transitioning bulk to cut

richln
richln Posts: 809 Member
edited November 12 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I have seen several seemingly knowledgeable people write that you should eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks after a bulk so that your body gets used to your new muscle mass. The theory being that if you go straight from bulk to cut then your body will be more willing to sacrifice the new muscle you just added. Anybody ever seen any science to back this up?

Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    I would be interested in what others have to say..

    I have never heard of this …most I know just jump into cutting...
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    edited February 2015
    I'm a jump straight to cut girl too. I've heard of a week or two at maintenance at the start of the bulk but that's just more to workout how much you're actually going to need.

    I've heard the opposite, actually, that there are hormones at work, when you come off the bulk, that make the first few weeks easier. It was something by layne norton, don't quote me and I can't be bothered looking for it, sorry.
  • Reefboy1980
    Reefboy1980 Posts: 133 Member
    What ever you've been bulking on just drop your calories back 300, check your weight same time preferably before going toilet each week, if your weight maintains the same drop another 200-300
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  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    Go straight into it. Pick your number and go right at it. Your body will be primed to lose weight and in the first few weeks it will melt off. Your body will not sacrifice new muscle because that is not what it does just to do it. You hit your protein goals and continue your weight training. You might need to adjust training in order to match your recovery ability since you will have less nutrition. Some do, some don't.

    The biggest issue with going straight into a full deficit is you might have trouble dealing with hunger. That is really the only logical reason imo to scale back calories in increments but if that isn't an issue just go at it and go hard.

    We reverse diet into a bulk, we do not need to do that into a cut.
    ^^^This.
    Your body doesn't need to "get used to" the new mass. You aren't building the mass rapidly enough for the body to have anything to get used to. If you bulked for half a year, you built all the mass slowly over time. You are only going to gain about 2 lbs of muscle a month at max. So really very little of the mass gained is "new". Not that that really matters anyways. I would say 2 weeks at maintenance is 2 weeks you could of been cutting which is 2 weeks longer until you can bulk again!

  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    Go straight into it. Pick your number and go right at it. Your body will be primed to lose weight and in the first few weeks it will melt off. Your body will not sacrifice new muscle because that is not what it does just to do it. You hit your protein goals and continue your weight training. You might need to adjust training in order to match your recovery ability since you will have less nutrition. Some do, some don't.

    The biggest issue with going straight into a full deficit is you might have trouble dealing with hunger. That is really the only logical reason imo to scale back calories in increments but if that isn't an issue just go at it and go hard.

    We reverse diet into a bulk, we do not need to do that into a cut.

    Yup.

    To your last paragraph, from my experience that really doesn't help anyway. Cutting calories in increments sounds good but all it does it make you go insane. Just as you get used to a new calorie intake, you cut again. Then you get used to that, and then you cut them again. It's horrible and way harder than it needs to be.

    Just cut to whatever goal calorie intake straight away and after a week you'll be fine with the new intake level. Just my opinion and experience.
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  • monty619
    monty619 Posts: 1,308 Member
    the slower you cut the better for many reasons. 1. you keep more muscle mass/ strength 2. your body can adjust to calories and you don't feel as hungry as dieting aggressively 3. doesn't fudge up your metabolism or hormones and is an overall healthier way... only time aggressive cuts are necessary is if you are trying to get really lean like if you are doing a competition and you have like 12 weeks to do it. personally what I do is take away 200 cals a day from when I was bulking and then if I lose 1lb or more I keep and if I don't lose any I drop another 100
  • se015
    se015 Posts: 583 Member
    Monty619, shouldn't you judge by week instead by day? Your weight fluctuates daily due to water and stuff like that, so to try and lose a lb per day is difficult I think. I mean idk tell me if I'm wrong.
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  • monty619
    monty619 Posts: 1,308 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    Seth1825 wrote: »
    Monty619, shouldn't you judge by week instead by day? Your weight fluctuates daily due to water and stuff like that, so to try and lose a lb per day is difficult I think. I mean idk tell me if I'm wrong.

    I'm pretty sure he means 200 a day per week. However, dropping calories from a null straight into a cut does not mean you lose muscle mass. Adequate protein and training is the key there. Hunger is an individualistic thing, it doesn't affect everyone the same. As far as hormones and metabolism that isn't really an issue. In order to start seeing drastic changes in hormones and metabolism we're talking about extremes over prolonged periods of time.

    yea I meant per day per week... reverse dieting is important too
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  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    Thanks everybody for your responses. I have always gone straight from bulk to cut but have had trouble losing a lot of muscle mass before. This time I think I will start with a more cautious cut.
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  • richln
    richln Posts: 809 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    richln wrote: »
    Thanks everybody for your responses. I have always gone straight from bulk to cut but have had trouble losing a lot of muscle mass before. This time I think I will start with a more cautious cut.

    How exactly did you determine it was muscle?

    Body circumference measurements and calipers to measure body fat. After a month it was obvious just looking in the mirror.
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  • Brolympus
    Brolympus Posts: 360 Member
    Only advantage I would see is less issues with hunger (depending on how dirty you bulked) and possibly less noticeable drop in energy when it comes time to workout, but you are going to have to deal with having less energy to lift with at some point though.

    All "easing in" does is add extra time to your cut, imo. So if you are going to ramp down to your cut calorie level, don't take too long, maybe just a week to get you used to less food if you need it. All other rules of the cut still apply though, regardless of how much time you take to get into your deficit. Not too big of a calorie deficit (might have been the problem when you cut last time). Still lifting heavy to maintain what you built. You may even continue to increase your lifting numbers on a cut, you can still neurally adapt to recruit more existing muscle fiber.
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