Anyone cutting after a bulk?
Replies
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Side note. After hitting 177lbs after some work travel, i am down to 171-172. My low is still 168 ih which I am working towards.
And I set up a new lifting upper lower split.3 -
I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-10000
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I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-1000
Oh wow I don't know who bulks with those numbers, I usually don't see a recommendation for higher than 500 per week above maintenance (for males) if they want to keep fat gain at bay. If they just want to get as big as possible then hey, that is their own prerogative.2 -
I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-1000
Oh wow I don't know who bulks with those numbers, I usually don't see a recommendation for higher than 500 per week above maintenance (for males) if they want to keep fat gain at bay. If they just want to get as big as possible then hey, that is their own prerogative.
I agree but I see it more often than not - I hang out in the 300 range and up my HV workouts to burn off the xtra0 -
I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-1000
It's hard to say without context, eg., what a person's maintenance level is, but for most folks 700-1000 calories is a pretty large surplus/deficit. I haven't heard of anyone doing that, except perhaps to experiment with "dirty" bulking. Most people subscribe to the idea that keeping their surplus/deficit within 10-15% of their maintenance level during bulk/cut cycles is optimal.0 -
I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-1000
Oh wow I don't know who bulks with those numbers, I usually don't see a recommendation for higher than 500 per week above maintenance (for males) if they want to keep fat gain at bay. If they just want to get as big as possible then hey, that is their own prerogative.
I agree but I see it more often than not - I hang out in the 300 range and up my HV workouts to burn off the xtra
If you are burning some off then your surplus must be really minimal and lean, which is fine if that's your goal!0 -
I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly0 -
I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-1000
Oh wow I don't know who bulks with those numbers, I usually don't see a recommendation for higher than 500 per week above maintenance (for males) if they want to keep fat gain at bay. If they just want to get as big as possible then hey, that is their own prerogative.
I agree but I see it more often than not - I hang out in the 300 range and up my HV workouts to burn off the xtra
If you are burning some off then your surplus must be really minimal and lean, which is fine if that's your goal!
for me I like to be withing 4-5% of the lowest fat % 7% in my case so i never reach more than 12 or so - well after the holidays I gave myself a couple extra LOL0 -
I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-1000
Oh wow I don't know who bulks with those numbers, I usually don't see a recommendation for higher than 500 per week above maintenance (for males) if they want to keep fat gain at bay. If they just want to get as big as possible then hey, that is their own prerogative.
I agree but I see it more often than not - I hang out in the 300 range and up my HV workouts to burn off the xtra
If you are burning some off then your surplus must be really minimal and lean, which is fine if that's your goal!
for me I like to be withing 4-5% of the lowest fat % 7% in my case so i never reach more than 12 or so - well after the holidays I gave myself a couple extra LOL
I don't remember but do you compete ? In that case it's beneficial to not go too far from your stage leanness, just enough to relax and build a bit. I don't compete so I don't mind packing on some extra weight after getting super lean especially since I feel too scrawny0 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
I think these bigger guys are actually able to maintain on that intake, I know Lanny @Chieflrg maintains on that or higher if I'm not mistaken. It takes a lot of calories to move all that muscle around!0 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
No mystery, hours of training facilitated by a top noch trainer, dietitian and the best pharmaceutical drugs money can buy
Depending on the time of the year my bulking cals are often over 6k daily2 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
No mystery, hours of training facilitated by a top noch trainer, dietitian and the best pharmaceutical drugs money can buy
Depending on the time of the year my bulking cals are often over 6k daily
Holy smokes... What kind of surplus are you in when bulking?0 -
I just have a hard time buying into traditional cutting bulking - Lean bulking is far healthier and far more obtainable long term - movement of 300 calories up and down are far easier than 700-1000
Oh wow I don't know who bulks with those numbers, I usually don't see a recommendation for higher than 500 per week above maintenance (for males) if they want to keep fat gain at bay. If they just want to get as big as possible then hey, that is their own prerogative.
I agree but I see it more often than not - I hang out in the 300 range and up my HV workouts to burn off the xtra
If you are burning some off then your surplus must be really minimal and lean, which is fine if that's your goal!
for me I like to be withing 4-5% of the lowest fat % 7% in my case so i never reach more than 12 or so - well after the holidays I gave myself a couple extra LOL
I don't remember but do you compete ? In that case it's beneficial to not go too far from your stage leanness, just enough to relax and build a bit. I don't compete so I don't mind packing on some extra weight after getting super lean especially since I feel too scrawny
Back in the day - Im 50 now so ummmm I leave that to the new lions - I hate the extreme dieting that came with it so it was jsut easier for me to stay leaner and cut a bit rather that feeling like crap for the last 5 -6 weeks0 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
No mystery, hours of training facilitated by a top noch trainer, dietitian and the best pharmaceutical drugs money can buy
Depending on the time of the year my bulking cals are often over 6k daily
Holy smokes... What kind of surplus are you in when bulking?
Ball park 300-500, the main thing is for me to make sure I’m actually in a decent surplus, nobody actually knows how many calories their burning each day or exactly how many calories they are eating it’s all estimates and best guesses1 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
No mystery, hours of training facilitated by a top noch trainer, dietitian and the best pharmaceutical drugs money can buy
Depending on the time of the year my bulking cals are often over 6k daily
Holy smokes... What kind of surplus are you in when bulking?
Ball park 300-500, the main thing is for me to make sure I’m actually in a decent surplus, nobody actually knows how many calories their burning each day or exactly how many calories they are eating it’s all estimates and best guesses
Damn, 6000.
Powerlifter or strongman competitor?0 -
Geez, I'll just sit quietly in the corner with my ~2500 cal TDEE3
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Geez, I'll just sit quietly in the corner with my ~2500 cal TDEE
My fitbit tells me my TDEE is about 3500 calories, but based on the scale and calorie intake... It's probably closer to 2500 per day... I just can't lose weight eating more than that and I'm a pretty active guy...
I've always wondered if my metabolism has slowed because of all the weight I had lost... But maybe I'm just eating more than I realize too... Or blowing it on the weekends more than I realize, or both...
I've got a pretty low resting heart rate... Low 40s, not sure if that's an indication but maybe...2 -
I have to admit to having some nerd shame but I'm gonna own it anyway. I've been cutting for a while so I created a spreadsheet that figures out my average rate of weight loss over that time period, how many calories in deficit that corresponds to, and then uses that to estimate my maintenance level. It's got me at about 2700.
I'll see how accurate it is after I finish this $^*! cut and start bulking, assuming I ever finish this cut!2 -
I have to admit to having some nerd shame but I'm gonna own it anyway. I've been cutting for a while so I created a spreadsheet that figures out my average rate of weight loss over that time period, how many calories in deficit that corresponds to, and then uses that to estimate my maintenance level. It's got me at about 2700.
I'll see how accurate it is after I finish this $^*! cut and start bulking, assuming I ever finish this cut!
I use one for TDEE I found on r/fitness. It's limited to just over a year so I mirror data entry in a full log file... 927 consecutive days of data so far.1 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
No mystery, hours of training facilitated by a top noch trainer, dietitian and the best pharmaceutical drugs money can buy
Depending on the time of the year my bulking cals are often over 6k daily
Holy smokes... What kind of surplus are you in when bulking?
Ball park 300-500, the main thing is for me to make sure I’m actually in a decent surplus, nobody actually knows how many calories their burning each day or exactly how many calories they are eating it’s all estimates and best guesses
Damn, 6000.
Powerlifter or strongman competitor?
Just a gym rat focused on physique
Maintenance in the summer months is around 4000
Maintenance in winter can often be over5.5k
It’s early morning starts, attempting to juggle family life, running a business, getting into the gym then making sure the dogs walked,
Many times in winter I’m walking the dog after 11pm trying to get to bed before midnight. Often I’m eating a whole litre tub of ice cream before bed just to get the calories in1 -
Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
No mystery, hours of training facilitated by a top noch trainer, dietitian and the best pharmaceutical drugs money can buy
Depending on the time of the year my bulking cals are often over 6k daily
Holy smokes... What kind of surplus are you in when bulking?
Ball park 300-500, the main thing is for me to make sure I’m actually in a decent surplus, nobody actually knows how many calories their burning each day or exactly how many calories they are eating it’s all estimates and best guesses
Damn, 6000.
Powerlifter or strongman competitor?
Just a gym rat focused on physique
Maintenance in the summer months is around 4000
Maintenance in winter can often be over5.5k
It’s early morning starts, attempting to juggle family life, running a business, getting into the gym then making sure the dogs walked,
Many times in winter I’m walking the dog after 11pm trying to get to bed before midnight. Often I’m eating a whole litre tub of ice cream before bed just to get the calories in
My go-to is Costco sized bags of Totino's Pizza rolls (pepperoni) and a marinara dipping sauce heavy in olive oil. I can scarf down a plate of those in a few minutes and it's a ton of calories especially if I wash it down with a mass shake. I struggled pretty bad when I was near 5K a day - hated it. Eating anything became a chore and my appetite took such a dive that I was never hungry. I have no idea how you handle such a high maintenance.... ugh.1 -
I have to admit to having some nerd shame but I'm gonna own it anyway. I've been cutting for a while so I created a spreadsheet that figures out my average rate of weight loss over that time period, how many calories in deficit that corresponds to, and then uses that to estimate my maintenance level. It's got me at about 2700.
I'll see how accurate it is after I finish this $^*! cut and start bulking, assuming I ever finish this cut!
No shame in that! Nerds end up ruling the world 🤓 after all
I have my own spreadsheet going back to July when I started down this journey seriously. Daily cals, macros, some micros - weight weekly/bf% and every single rep I’ve ever done : biggest help for me has been correlating good workout or bad workout sessions with the variables that I have access to
Also, hi all - first post on this thread. I realize it’s no longer about cutting so I feel I might have something relevant to contribute 😎2 -
jseams1234 wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »Mr_Healthy_Habits wrote: »I've always found it interesting how actors like the rock and the avengers will claim to eat 5-6k calories per day when adding muscle for a movie and still manage to not gain fat...
First of all... I know they are not burning it all off everyday in the gym 8hrs per day... Your body just couldn't recover from that, joints muscles etc...
And even if you could and did burn it all off every day, you wouldn't get any bigger...
I mean it's possible they just simply starve themselves for 3 months before filming like some bodybuilders do...
And then there's the obvious ped's... It's a mystery to me honestly
No mystery, hours of training facilitated by a top noch trainer, dietitian and the best pharmaceutical drugs money can buy
Depending on the time of the year my bulking cals are often over 6k daily
Holy smokes... What kind of surplus are you in when bulking?
Ball park 300-500, the main thing is for me to make sure I’m actually in a decent surplus, nobody actually knows how many calories their burning each day or exactly how many calories they are eating it’s all estimates and best guesses
Damn, 6000.
Powerlifter or strongman competitor?
Just a gym rat focused on physique
Maintenance in the summer months is around 4000
Maintenance in winter can often be over5.5k
It’s early morning starts, attempting to juggle family life, running a business, getting into the gym then making sure the dogs walked,
Many times in winter I’m walking the dog after 11pm trying to get to bed before midnight. Often I’m eating a whole litre tub of ice cream before bed just to get the calories in
My go-to is Costco sized bags of Totino's Pizza rolls (pepperoni) and a marinara dipping sauce heavy in olive oil. I can scarf down a plate of those in a few minutes and it's a ton of calories especially if I wash it down with a mass shake. I struggled pretty bad when I was near 5K a day - hated it. Eating anything became a chore and my appetite took such a dive that I was never hungry. I have no idea how you handle such a high maintenance.... ugh.
Maintenance or especially trying to bulk in winter isn’t fun, at first it’s happy days, basically a see food diet but gets old very quickly.
My struggles start when the work calms down and I decide to cut, suddenly that 6k goes down to about 3.5k and I’m starving constantly, currently at just under 3k and findinding it really difficult1 -
Another 0.5lb ☝🏼, ≈ 9lbs since mid Sept...
Waist measurement and caliper pinch the same 👍🏼
Measurements everywhere else, up slightly in certain areas, negligible change in others...
I did add a bit to my bench, row and leg press, among reps and weight on other exercises, and just beat my shoulder press pr by 2 reps 😌
So I'm not going to worry too much about not seeing the measurement increases I was hoping for... But I'll take them were I did see them...
Not sure if it's time to increase calories or not yet, eating about 2600-2800/d... Odd considering I probably burn 3-4k/d...
Started from the bottom now I'm here
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Two more weeks of bulking, according to coach. Gonna check deadlift 1RM, then a mini-cut. I am soooo ready. 204 lbs this morning.3
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177 lbs this morning but I think I've been obsessing over the scale too much and I'm terrible at tracking progress via pictures or other measurements. Normally I basically dress business casual but needed to wear a suit for a meeting this morning. My tailored suit pants are loose in the waist and this shirt is notably tighter than the last time I wore it (few months tops) across the shoulders, chest, and arms so dimensions are heading the intended directions.7
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I've had the flu for the last week. I think I'm finally over it - no fever for the last 24 but hopped on the scale today and lost 9 pounds. I was slamming protein drinks left and right and hoping I didn't drop too much lean mass. I feel and look deflated though. I made sure I kept hydrated as I could.
I still don't think I'm ready for the gym yet. Maybe Wednesday.
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jseams1234 wrote: »I've had the flu for the last week. I think I'm finally over it - no fever for the last 24 but hopped on the scale today and lost 9 pounds. I was slamming protein drinks left and right and hoping I didn't drop too much lean mass. I feel and look deflated though. I made sure I kept hydrated as I could.
I still don't think I'm ready for the gym yet. Maybe Wednesday.
If it's any consolation the few studies I've seen say that you can take up to 2-3 weeks off strength training before you experience any muscle atrophy from "detraining". Prior to that most of the appearance that your muscles are shrinking is just due to glycogen depletion and dehydration, which comes back quickly when you can start eating and drinking normally again.3 -
How is everyone doing? So much sick going around hopefully everyone is recovering or staying healthy!
Things are going well over here. I looked at myself in the mirror this morning and thought - wow I look really lean, almost too lean. Which could possibly mean I am not actually maintaining but losing since physique changes do not happen that fast unless I am in a deficit. Uch. Maybe by some chance I am recomping. According to trend weight I am losing again but I am not giving it enough data points because I keep forgetting
. I also need to pick up a measuring tape and actually take measurements soon to help track progress.
Lift wise- I am definitely getting stronger and pushing myself more. The only lift I am struggling with is my squats (barbell-wise I only do Zercher squats) they just feel so heavy the past two sessions and my right quad is just so tight, so I gotta work on those.6 -
How is everyone doing? So much sick going around hopefully everyone is recovering or staying healthy!
Luckily we've fended off any illness so far.
My weight trend is creeping down, ever so slightly, predominantly over the last two weeks with some modicum of consistency. For whatever reason my TDEE is tracking at ~100 down from my historical data and I'm not 100% sure why. If anything I've added overall activity going to the Arnold Program. I've got some bookmarked articles to read about tweaking macros but there's part of it that's just me buckling down and improving adherence (still/again) if I'm actually going to ever get properly lean. The additional volume and rep ranges are definitely making a notable difference aesthetically. A few weeks in I'm still adjusting to the extra sets but been able to add reps on main lifts. I need to take some pictures and measurements; I'm off Friday so I it might happen then.
With my wife finally starting to lift I've had an excuse to get some new toys for the basement, which has been fun. I found a sweet FB marketplace deal on another bar, bumper plates, loadable dumbbells, and some change plates; all Rogue at less than half of MSRP.
I have a few days of work travel scheduled each of the next two weeks which will necessitate some schedule adjustments.5
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