Transition from bulking to cutting calories

__freckles__

I'm not quite ready to stop bulking, but I'm looking ahead and wondering about a few things.

First question - do you guys eat at maintenance for a few weeks between bulking and cutting? I've heard some people throw that idea around. Something about leveling out hormones. If so, do I taper down 100 each week until I reach maintenance? I'm about 400 above maintenance right now. Or do I just start eating at maintenance automatically once my bulk is finished? Does it really matter?

Second - how low below maintenance do you go for the cut? When I lost all my pregnancy weight I never counted calories. So cutting calories will be a new phenomenon for me. I have no idea what I'll have to eat in order to lose. Hopefully, not that low!

Last - I would like to maintain as much LBM as possible, so I’m assuming ½ lb a week will be a good pace?

Thanks guys!

JoRocka

I like having a maintenance period
1.) mentally the transition is easier- allows for some yo-yoing for you to kind of "recenter"
2.) helps make sure you know what 'maintenance' actually is at this point

But I've done it both ways- I can manage mentally.

Depends on how fast you want to cut- most people do that 10-20% below TDEE.

I just wack off 500 calories from maintenance- and then see how much lower I can go with out dumping my metabolism. (I do eat back calories).

I've also had very specific goals when I was cutting hard- like actual hard dead lines- so it wasn't a generic- oh just cut till I'm happy so I tend to be a little more aggressive about it.

__freckles__

Thanks for the advice Jo!

HMVOL7409

Just saw this. Agree with Jo, I had to taper down to maintence and chill there for a week or 2. Hormonal wise and physically I don't do well with drastic changes in calories so I couldn't go from almost 3200 cals to a cut. I might have been committed or in jail if so.

sarahstrezo

I also tapered to maintenance for 2-3 weeks and then started cutting 100 cals/week until I saw a steady loss of .5 lb/week. Right now, I'm still losing at 2200 cals (which is just crazy to me).

caseythirteen

Right now, I'm still losing at 2200 cals (which is just crazy to me).

'Cause of all dem hot musckles!!

__freckles__

Sweet. Thanks guys!

__freckles__

Bumping to see if anyone else can weigh in as I'll be ending my bulk in 2 weeks. My plan is to go straight into maintenance (2200) for 2 weeks. I still don't quite know what to do after that. My thinking is just start eating at around 1900-2000?

I can't believe I'm almost finished with my first bulk! It will be 16 weeks when it's over. Just a big thanks again to all of you lovely ladies. I have NO support in real life with bulking. Everyone, and I mean everyone (including husband) thinks I'm crazy. But to hell with them, I do what I want!!!

caseythirteen

I definitely agree that two weeks at maintenance is a good step. Then going down to 2000 makes sense but be open to change depending on how you feel. Depending on how successful your bulk was your maintenance could be higher than it was before plus you don't really want to sacrifice gym performance (I'm guessing). It really is trial and error a bit. As you can see from the cut thread, lots of awesome over there with ladies deciding they didn't really want to get any leaner and lose their performance gains. Plus, just ultimately being happier in not as lean bodies.

JoRocka

Casey is right- you're new cut will be different than when you were losing before- it will be higher since you weigh more.

I like to redo all my numbers through the algorithms (I do 2 or 3 to get an average) and fully recalculate my maintenance and then cut back down off that for a deficit.

going to maintenance is a great idea mentally- I did it last time- I did not do it this time due to a time schedule- and it wasn't as hard as I thought- but it does suck.

It's just a nicer/smoother transition to go to maintenance then drop to a cut.