Horrible bulk/cut cycle, advice would be great

wallyr1
wallyr1 Posts: 20 Member
edited November 19 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
So I really started getting into body building about last summer. I am a tall guy and I was sick of being scrony so I just wanted to put on some mass.

Stats from last summer:
6'0
165lb

I focused on bulking, but I definitely just got into the dirty bulk mindset and put on a lot of body fat. 7 months in I ended putting on an extra 40lb. Sure, my weights at the gym went up. But I was bloated with a lot of excess weight.
February of 2017:
204lb
I started to dawn on me that I gained so much excess weight and I went back to cutting. I brought my calories down from 4,000 each day to 1900. I know now I cut my calories way to drastically but I really didn't want to hold on the excess weight.

Overall: I really feel like I spent an entire year weightlifting for nothing. I ended up losing all the weight I put on. I'm back to my original weight of 165lb and I'm back to eating like 1700calories a day. If anything, I feel like I ended up losing more muscle throughout this entire process and the only thing I really "gained" was stretch marks on my biceps from the fast weight gain. I'm back to being lanky and tall and weak. I feel kinda scarred from this all and fear even raising my calories an inch because I don't want to get chubby again. Throughout this entire process I watched all my compound lifts at the gym soar and then plummet back to baseline from a really drastic cut.

What should I do from here? I started this process at 20 and now I'm 21. I feel like most guys at the gym my age are so much farther ahead of me strength wise. I really just feel pretty down about such a big fail.

Any advice on how to move forward would be really appreciated.

Replies

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    Take it as a blessing that you're only 21.

    Take your youth, and your mistake, and learn from it going forward to put yourself in a better position. Follow the advice above - definitely don't let yourself put on that much weight so quickly again!
  • henryjamessimm388
    henryjamessimm388 Posts: 5 Member
    Try going for a 3×5 powerlifting routine with a load of traditional bodybuilding isolation stuff after, that's what I do, seems to be increasing muscle mass whilst decreasing bf% :)

    it seems to do each thing at a much slower rate, but I guess that's cause I'm doing them simultaneously... (I do no extra cardio) (I'm also 20) keep going man! You'll get there!
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    You learned.
    1. Don't bulk too fast
    2. Don't cut that drastically

    You didn't mention what program you followed?

  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    it's not a loss. It's a learning experience.

    And you learned something.

    Too much too fast- on both ends.

    I would go back to a small bulk- think long term- like 20 pounds over the next year. Eat mindfully and carefully with a small surplus- track your weight- track your macros/calories.

    Think long game- not short game.

    You can do this- it just takes a lot longer than most people are willing to accept.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    edited June 2017
    OP - this time around shoot for a small surplus .5 pound per week gain and get on a structured program with progressive overload built in like strong lifts, wendlers, PHUL, etc...
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member
    I'm curious - during your cut, did you eat enough protein and did you continue to lift and at least try to maintain your current progress?

    I wonder how much "muscle memory" will allow you to regain your lost progress once you are not in such a dire deficit.
  • Rammer123
    Rammer123 Posts: 679 Member
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    I'm curious - during your cut, did you eat enough protein and did you continue to lift and at least try to maintain your current progress?

    I wonder how much "muscle memory" will allow you to regain your lost progress once you are not in such a dire deficit.


    I agree, I think if your lifts really did increase a lot during your bulk, you will put back a lot (probably not all) of the strength you had and hopefully get further than you were before at a lighter/leaner build.

    Just take it slow, muscle takes time to build and it's not like fat loss, its a longer term yearly journey to really put on a substantial amount of weight. Set small goals, for instance getting to 175 as close to your current bf% as possible and then maintain that for a few weeks, see how you feel and decide if you want to do a little mini cut or continue to put on some weight.

    Just learning your body and what works and what doesn't.
  • Unknown
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  • wallyr1
    wallyr1 Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks a ton for all this guys. I'll bump up my calories to 2,100 and keep for a while. I didn't follow a specific online plan or anything. I would just rotate between chest, arms/legs/back, arms/cardio every four days.

    Is there a specific workout routine or something I'm supposed to be following?
  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
    waleedrashid90 wrote: »
    Thanks a ton for all this guys. I'll bump up my calories to 2,100 and keep for a while. I didn't follow a specific online plan or anything. I would just rotate between chest, arms/legs/back, arms/cardio every four days.

    Is there a specific workout routine or something I'm supposed to be following?

    A good program is absolutely key. Have a look here for one you might like. If you are unsure, both StrongLifts and Starting Strength are good foundational programs that can get you going for several months and you can build on that.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
  • wallyr1
    wallyr1 Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks a ton for this! I'll pick one of these and stick to it. As for nutrition, I know everyone's saying to go back to eating at a caloric surplus above 100-300 calories but it's honestly worrying me going back to eating so much again. (I guess more of a mental thing). I know I'm a pretty skinny guy now, but I still feel like I have 5-10lb of "skinny fat" I could work on getting rid of before bulking again. I attached a pic I took today of my current physic. A good amount of the calorie calculators online said my BMR is ~2,500 but that just seems like way too much. Is there a general way about going about this eating wise? Like a specific meal plan to follow or something? Honestly I think gaining so much weight and then losing it so fast and just ending up with stretch marks kinda scarred me from eating that much again.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    I don't know if I see much skinny fat on you. If you want objective analysis, get a Dexa scan or other accurate body fat analysis (not bia). Common recommendation is anything 12% or below is fine for bulking and cut at around 15 or above. Im still skinny fat at 20 and doing a slow cut down to 12 but continuing to lift to keep the strength and muscle I have. I dont expect any real gains.
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