cutting advice-

I'd say plan on cutting the same amount of time you've put into bulking.

If you really want to wait till the last minute, you can push the limits farther. Just get your protein.

This is a study for males, so I'm guessing your numbers would be less.

http://suppversity.blogspot.com/2014/07/750kcalday-deficit-approach-to-cutting.html

" The results of the study support the use of short, but relatively intense dieting periods. Dieting periods with a 750kcal/day deficit - a deficit that is still only -24% below the baseline intake of the athletes.

What's yet also important is that we don't forget that a dieting principle that works for lean athletes will not necessarily work for an overweight or obese person. The general idea to cut back by 24% and not just 12% (to avoid muscle loss) from carbohydrates and fats while maintaining an optimal protein intake of ~2g/kg body weight is yet something I can whole-heartedly recommend to heavier dieters, as well. "

I am in the exact same boat @jamandlettuce, I started bulking in Sept and going away in Feb for a beach vacation. I think I am going to transition into maintenance/recomp after Christmas depending on how things are going. Ideally I would like to bulk for longer though. I am curious to see what others think.

Yes, you'll really need nearly as much time to cut as you are putting into bulking. For example, if you bulk for 15 weeks, you'll likely need 10-15 weeks to cut.

I respectfully disagree regarding bulking and cutting periods. Ideally your rate of weight gain on a bulk should be far, far lower than your rate of weight loss would be on a cut. .5 to 1% change in body-weight per week is a very reasonable rate of weight loss for most people during dieting phases.

If you're bulking conservatively you should be spending far more time in a surplus and less time in a deficit. Even cutting rather conservatively you should be spending less time in a deficit vs a surplus (cut phase should go faster in terms of weeks).

This is assuming you are not getting contest lean, which you shouldn't be unless you're competing.

As far as strategy for a cut, I'd START by just setting your calories to around 20% under TDEE and you can use your bulking data to approximate where to set calories.

As far as macronutrients there's going to be some personal preference aspects to setting that up but as a very general gauge I'd probably set protein at a minimum of 1g/lb lbm and fats around .3g/lb bodyweight with the rest in carbohydrate.

That's absolutely not a guaranteed approach to success, just a very vague/general starting point from which you would tweak based on performance/preference/results.