Cutting to Bulking
Options
Tsartele
Posts: 683 Member
So I have been in a cutting phase since Feb and have lost 56lbs.. I know eventually I am going to have to switch from cutting fat to building muscle. While I have made tremendous progress I still have some stubborn areas around my waist and chest.. I am 5'11 and 186lbs (down from 242). I figure that I will need to lose an additional 15-20 lbs to hit my target of 12-15% body fat. I want to be totally cut and ripped.. think beach body. Home scale says 18% but I think its a tad bit off... did a body pod test that says I was 29% but I think that's probably off as well.. I think I am somewhere in the middle 21-22%.
My routine looks like this
2 days a week I do 60 min of Cardio on the Elliptical and burn 650-700 cals
3 days a week I lift weights in the gym. chest, upper body, legs.
For cutting I have been doing a low cal and logging everything.. I have an average weight loss of 2 lbs a week for the last 7.5 months.
I have been trying to keep my protein intake to around 100-125 grams a day.. to keep from losing muscle while cutting..
SO my question is at what point do I switch over.. and get my cal intake up to a level that will build muscle ??
My routine looks like this
2 days a week I do 60 min of Cardio on the Elliptical and burn 650-700 cals
3 days a week I lift weights in the gym. chest, upper body, legs.
For cutting I have been doing a low cal and logging everything.. I have an average weight loss of 2 lbs a week for the last 7.5 months.
I have been trying to keep my protein intake to around 100-125 grams a day.. to keep from losing muscle while cutting..
SO my question is at what point do I switch over.. and get my cal intake up to a level that will build muscle ??
0
Replies
-
Based on your goals, the point when you reach an acceptable body fat %.
I've been in the same boat- cutting. Now reverse dieting to maintenance and then a surplus for bulking. I hit the "aesthetic" I wanted, which is about 8-9% BF.0 -
Honestly, with dropping two lbs a week for so long, I would take a break for a month or so. Eat at maintenance and lift.3
-
Honestly, with dropping two lbs a week for so long, I would take a break for a month or so. Eat at maintenance and lift.
That's what I plan on doing.
OP, we have eerily similar stats. I'm 5'11" and 188 right now and figure I'd have to drop another 10-15 lbs to get to 12-15% bf. I've also been cutting for a while but at a slower loss and I didn't start as high as you.
I plan on maintenance for a month starting in Oct. Need the break mentally. I might just hold that at maintenance for an extra month.
I've done this now the past couple of years slowly getting leaner each time I cut (although its madly slow).
0 -
So I have been in a cutting phase since Feb and have lost 56lbs.. I know eventually I am going to have to switch from cutting fat to building muscle. While I have made tremendous progress I still have some stubborn areas around my waist and chest.. I am 5'11 and 186lbs (down from 242). I figure that I will need to lose an additional 15-20 lbs to hit my target of 12-15% body fat. I want to be totally cut and ripped.. think beach body. Home scale says 18% but I think its a tad bit off... did a body pod test that says I was 29% but I think that's probably off as well.. I think I am somewhere in the middle 21-22%.
My routine looks like this
2 days a week I do 60 min of Cardio on the Elliptical and burn 650-700 cals
3 days a week I lift weights in the gym. chest, upper body, legs.
For cutting I have been doing a low cal and logging everything.. I have an average weight loss of 2 lbs a week for the last 7.5 months.
I have been trying to keep my protein intake to around 100-125 grams a day.. to keep from losing muscle while cutting..
SO my question is at what point do I switch over.. and get my cal intake up to a level that will build muscle ??
While cutting, you should be eating around .8 to 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass. And considering you have an aggressive deficit, i suspect you lost some muscle.
I would agree that it might be beneficial to go to maintenance or just below it and lift.
Also, on your lifting program, do you do one each day or do all three on the same day?0 -
I'd say run a little experiment.
Consistently losing 2lbs a week means you're averaging a daily caloric deficit of 1000cal. Adding another 500cal a day would still keep you shedding 1lbs of fat a week while contributing some extra macros to boost your muscle gains - and your morale.
And by morale a means two things: 1) you should get an energy boost from the extra nutrients and calories, which will help you workout even harder for more gains; 2) you will be pleased to see how you can still shed fat even after eating an extra 500 daily calories.
Having said this, since you still want to shed another 15-20 lbs of fat, maybe test it out with an extra 250 daily calories. A cup of nonfat, plain greek yogurt gives you 23g of protein and 10g of carbs at 100 calories. Since the protein in greek yogurt is mostly casein (slow digestion), a cup before bed will keep your body nicely fed while it builds up during your sleep. Throw a small handful of dry-roasted almonds (under a 1/4 cup) with the yogurt and you have your 250 calories, with an extra 30g of protein, around 15g of carbs (mostly fiber, not sugar), and some 15g of healthy fats.
This is my first time cutting and bulking, and I like to take things slow, see how the body responds, and then adjust accordingly. Though we do have very good research these days, there's still a lot of anecdotal evidence out there that may just not apply to you or me. Seeing how your own body reacts is probably still the best way to make sure a big shift in your nutrition is also a smart shift.0 -
I would recommend switching up your 60 minute cardio sessions to 3 x HIT sessions in the week
1 -
ive lost 75lbs over the last 14 months, a few months ago I started to lift more weight and cut back on cardio purely to tone up . im struggling mentally with putting on 3lb last month. I need to shift another 5-8% body fat. back on logging food so hoping this will help me put things in perspective.1
-
So I have been in a cutting phase since Feb and have lost 56lbs.. I know eventually I am going to have to switch from cutting fat to building muscle. While I have made tremendous progress I still have some stubborn areas around my waist and chest.. I am 5'11 and 186lbs (down from 242). I figure that I will need to lose an additional 15-20 lbs to hit my target of 12-15% body fat. I want to be totally cut and ripped.. think beach body. Home scale says 18% but I think its a tad bit off... did a body pod test that says I was 29% but I think that's probably off as well.. I think I am somewhere in the middle 21-22%.
My routine looks like this
2 days a week I do 60 min of Cardio on the Elliptical and burn 650-700 cals
3 days a week I lift weights in the gym. chest, upper body, legs.
For cutting I have been doing a low cal and logging everything.. I have an average weight loss of 2 lbs a week for the last 7.5 months.
I have been trying to keep my protein intake to around 100-125 grams a day.. to keep from losing muscle while cutting..
SO my question is at what point do I switch over.. and get my cal intake up to a level that will build muscle ??
While cutting, you should be eating around .8 to 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass. And considering you have an aggressive deficit, i suspect you lost some muscle.
I would agree that it might be beneficial to go to maintenance or just below it and lift.
Also, on your lifting program, do you do one each day or do all three on the same day?
I do one each day..0 -
are you following a structured lifting program OP? Or did you design it on your own?0
-
are you following a structured lifting program OP? Or did you design it on your own?
Honestly my lifting program could use some guidance.. I have a chest day where I do bench and machines for flies, press, and tri's. On my leg day I do dead lifts and try to do squats.. I say try because I have some knee trouble that prevents me for really getting in a good squat workout.. I also do calf raises and machine leg presses. On the 3 day I do back and bi's and some shoulders.0 -
are you following a structured lifting program OP? Or did you design it on your own?
Honestly my lifting program could use some guidance.. I have a chest day where I do bench and machines for flies, press, and tri's. On my leg day I do dead lifts and try to do squats.. I say try because I have some knee trouble that prevents me for really getting in a good squat workout.. I also do calf raises and machine leg presses. On the 3 day I do back and bi's and some shoulders.
You seem to be covering all of your bases hitting all the big muscle groups. That's great.
Are you logging your lifts - sets, reps, weights - so that you can progressively overload your muscles? Do you have a routine you follow, or you more or less wander toward the machines that happen to be available? I'm asking this because, especially in the beginning stages, you should focus on doing an apples-to-apples comparison of your workout load from session to session.
There's a good amount of neuromuscular adaptation when you start lifting that gets you up and running. But after a month, maybe two, you're going to need to consciously push yourself past whichever limits you were working with previously - be it weight, number of reps, number of sets, amount of rest in between sets, so on and so forth.
Going into a program, such as 5x5, or 5/3/1, helps you by pushing you through the motions of executing specific lifts. Still, even with such guides in hand, you'll need to track you workouts and ensure that you're progressing methodically, whichever the metric may be.
I find that taking the guesswork out of the equation is a big help. It's great to hit the ground running at the gym, knowing exactly how much you benched last time, for how may reps, and already with a plan to add 5lbs, 10lbs extra pounds to those last two sets.
0 -
Ah... the good ol' Cut/Bulk dilemma. It always feels like a delicate juggling act...lol
There's some great advice here already. I would consider increasing your protein intake to 130+ gms every day. I would also switch up your lifting routine.
Chest\Upper Body\Legs is perhaps ok for maintenance. But if your looking to "build" that's not going to cut it. There's no way you can do back/shoulders/bicept/traps/tricepts in a single sitting and make many gains. You're either going to burn out and not lift as you should or you'll over-train. If you're lifting longer than 90 min your body will release cortisol and you'll be wasting your time. Contrary to popular belief, I've personally have seen many ppl, especially newer lifters make significant gains whilst cutting. As long as your macros and Protein intake is sufficient and energy levels are good.
As @dreamsignals pointed out a 5x5 is great place to start. I personally am currently doing this split. ( I switch it up every 6 weeks) Mon.\Chest - Tues\Back - Wed\Shoulder & Traps - Thurs\Legs - Fri.\Bi-Tri - Sat and Sun are rest days. I run 5k 3-4 a wk and Ride a bike or Elliptical the off days.
As other pointed out, you need to "over-load" the Muscles if you want them to grow.
Good Luck.0 -
Because of the afterburn effect of HIT compared to LISS. With those 60 minute treadmill sessions you may be burning fat for a few hours after your workout but with HIT and metabolic conditioning training you're going to burn fat for up to 38 hours post. The OP still has body fat to lose.. This is the most effeicient way, and it's fun2 -
Because of the afterburn effect of HIT compared to LISS. With those 60 minute treadmill sessions you may be burning fat for a few hours after your workout but with HIT and metabolic conditioning training you're going to burn fat for up to 38 hours post. The OP still has body fat to lose.. This is the most effeicient way, and it's fun
EPOC is highly overstated and only accounts for 6 to 15% of total calories burned. Also, if they are bulking that will already be taken that into consideration and adjusting accordingly. Meaning whether they do HIIT or LISS, the target surplus will be 250 or 10% over tdee.2 -
Op -http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
Pick one of those programs.1 -
its eating the right carbs with fiber and protein and fat before and after the workout that maximizes the resultsof your workout and the timeing of your workout and the timing after the workout that helps boost protein synthesis and helps you recover faster and better that helps with your goals and I eat a high fiber diet
0 -
and also some supplements can help maximize results like whey protein or creatine or casein protein
0 -
even though I havent used casein just whey protein and used creatine before
0 -
GregStone2 wrote: »its eating the right carbs with fiber and protein and fat before and after the workout that maximizes the resultsof your workout and the timeing of your workout and the timing after the workout that helps boost protein synthesis and helps you recover faster and better that helps with your goals and I eat a high fiber diet
The timing of nutrients dont have huge impacts, at least not in some more recent studies. The current window suggest that if yoi have some carbs and protein pre - or post - workout within a 2 hour window you be good.
There are three things that drive protein synthesis; mechanical stress (exercise), hormomes (insulin particularly) and leucine.1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.5K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 392 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 926 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions