Anyone cutting after a bulk?

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Replies

  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    Good to see you back, @jseams1234 !

    The stripper bots are definitely annoying but they've seemed to taper off for me.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    steveko89 wrote: »
    Good to see you back, @jseams1234 !

    The stripper bots are definitely annoying but they've seemed to taper off for me.

    The admins are working on solving the stripper bots. It's super annoying.

    I am back on semi track. After this weekend should be a bit easier to keep on track. Back down to 167 and hoping to get to 160. Definitely gained some muscle though as i have more definition at a higher weight
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    Here’s my graph for March. Overall, a solid month and pleasantly my morning weight converged to my trend weight today. Got a few more weeks to try and cut before both mine and my wife’s birthdays towards the end of April.

    22a1iqz6xklm.png
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,216 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    Good to see you back, @jseams1234 !

    The stripper bots are definitely annoying but they've seemed to taper off for me.

    Good to see you too! So glad everybody seems to have stuck around.

    Ah, I suspected as much. Probably if you accept the request you get access to a link redirecting you to a porn site. My mistake was seeing one pop up in my email, thinking it was funny, and showing my wife. Luckily I could show her I didn't accept... but she still got pissed - lesson learned. lol
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,216 Member
    1975greig wrote: »
    Very good mate, props from the UK 🇬🇧💪

    Thank you! @1975greig

    Late response - I've been off the site during the bulk (lol) of the pandemic.

    Those pictures were from 2017 - seems longer ago than that, especially after this last year we have all had to deal with. I did learn a lot of lessons - one being that you can certainly take a bulk way too far, but if you are careful with a cut you can also retain almost all the gains. I think the better comparison isn't my panda alter ego but where I initially started from. I was painfully skinny (with a pot belly)... I hated it. I'm not skinny anymore but that part of my life is certainly stuck in my head and to this day I have to cut my face out of progress pics to even have a chance of seeing a realistic view of what I actually look like.


  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Looking great @steveko89 !

    So... my cut is stalling a bit but I am looking leaner so I think the scale is just being a pain since I added cardio and I'm retaining water. That's what I keep telling myself anyhow!
    I am really happy with my gains though, I have never seen my glutes and legs look so full and BAM. So clearly I did something right despite gaining a little too much on my bulk. Whooops.
    I need to meal prep or something I keep reaching for not great snacks before dinner which is busting my intake. Gahh
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Looking great @steveko89 !

    So... my cut is stalling a bit but I am looking leaner so I think the scale is just being a pain since I added cardio and I'm retaining water. That's what I keep telling myself anyhow!
    I am really happy with my gains though, I have never seen my glutes and legs look so full and BAM. So clearly I did something right despite gaining a little too much on my bulk. Whooops.
    I need to meal prep or something I keep reaching for not great snacks before dinner which is busting my intake. Gahh

    Thanks, Stef. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to see some progress pics from your bulk.

    I’ve been loosely following an RP Diet template I found which has more focus on meal timing and macros/meal than I’ve done before and I’m liking it so far (since Saturday at least). Similarly, the scale is bouncing around a little but feeling both filled out and lean, which is a nice combo.
  • alexmose2
    alexmose2 Posts: 208 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Looking great @steveko89 !

    So... my cut is stalling a bit but I am looking leaner so I think the scale is just being a pain since I added cardio and I'm retaining water. That's what I keep telling myself anyhow!
    I am really happy with my gains though, I have never seen my glutes and legs look so full and BAM. So clearly I did something right despite gaining a little too much on my bulk. Whooops.
    I need to meal prep or something I keep reaching for not great snacks before dinner which is busting my intake. Gahh

    Thanks, Stef. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to see some progress pics from your bulk.

    I’ve been loosely following an RP Diet template I found which has more focus on meal timing and macros/meal than I’ve done before and I’m liking it so far (since Saturday at least). Similarly, the scale is bouncing around a little but feeling both filled out and lean, which is a nice combo.

    I have been toying with the idea of RP but decided that maybe I should wait to get it for a cut. What's the real differences between that and MFP + sensible food choices?

    I feel like timing is probably similar if you choose a number of meals that fits your life with MFP. Just generally, is RP worth the price if I already have a sense of when, how much, what macros I should be choosing? I tried the trial and selected muscle gain. It gave me macros I well exceed normally on maintenance. I know it is supposed to adapt to you, but I really just cannot mentally justify buying it if I eat my meals at regular 2-3 hour intervals with sufficient protein at each (well, ok in my case 4/5 meals have protein).
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    alexmose2 wrote: »
    steveko89 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Looking great @steveko89 !

    So... my cut is stalling a bit but I am looking leaner so I think the scale is just being a pain since I added cardio and I'm retaining water. That's what I keep telling myself anyhow!
    I am really happy with my gains though, I have never seen my glutes and legs look so full and BAM. So clearly I did something right despite gaining a little too much on my bulk. Whooops.
    I need to meal prep or something I keep reaching for not great snacks before dinner which is busting my intake. Gahh

    Thanks, Stef. I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to see some progress pics from your bulk.

    I’ve been loosely following an RP Diet template I found which has more focus on meal timing and macros/meal than I’ve done before and I’m liking it so far (since Saturday at least). Similarly, the scale is bouncing around a little but feeling both filled out and lean, which is a nice combo.

    I have been toying with the idea of RP but decided that maybe I should wait to get it for a cut. What's the real differences between that and MFP + sensible food choices?

    I feel like timing is probably similar if you choose a number of meals that fits your life with MFP. Just generally, is RP worth the price if I already have a sense of when, how much, what macros I should be choosing? I tried the trial and selected muscle gain. It gave me macros I well exceed normally on maintenance. I know it is supposed to adapt to you, but I really just cannot mentally justify buying it if I eat my meals at regular 2-3 hour intervals with sufficient protein at each (well, ok in my case 4/5 meals have protein).

    So I didn't buy the templates or subscribe to the app; both of which seem overpriced (but I'm super cheap about most things). The biggest philosophical difference is that RP has you count per meal macros at time intervals set around your training schedule and restricts to "on-plan" healthy sources for protein, carbs and fats. The app seems to have more sophisticated algorithms backing it and is pretty continuously updated based on any new findings or views where as the templates were last updated in 2017 (anecdotal based on a recent RP Strength podcast). As a business model they're definitely gravitating more towards the app or 1:1 coaching vs. the templates, which makes sense as a revenue generating tool, though the app is still pretty DIY at like $15/month. Via a quick google I was able to find a few different PDFs or JPGs of the templates and found the one applicable to my training schedule on like the third link. For morning training it boils down to six evenly spaced protein doses; pre-intra workout, 20 minutes after training, and 2-4 or 3-5 hours later for three meals and casein at bedtime. Also prescribes a range for carbs, fats and servings of vegetables... which for me it's a little impractical to have 2 cups of vegetables 4 times spread over the day but I only go so far in terms of "clean" eating. Allegedly there's some interference with fat and protein utilization around training stimulus to the macro sources are weighted to be higher carb around training, fats away from training and protein evenly dosed. At this point between following RP on social media, listening to the podcast, and roughly following the template I don't see the value in paying for the app but we'll see if results follow.

    Practically applied, for me it meant going from 4 protein doses over 10ish hours and an evening snack (that usually lacked protein) to six smaller protein doses 15-16 hours. In terms of average macros, I'm up on carbs and down on fat and protein (still over 1g/lb though) and I've been better on adherence trying to mitigate that variable. I didn't adjust my macro targets in MFP and I've averaged just under maintenance since Saturday getting things adjusted routine-wise. I'm up a little on trend weight, mainly due to those higher carbs (roughly a 5% increase), and I'm assuming some effect from meal timing. Intangibly, I think I'm fueling my workouts better, I feel and look a little leaner/firmer, and sleep has been unchanged (which was a concern adding the casein).
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    How's everyone been doing?

    I've been enjoying sticking with the RP template for meal timing and macro distribution. There's a nice effect of having a little more flexibility in dinner, which is the meal that varies that most for me, day-to-day. The overnight casein and small pre-workout snack has been good for my morning workouts too. Rather than the prescribed intra-workout liquid carb source I've just been eating a banana beforehand and that seems to do the trick. Previously, on mornings after I'd be in much of a deficit I'd wake up noticeably hungry since it'd likely been 10+ hours since I'd eaten anything, and that's not the case any more, which is nice. I also noticed I hadn't been adjusting the ratios on all my lifts across the different rep ranges appropriately such that my heavier sets were going up faster than my hypertrophy sets. Made some adjustments for this week and so far they seem to be positive changes.

    Weight-wise my trend is up about 0.5 lbs for the month but that's propped up by a pretty calorie and sodium heavy week last week with my Aunt and Uncle visiting (ribs, pizza, banana cake, brownies, etc.).

    Interestingly, it is looking like TDEE is potentially starting to dip from the bump up following the fall bulk, but some of that is skewed by the higher weight this past week. The scale hasn't moved a ton since 1/1 but if that new observed TDEE at 2650 is real I've been at some deficit 70% of the time for 15 weeks so it wouldn't necessarily be surprising to see some metabolic adaptation.

    Arguably, I should already have shifted to maintenance given the timeframe (per RP's suggestions) but I wanted to be leaner at the end of this cut and at least get back down to the 172-173 range I was early August before the bulk for comparison's sake so I'm going to stretch it to the end of the month or into the first week of May to try and finish it strong and then maintain through the end of June.
  • wiigelec
    wiigelec Posts: 503 Member
    Going good! Glad to hear you’re narrowing in on an eating plan that works for you.

    Had a hockey tournament this weekend (5 games in 3 days) so had to eat to fuel that, but otherwise nearing the 20% bf benchmark. Will post updated stats at that point.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    How's everyone been doing?

    I've been enjoying sticking with the RP template for meal timing and macro distribution. There's a nice effect of having a little more flexibility in dinner, which is the meal that varies that most for me, day-to-day. The overnight casein and small pre-workout snack has been good for my morning workouts too. Rather than the prescribed intra-workout liquid carb source I've just been eating a banana beforehand and that seems to do the trick. Previously, on mornings after I'd be in much of a deficit I'd wake up noticeably hungry since it'd likely been 10+ hours since I'd eaten anything, and that's not the case any more, which is nice. I also noticed I hadn't been adjusting the ratios on all my lifts across the different rep ranges appropriately such that my heavier sets were going up faster than my hypertrophy sets. Made some adjustments for this week and so far they seem to be positive changes.

    Weight-wise my trend is up about 0.5 lbs for the month but that's propped up by a pretty calorie and sodium heavy week last week with my Aunt and Uncle visiting (ribs, pizza, banana cake, brownies, etc.).

    Interestingly, it is looking like TDEE is potentially starting to dip from the bump up following the fall bulk, but some of that is skewed by the higher weight this past week. The scale hasn't moved a ton since 1/1 but if that new observed TDEE at 2650 is real I've been at some deficit 70% of the time for 15 weeks so it wouldn't necessarily be surprising to see some metabolic adaptation.

    Arguably, I should already have shifted to maintenance given the timeframe (per RP's suggestions) but I wanted to be leaner at the end of this cut and at least get back down to the 172-173 range I was early August before the bulk for comparison's sake so I'm going to stretch it to the end of the month or into the first week of May to try and finish it strong and then maintain through the end of June.

    ADDENDUM:
    I crunched some numbers comparing the ~two weeks leading up to the shift to the RP timing template and the time since. Weight has trended up 0.64 lbs and cal/day are up by 116. Protein average is down 6 g/day, Carbs up 16 g/day and fat up 4 g/day. Distribution is basically identical at a nominally 30/40/30 PCF split. At the very least I'm calling it a wash and some feel/performance advantages so I'm going to stay the course. It took a few days to work out some adjustments in my planned foods and I learned a key designation nuance about the recommended carb intake via the RP Strength podcast mid last week.
  • alexmose2
    alexmose2 Posts: 208 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    How's everyone been doing?

    I've been enjoying sticking with the RP template for meal timing and macro distribution. There's a nice effect of having a little more flexibility in dinner, which is the meal that varies that most for me, day-to-day. The overnight casein and small pre-workout snack has been good for my morning workouts too. Rather than the prescribed intra-workout liquid carb source I've just been eating a banana beforehand and that seems to do the trick. Previously, on mornings after I'd be in much of a deficit I'd wake up noticeably hungry since it'd likely been 10+ hours since I'd eaten anything, and that's not the case any more, which is nice. I also noticed I hadn't been adjusting the ratios on all my lifts across the different rep ranges appropriately such that my heavier sets were going up faster than my hypertrophy sets. Made some adjustments for this week and so far they seem to be positive changes.

    Weight-wise my trend is up about 0.5 lbs for the month but that's propped up by a pretty calorie and sodium heavy week last week with my Aunt and Uncle visiting (ribs, pizza, banana cake, brownies, etc.).

    Interestingly, it is looking like TDEE is potentially starting to dip from the bump up following the fall bulk, but some of that is skewed by the higher weight this past week. The scale hasn't moved a ton since 1/1 but if that new observed TDEE at 2650 is real I've been at some deficit 70% of the time for 15 weeks so it wouldn't necessarily be surprising to see some metabolic adaptation.

    Arguably, I should already have shifted to maintenance given the timeframe (per RP's suggestions) but I wanted to be leaner at the end of this cut and at least get back down to the 172-173 range I was early August before the bulk for comparison's sake so I'm going to stretch it to the end of the month or into the first week of May to try and finish it strong and then maintain through the end of June.

    What casein do you use?
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,216 Member
    edited April 2021
    Down to 196# as of this morning. Haven't lost any strength and joints still good. I have a solid 4 pack with a 6 in the right lighting (lol). Feel skinny though and my clothes are looser than I like. I think I'm going to take it down to maybe 190 - or until I stall on 1800. I have no idea what my BF% is - I expect it's still around 13 -15% as my abs show when I'm still quite chunky. ;)

    I did manage to dislocate my finger yesterday putting away some heavy assed DB's. For some reason they have the heaviest in the corner of the wrack by the wall and one slipped. Freaked my wife out - she's never seen a finger bent 90* sideways and the gym got to hear me say the F word very loudly as I yanked on my finger to get it straight. She then called my dad and ratted me out because I refused to go to the emergency room. I'm fine though and although it's a bit sore I can bend it.

    I am spending a lot of time planning on all the foods I'm going to absolutely devour when I'm done. Bonchon chicken is at the top of the list and then I'll work my way down until I've eaten everything. heh

    edit: I've now added a pulled pork sandwich to my list, thanks @psuLemon, lol
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,216 Member
    edited April 2021
    alexmose2 wrote: »

    What casein do you use?

    I bought a bag of "Bedtime Extreme" casein from Myprotein a few years ago with dreams of using it on a bulk... of course, then forgot about it during the fall bulk but found it in a closet looking for something random in November-December. Pretty sure it's well past it's use-by date but it hasn't killed me yet.

    I think this is what is was rebranded as: https://us.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/slow-release-casein/11092497.html?affil=thggpsad&switchcurrency=USD&shippingcountry=US&variation=11410386&shoppingpid=30_Percent_Off_Selected&thg_ppc_campaign=71700000073798086&product_id=11410386&gclid=Cj0KCQjw9_mDBhCGARIsAN3PaFMXC6lyttOmlGhfYEpdgdrcNTYXQP5NIodtC02xhHdYQBbx9OHZD2YaAh0kEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

    *Not compensated by or affiliated with Myprotein, just a satisfied customer since 2016.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,373 MFP Moderator
    edited April 2021
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    Down to 196# as of this morning. Haven't lost any strength and joints still good. I have a solid 4 pack with a 6 in the right lighting (lol). Feel skinny though and my clothes are looser than I like. I think I'm going to take it down to maybe 190 - or until I stall on 1800. I have no idea what my BF% is - I expect it's still around 13 -15% as my abs show when I'm still quite chunky. ;)

    I did manage to dislocate my finger yesterday putting away some heavy assed DB's. For some reason they have the heaviest in the corner of the wrack by the wall and one slipped. Freaked my wife out - she's never seen a finger bent 90* sideways and the gym got to hear me say the F word very loudly as I yanked on my finger to get it straight. She then called my dad and ratted me out because I refused to go to the emergency room. I'm fine though and although it's a bit sore I can bend it.

    I am spending a lot of time planning on all the foods I'm going to absolutely devour when I'm done. Bonchon chicken is at the top of the list and then I'll work my way down until I've eaten everything. heh

    edit: I've now added a pulled pork sandwich to my list, thanks @psuLemon, lol

    First, bon chon is the bomb. And so if my pulled pork!


    Overall, i am essentially unintentionally recomping. Weight has been fluxing up and down, but overall around 168 which is a few lbs up but i am also back on carbs. Right now i am focused more on training and more fat loss. I am feeling and looking a bit leaner. At this point, if i lose a few lbs I would be thrilled.


    Eta: training wise, i am up with all my lifts. I have a mixed heavy routine with callisthenics. It's been providing good relief to my injuries and the pump is great. 😂
  • IRONKINGPIN
    IRONKINGPIN Posts: 11 Member
    Started slowly cutting. Having a hard time balancing muscle and strength loss. Have to find a slow balance. Is there a way to have both? SCIENCE! LOL!
  • nexangelus
    nexangelus Posts: 2,081 Member
    Started slowly cutting. Having a hard time balancing muscle and strength loss. Have to find a slow balance. Is there a way to have both? SCIENCE! LOL!

    If you really are cutting slowly then neither will happen substantially...in my experience...as I have said before my strength has increased or stayed the same after 2 to 3 years on a slow cut...I am female, 47 and now training 5 times a week again....strength is going up still...am now 16 kg/35 lbs down....