Trying to figure this cutting/bulking thing out
weswilty
Posts: 7 Member
Hey all,
First off, I am a 19 year old guy, sitting at 180 lbs right now. Height is 5'11" in case you care. At age 17, i weighed 230 and was admittedly very overweight, and it was pretty much all fat. I dropped down to about 165 over about 6 months (i know, really fast) by dropping my caloric intake pretty drastically.
Anyway, i have been lifting pretty heavily recently, on top of my 9-5 where i work in a shop making furniture. I have been putting on weight, and seeing improvement in muscle tone/size and strength. The problem for me is that I still have a slight muffin top, chest fat, and overall a lot more fat than I want. Should I try reducing my calories, or just continue packing on muscle at the rate I'm going? I would estimate (have not been logging) that i eat somewhere in the ballpark of 3000 kcal a day.
First off, I am a 19 year old guy, sitting at 180 lbs right now. Height is 5'11" in case you care. At age 17, i weighed 230 and was admittedly very overweight, and it was pretty much all fat. I dropped down to about 165 over about 6 months (i know, really fast) by dropping my caloric intake pretty drastically.
Anyway, i have been lifting pretty heavily recently, on top of my 9-5 where i work in a shop making furniture. I have been putting on weight, and seeing improvement in muscle tone/size and strength. The problem for me is that I still have a slight muffin top, chest fat, and overall a lot more fat than I want. Should I try reducing my calories, or just continue packing on muscle at the rate I'm going? I would estimate (have not been logging) that i eat somewhere in the ballpark of 3000 kcal a day.
3
Replies
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Don't reduce your calories hun.
You lost so quickly it will take your skin some time to ketch up.
Do reduce your fat intake, increase your protein, and restrict your low fiber carbs and eat highfiber carbs.
Keep at it hun, you are doing great
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teagin2002 wrote: »Don't reduce your calories hun.
You lost so quickly it will take your skin some time to ketch up.
Do reduce your fat intake, increase your protein, and restrict your low fiber carbs and eat highfiber carbs.
Keep at it hun, you are doing great
All of that.0 -
teagin2002 wrote: »Don't reduce your calories hun.
You lost so quickly it will take your skin some time to ketch up.
I get that, but it has been about 2 years now since the weight loss, and my problem isn't really my skin, it's the excess fat.0 -
If you've still got a muffin top after two years, you've probably hit homeostasis at this point (your body has found a way to metabolically balance your calorie intake and calorie expenditure). I plateaued with this for about 6 months before I found out about "reverse dieting", which is essentially slowly lowering your calorie intake back up to your TDEE before dropping it again (Google it - muscleforlife.com has a good article on it, which I followed). I'd suggest doing this, followed by a *moderate* calorie deficit (between 20-25% deficit of TDEE - for me, this is around 2000 calories/day, which is what I'm currently on). 4-6 hours per week of heavy, compound lifts to keep your strength up, and no more than an hour or two of cardio per week, as muscular catabolism is increased while in a calorie deficit.
Been working for me, anyway.0 -
If you've still got a muffin top after two years, you've probably hit homeostasis at this point (your body has found a way to metabolically balance your calorie intake and calorie expenditure). I plateaued with this for about 6 months before I found out about "reverse dieting", which is essentially slowly lowering your calorie intake back up to your TDEE before dropping it again (Google it - muscleforlife.com has a good article on it, which I followed). I'd suggest doing this, followed by a *moderate* calorie deficit (between 20-25% deficit of TDEE - for me, this is around 2000 calories/day, which is what I'm currently on). 4-6 hours per week of heavy, compound lifts to keep your strength up, and no more than an hour or two of cardio per week, as muscular catabolism is increased while in a calorie deficit.
Been working for me, anyway.
Ok, thanks for the advice. I have actually probably been raising my caloric intake recently just because i have had more appetite, so judging by what you said now would probably be a good time to reduce my eating. I'm going to try 2200 kcal a day, and see where that gets me.0 -
If anyone else on here has further advice, I'd definitely like to hear.0
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Do you do any cardio?0
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If you want to lose weight / body fat then reduce your calories slightly or increase your exercise/activity to burn more.
If you primary goal is to add muscle and you aren't bothered about carrying excess fat then carry on doing what you are doing.
Eating fat doesn't make you fat unless you are in a calorie surplus and then it's the surplus that's the problem!
Don't know why someone would say eat more protein without knowing you aren't eating enough at the moment - in a calorie surplus it's not difficult to hit an adequate amount.
You don't need any fancy macro splits and certainly don't need to restrict certain types of food - no need to make it more complex unless you have elite level aspirations.
0 -
If you want to lose weight / body fat then reduce your calories slightly or increase your exercise/activity to burn more.
If you primary goal is to add muscle and you aren't bothered about carrying excess fat then carry on doing what you are doing.
Eating fat doesn't make you fat unless you are in a calorie surplus and then it's the surplus that's the problem!
Don't know why someone would say eat more protein without knowing you aren't eating enough at the moment - in a calorie surplus it's not difficult to hit an adequate amount.
You don't need any fancy macro splits and certainly don't need to restrict certain types of food - no need to make it more complex unless you have elite level aspirations.
^ All of this ^0 -
If you want to lose weight / body fat then reduce your calories slightly or increase your exercise/activity to burn more.
If you primary goal is to add muscle and you aren't bothered about carrying excess fat then carry on doing what you are doing.
Eating fat doesn't make you fat unless you are in a calorie surplus and then it's the surplus that's the problem!
Don't know why someone would say eat more protein without knowing you aren't eating enough at the moment - in a calorie surplus it's not difficult to hit an adequate amount.
You don't need any fancy macro splits and certainly don't need to restrict certain types of food - no need to make it more complex unless you have elite level aspirations.
Okay, thank you for the down-to-earthness. I thought that first reply i got seemed a little bit silly. Anyway, since i got ya, one question: Will lowering my caloric intake, while continuing to lift 5 days a week, result in loss of muscle mass? And will it slow down my progress at the gym?0 -
If you want to lose weight / body fat then reduce your calories slightly or increase your exercise/activity to burn more.
If you primary goal is to add muscle and you aren't bothered about carrying excess fat then carry on doing what you are doing.
Eating fat doesn't make you fat unless you are in a calorie surplus and then it's the surplus that's the problem!
Don't know why someone would say eat more protein without knowing you aren't eating enough at the moment - in a calorie surplus it's not difficult to hit an adequate amount.
You don't need any fancy macro splits and certainly don't need to restrict certain types of food - no need to make it more complex unless you have elite level aspirations.
Okay, thank you for the down-to-earthness. I thought that first reply i got seemed a little bit silly. Anyway, since i got ya, one question: Will lowering my caloric intake, while continuing to lift 5 days a week, result in loss of muscle mass? And will it slow down my progress at the gym?
It could.
It honestly depends on a few things.
Let me try to paint a picture for you:
Person A is lean. He is also on severe caloric restriction and under-consuming protein, doing several cardio sessions per week, and lifting weights on a high volume program. He doesn't respond favorably to exercise for genetic reasons.
Person B is over-fat. He is on mild caloric restriction, eating sufficient protein and he walks around a lot to increase NEAT to burn calories. He's lifting weights on a moderate volume, intelligently designed program. He has great genetics and he's pretty new to resistance training.
Person A will probably lose muscle and perform like crap in the gym.
Person B will probably gain some muscle while dieting and improve his lifts in the process.
Where you fall on this continuum between person A and B will depend on some of the factors I mentioned in my examples.0 -
If you want to lose weight / body fat then reduce your calories slightly or increase your exercise/activity to burn more.
If you primary goal is to add muscle and you aren't bothered about carrying excess fat then carry on doing what you are doing.
Eating fat doesn't make you fat unless you are in a calorie surplus and then it's the surplus that's the problem!
Don't know why someone would say eat more protein without knowing you aren't eating enough at the moment - in a calorie surplus it's not difficult to hit an adequate amount.
You don't need any fancy macro splits and certainly don't need to restrict certain types of food - no need to make it more complex unless you have elite level aspirations.
Okay, thank you for the down-to-earthness. I thought that first reply i got seemed a little bit silly. Anyway, since i got ya, one question: Will lowering my caloric intake, while continuing to lift 5 days a week, result in loss of muscle mass? And will it slow down my progress at the gym?
People get a little confused about muscle loss in a deficit - often confusing the fact that someone losing a significant amount of weight will inevitably lose some LBM. But muscle is only one component of overall lean mass.
A small deficit, especially when you aren't lean, shouldn't result in any loss of muscle when you are lifting. Plus as a male at 19 years old you have huge advantages over the general population. In a deficit is when it's more worthwhile taking more care over a higher than average protein intake as it's muscle sparing.
Jump to a prolonged and large deficit, no training stimulus and inadequate protein and the outcome would be different.
Will it slow down your gym progress? Impossible to know, I'm not particularly sensitive to a small deficit in performance terms (my wife says I'm insensitive to many things!).
Some people really struggle with performance and recovery unless they are fully fuelled, lifts stagnate, fatigue increases and recovery takes longer. Suck it and see. There's ways to address the issue if it happens.0 -
If you want to lose weight / body fat then reduce your calories slightly or increase your exercise/activity to burn more.
If you primary goal is to add muscle and you aren't bothered about carrying excess fat then carry on doing what you are doing.
Eating fat doesn't make you fat unless you are in a calorie surplus and then it's the surplus that's the problem!
Don't know why someone would say eat more protein without knowing you aren't eating enough at the moment - in a calorie surplus it's not difficult to hit an adequate amount.
You don't need any fancy macro splits and certainly don't need to restrict certain types of food - no need to make it more complex unless you have elite level aspirations.
Okay, thank you for the down-to-earthness. I thought that first reply i got seemed a little bit silly. Anyway, since i got ya, one question: Will lowering my caloric intake, while continuing to lift 5 days a week, result in loss of muscle mass? And will it slow down my progress at the gym?
People get a little confused about muscle loss in a deficit - often confusing the fact that someone losing a significant amount of weight will inevitably lose some LBM. But muscle is only one component of overall lean mass.
A small deficit, especially when you aren't lean, shouldn't result in any loss of muscle when you are lifting. Plus as a male at 19 years old you have huge advantages over the general population. In a deficit is when it's more worthwhile taking more care over a higher than average protein intake as it's muscle sparing.
Jump to a prolonged and large deficit, no training stimulus and inadequate protein and the outcome would be different.
Will it slow down your gym progress? Impossible to know, I'm not particularly sensitive to a small deficit in performance terms (my wife says I'm insensitive to many things!).
Some people really struggle with performance and recovery unless they are fully fuelled, lifts stagnate, fatigue increases and recovery takes longer. Suck it and see. There's ways to address the issue if it happens.
Ok, thanks for the advice. I'm going to aim for 2200 kcal a day, and continue my training. I feel like it is the right thing to do for my body type, to finally lose the extra fat i have had for so long. Will be sure to keep my protein intake high.0
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