Anyone cutting after a bulk?

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Replies

  • watts6151
    watts6151 Posts: 887 Member
    KHMcG wrote: »
    Starting to feel better and get back to focussed muscle group lifting. Chest day today

    Slowly losing while on maintenance cals though....Don't know what to do?


    Help me by voting
    1. should I lean out slowly to see if I have abs below my bellybutton.
    2. Increase my cals to build chest shoulders and quads faster?

    Personally your lean enough to do a nice steady long bulk, if you do decide to continue your fat loss keep it nice and slow
    And maybe consider getting some bloodwork done. Mine goes to pot much under 10% also look at training style and volume, your connective tissue will become an issue
  • MidlifeCrisisFitness
    MidlifeCrisisFitness Posts: 1,106 Member
    Connective tissue... hmm gonna look into that.

    I upped my cals 250 and am still leaning out. I guess I can go to 300 and see. I know for 48 yrs old being below 10% is not recommended. I'm not sure I'm there... My calipers say so but I'm only taking three measurements. Thanks for the advice!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    watts6151 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    KHMcG wrote: »
    Starting to feel better and get back to focussed muscle group lifting. Chest day today

    Slowly losing while on maintenance cals though....Don't know what to do?


    Help me by voting
    1. should I lean out slowly to see if I have abs below my bellybutton.
    2. Increase my cals to build chest shoulders and quads faster?

    It really depends on what your ultimate goals are. Do you feel like you want to get leaner? Is it worth the sacrifice? What would be your plans when you get to that point? Would you run a gaining cycle? Maintain?

    I would say maintaining/recomp you can still build a bit but also lean out a bit too. So that's my vote. It's totally up to you though and your goals

    I very much doubt anyone can recomp under 10% bf without drugs

    I would question that. I helped a women recomp from 26% to 14.1% over a 2 year period. That would definitely be equivalent to being sub 10% for males. But of course individual response is going to vary.
  • watts6151
    watts6151 Posts: 887 Member
    edited July 2020
    psuLemon wrote: »
    watts6151 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    KHMcG wrote: »
    Starting to feel better and get back to focussed muscle group lifting. Chest day today

    Slowly losing while on maintenance cals though....Don't know what to do?


    Help me by voting
    1. should I lean out slowly to see if I have abs below my bellybutton.
    2. Increase my cals to build chest shoulders and quads faster?

    It really depends on what your ultimate goals are. Do you feel like you want to get leaner? Is it worth the sacrifice? What would be your plans when you get to that point? Would you run a gaining cycle? Maintain?

    I would say maintaining/recomp you can still build a bit but also lean out a bit too. So that's my vote. It's totally up to you though and your goals

    I very much doubt anyone can recomp under 10% bf without drugs

    I would question that. I helped a women recomp from 26% to 14.1% over a 2 year period. That would definitely be equivalent to being sub 10% for males. But of course individual response is going to vary.

    can you tell me her stats out of curiosity please, iv'e not come a cross a female competitor who
    has gone from 20% to sub 15 which is basically bikini stage lean without loosing any weight, thanks
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    watts6151 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    watts6151 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    KHMcG wrote: »
    Starting to feel better and get back to focussed muscle group lifting. Chest day today

    Slowly losing while on maintenance cals though....Don't know what to do?


    Help me by voting
    1. should I lean out slowly to see if I have abs below my bellybutton.
    2. Increase my cals to build chest shoulders and quads faster?

    It really depends on what your ultimate goals are. Do you feel like you want to get leaner? Is it worth the sacrifice? What would be your plans when you get to that point? Would you run a gaining cycle? Maintain?

    I would say maintaining/recomp you can still build a bit but also lean out a bit too. So that's my vote. It's totally up to you though and your goals

    I very much doubt anyone can recomp under 10% bf without drugs

    I would question that. I helped a women recomp from 26% to 14.1% over a 2 year period. That would definitely be equivalent to being sub 10% for males. But of course individual response is going to vary.

    can you tell me her stats out of curiosity please, iv'e not come a cross a female competitor who
    has gone from 20% to sub 15 which is basically bikini stage lean without loosing any weight, thanks

    Absolutely. She start at 41 yrs old, 5'9, @153 and 26% bf. Finish 43 at 151 @14.1%. She had dexa scans every 6 months. The biggest jumps where in the first 18 months.
  • watts6151
    watts6151 Posts: 887 Member
    edited July 2020
    psuLemon wrote: »
    watts6151 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    watts6151 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    KHMcG wrote: »
    Starting to feel better and get back to focussed muscle group lifting. Chest day today

    Slowly losing while on maintenance cals though....Don't know what to do?


    Help me by voting
    1. should I lean out slowly to see if I have abs below my bellybutton.
    2. Increase my cals to build chest shoulders and quads faster?

    It really depends on what your ultimate goals are. Do you feel like you want to get leaner? Is it worth the sacrifice? What would be your plans when you get to that point? Would you run a gaining cycle? Maintain?

    I would say maintaining/recomp you can still build a bit but also lean out a bit too. So that's my vote. It's totally up to you though and your goals

    I very much doubt anyone can recomp under 10% bf without drugs

    I would question that. I helped a women recomp from 26% to 14.1% over a 2 year period. That would definitely be equivalent to being sub 10% for males. But of course individual response is going to vary.

    can you tell me her stats out of curiosity please, iv'e not come a cross a female competitor who
    has gone from 20% to sub 15 which is basically bikini stage lean without loosing any weight, thanks

    Absolutely. She start at 41 yrs old, 5'9, @153 and 26% bf. Finish 43 at 151 @14.1%. She had dexa scans every 6 months. The biggest jumps where in the first 18 months.

    amazing results for her and great coaching by yourself, to gain over 16lb of muscle while losing over 18lb of fat
    do you believe she could continue to recomp at 14%?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    watts6151 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    watts6151 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    watts6151 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    KHMcG wrote: »
    Starting to feel better and get back to focussed muscle group lifting. Chest day today

    Slowly losing while on maintenance cals though....Don't know what to do?


    Help me by voting
    1. should I lean out slowly to see if I have abs below my bellybutton.
    2. Increase my cals to build chest shoulders and quads faster?

    It really depends on what your ultimate goals are. Do you feel like you want to get leaner? Is it worth the sacrifice? What would be your plans when you get to that point? Would you run a gaining cycle? Maintain?

    I would say maintaining/recomp you can still build a bit but also lean out a bit too. So that's my vote. It's totally up to you though and your goals

    I very much doubt anyone can recomp under 10% bf without drugs

    I would question that. I helped a women recomp from 26% to 14.1% over a 2 year period. That would definitely be equivalent to being sub 10% for males. But of course individual response is going to vary.

    can you tell me her stats out of curiosity please, iv'e not come a cross a female competitor who
    has gone from 20% to sub 15 which is basically bikini stage lean without loosing any weight, thanks

    Absolutely. She start at 41 yrs old, 5'9, @153 and 26% bf. Finish 43 at 151 @14.1%. She had dexa scans every 6 months. The biggest jumps where in the first 18 months.

    amazing results for her and great coaching by yourself, to gain over 16lb of muscle while losing over 18lb of fat
    do you believe she could continue to recomp at 14%?

    I do not. She was getting a bit too lean. I would rather move to a slightly higher and more sustainable body fat. The good news is, she didn't have any adverse reacts (i.e., loss of period) that some women do.
  • cmelvin1414
    cmelvin1414 Posts: 5 Member
    New to lifting and currently trying to build And gain muscle weight. Also need to trim down on the beer gut. Need to understand this whole build and cut thing. Anyone have words of wisdom? Ok...Go.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    New to lifting and currently trying to build And gain muscle weight. Also need to trim down on the beer gut. Need to understand this whole build and cut thing. Anyone have words of wisdom? Ok...Go.

    To build muscle be consistent about lifting, use a well designed plan that incorporates progressive overload, and make sure you eat about 0.8 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass per day. If you don't want to worry about how much lean body mass you have, and you're not obese, you can just estimate the protein and go with 1 gram per pound of body weight per day.

    Here's a forum topic with a ton of well designed lifting plans to choose from:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    To lose weight eat fewer calories than you burn. If you're new to lifting you can likely lose weight while gaining muscle and you don't need to worry about bulk/cut cycles. Even if you're not new to lifting, generally you want to lose the fat first since that poses the largest risk to your health, then worry about gaining muscle.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    New to lifting and currently trying to build And gain muscle weight. Also need to trim down on the beer gut. Need to understand this whole build and cut thing. Anyone have words of wisdom? Ok...Go.

    Hey, @cmelvin1414. Welcome to the thread.

    I'm certainly not the most experienced poster here when it comes to bulking and cutting so I'll leave those nuances to those who are.

    Being new to lifting my biggest suggestion would be to find a solid program to build strength and competency in the core lifts. I find https://thefitness.wiki/ to be a good resource to get off on the right foot; they list a number of free programs and have an extensive FAQ section.

    Depending on your starting stats, another option that's been getting some discussion here lately is that of "recomp", aka improving body composition at a relatively static body weight. Based on your stated goals of building muscle and trimming down your beer gut, this might be a good place for you to start. Personally, I struggle with the mental aspects of bulking (having been overweight in adolescence) and the execution aspects of cutting to traditionally lean levels of <10% body fat. Subsequently, in the five years I've been lifting I've stayed roughly within a 10 lb range but still been able to improve my strength and aesthetics going from 18+% body fat to <12%
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    New to lifting and currently trying to build And gain muscle weight. Also need to trim down on the beer gut. Need to understand this whole build and cut thing. Anyone have words of wisdom? Ok...Go.

    To add onto what the others said above, what is your immediate goal. If you want to lose the gut first to get some ab definition, I would do a small to moderate deficit, eat a higher protein diet and follow a structured program. Being new, this will allow you to gain some muscle and strength while aiming foe your initial goal.

    If your goal is mainly muscle gains, then a small surplus is ideal with higher protein and a structured routine. But your gut will likely get bigger.

    You can recomp but realize its slow (thing months to years) and may not be optimal based on your short term goals. And depending how muscle weight you truly need to lose, it can almost be prohibitive. For example and IMO/IME, men above 18-20% bf shouldn't run a recomp. They would be better off running a small deficit to get a bit leaner where muscle growth is a bit more optimal.
  • cmelvin1414
    cmelvin1414 Posts: 5 Member
    Awesome advice!!! Thanks so much.

  • MidlifeCrisisFitness
    MidlifeCrisisFitness Posts: 1,106 Member
    @sardelsa incredible! Great 11! 😎
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    @KHMcG Holy smokes awesome! I don't know how much better you can get (although I know what it's like to be our own toughest critic). Just keep increasing calories until you maintain then go from there!
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    Doing ok I think. I just moved from upper/lower 4 days to 3 days. Will keep you all posted. hreayuppjcsh.jpeg
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  • MidlifeCrisisFitness
    MidlifeCrisisFitness Posts: 1,106 Member
    @alexmose Just ok? Looking good! Keep at it, you're doing great.
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    KHMcG wrote: »
    @alexmose Just ok? Looking good! Keep at it, you're doing great.

    Thank you! I don’t have much ‘cutting’ to go! I’m only 108lbs and I’m lifting really hard and getting plenty of protein. Just feels like the results are not coming.
  • MidlifeCrisisFitness
    MidlifeCrisisFitness Posts: 1,106 Member
    @sardelsa I know... I'm a redline hunter by nature... I need to be careful though bouncing off the rev limiter can be painful. The body is 48 years old... I absolutely love those zercher squats. They are really helping to fill out my quads. I'm doing them with dumbells, high rep and lower weight at the moment.