in deficit and keep drinking BCAAs.

While that is said, it's far more *FUN* to bulk. You're stronger, warmer, more active (yes in bed too) and you can eat a lot.

Good points, Andy. I've experienced the temperature thing. It's awesome. (Though I also now know what female hot flashes must be kind of like, lol.) Also, DOMS is reduced in duration compared to when cutting. As far as fat gain, I haven't had too much of that yet. I guess because I'm being cautious in upping calories.

That said, when cutting, you don't want to lose muscle...it's just as much a balance as bulking is, I imagine.

Fithealthyforlife

Most people have to do some bulking and some cutting (in a different order maybe).

Has anyone here *only* had to bulk or cut but not both?

alpha_andy

Right, with cutting you must also strike a balance, but that's just a matter of continuing to lift and getting enough protein in your system. It isn't as demoralizing to lose a little muscle than it is to gain fat. Also the *fun* factor plays in.

Ophidion

Personal preference plays a major role in this, but I would say bulking if you are talking about muscle gains as gaining muscle mass is a much slower process in comparison to burning fat...for most people.

hauntao

I like to go the middle road. I think gaining muscle while losing fat to meet a happy balance works best mentally for me. I like to feel strong but also like lean muscle with some softness over it.

alpha_andy

Another consideration which you might not have considered is cost of food and time to prepare that food. I'm just coming off a bulk where I are 6-7 meals per day at 4000 cals. My typical cut is 2300 cals over 4-5 meals. Time, money and effort may be significantly higher when bulking.

waldo56

I've done both. I find bulking harder than cutting.

- As backwards as it sounds, workouts make me less sore when cutting than bulking.
- Eating at bulking levels sounds fun or easy until you do it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY for months and months.
- The scale is more of a challenge when bulking than cutting, it is far crazier, things more much more linear for me when cutting.
- I end up second guessing myself far more when bulking than cutting.
- I get plateaus easier when bulking than cutting. My metabolism always seems to be on the move up when in a surplus.

neandermagnon

It depends. It seems that everyone's appetite has a set point, whereby you feel full and stop eating. For some, that set point is a little to high, so if they're not careful, they overeat. For others, it's a little too low, so if they're not careful, they undereat. For people who find it easy to maintain a healthy weight, it's set just right. Also, there is some evidence that some extremely obese people have no set point at all, i.e. they feel constantly hungry and never full (something to do with damage to the hypothalamus if I recall correctly, but it's been more than a decade since I studied any neurobiology so I may have remembered that wrong). For reasons that I think have a lot to do with natural selection, there are a lot of people who are prone to overeating.... mostly because we didn't evolve in an environment where there was too much food, so having a slightly too big appetite didn't matter or was possibly an advantage for storing a bit of extra fat during good times to get through the times when food was in short supply.

In any case, people whose appetite set point makes them stop eating too soon are going to find bulking a lot harder than cutting, and people whose appetite set point makes them stop eating after they've already overeaten somewhat, are going to find cutting a lot harder than bulking. Someone who easily maintains a healthy weight will probably find both bulking and cutting equally difficult.

j6o4

Bulking is harder and for those who say it's not, you guys know nothing about force feeding.