Anyone cutting after a bulk?

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Replies

  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    Several weeks of seeing weight gain has my debating going back to keto to control my cravings!

    I am at 170 again which has been several years since i was previously at that weight.

    It has not helped that I have dealt with a lot of work issues, long hours and travel. Damn you margaritas!!

    I bet you like different now at 170 then a few years ago at 170 though!

    But Same here. I decided to just maintain what I am at right now. I am not UNhappy with where I am. But I want to be. I am strong and fit and heck even took my shirt off at the gym the other day.

    I was thinking about this yesterday morning; I remember before I started lifting I was in the mid-high 170s and absolutely hated how fat I perceived myself to be. I was 178.6 yesterday (before a calorific and carbtastic day celebrating my son's birthday has me back over 180 today) and though I certainly prefer to be leaner being at this weight now is certainly different than it was in 2015.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    psuLemon wrote: »
    Several weeks of seeing weight gain has my debating going back to keto to control my cravings!

    I am at 170 again which has been several years since i was previously at that weight.

    It has not helped that I have dealt with a lot of work issues, long hours and travel. Damn you margaritas!!

    I bet you like different now at 170 then a few years ago at 170 though!

    But Same here. I decided to just maintain what I am at right now. I am not UNhappy with where I am. But I want to be. I am strong and fit and heck even took my shirt off at the gym the other day.

    That is certainly true. While my weight gain is largely in my stomach, my chest, arms and legs are more defined.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Anyone else a huge proats lover?


    arwm7u4jc3je.jpg
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    I am IN on proats!!! They are delicious and I eat them everyday for breakfast! For the past.....3 years?? LOL.

    I finally dropped my work travel/vacation weight and am pleasantly surprised to see I can maintain on about 80-150 more calories than previously thought! However we have 3(!!!!) work dinners/parties this week so I think I'll run what my previous calories were for at least the week.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    I am IN on proats!!! They are delicious and I eat them everyday for breakfast! For the past.....3 years?? LOL.

    I finally dropped my work travel/vacation weight and am pleasantly surprised to see I can maintain on about 80-150 more calories than previously thought! However we have 3(!!!!) work dinners/parties this week so I think I'll run what my previous calories were for at least the week.

    Good luck. You can always drop a bit of calories before those dinners or try to fast a bit on those days. That is generally what i "try".
  • watts6151
    watts6151 Posts: 905 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    Anyone else a huge proats lover?


    arwm7u4jc3je.jpg

    As I’m uk based what exactly is proats??
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    I am IN on proats!!! They are delicious and I eat them everyday for breakfast! For the past.....3 years?? LOL.

    I finally dropped my work travel/vacation weight and am pleasantly surprised to see I can maintain on about 80-150 more calories than previously thought! However we have 3(!!!!) work dinners/parties this week so I think I'll run what my previous calories were for at least the week.

    Good luck. You can always drop a bit of calories before those dinners or try to fast a bit on those days. That is generally what i "try".

    Thanks! I usually find this just backfires. I probably will fast for the first dinner since it starts earlier. The others....well....it's the holidays....
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    I am IN on proats!!! They are delicious and I eat them everyday for breakfast! For the past.....3 years?? LOL.

    I finally dropped my work travel/vacation weight and am pleasantly surprised to see I can maintain on about 80-150 more calories than previously thought! However we have 3(!!!!) work dinners/parties this week so I think I'll run what my previous calories were for at least the week.

    Good luck. You can always drop a bit of calories before those dinners or try to fast a bit on those days. That is generally what i "try".

    Thanks! I usually find this just backfires. I probably will fast for the first dinner since it starts earlier. The others....well....it's the holidays....

    Fasting never works well for me either, though I'd probably eat lighter and ensure I get some form of workout in. We always used to do a 10K benefitting our local food bank on Thanksgiving morning; made for a nice tradition and felt like I had free reign for dinner. Each of the last two years my wife and I have gotten up early to lift before our son was up for presents and breakfast but he's not sleeping nearly as late anymore so we'll see if that tradition continues.

    I'm seeing some decent downward scale movement and seeing a similar elevated TDEE at the end of last year's bulk ~2800/day. Definitely still some room for improvement, too. Working on getting my sleep/training schedule locked in and migrating my food routine back down from bulk mode.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    watts6151 wrote: »
    As I’m uk based what exactly is proats??

    I'm in the US and have never heard that term, but, it looks like it's nothing more than oatmeal with something added for protein, thus protein+oats=proats.
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    I am IN on proats!!! They are delicious and I eat them everyday for breakfast! For the past.....3 years?? LOL.

    I finally dropped my work travel/vacation weight and am pleasantly surprised to see I can maintain on about 80-150 more calories than previously thought! However we have 3(!!!!) work dinners/parties this week so I think I'll run what my previous calories were for at least the week.

    Good luck. You can always drop a bit of calories before those dinners or try to fast a bit on those days. That is generally what i "try".

    Thanks! I usually find this just backfires. I probably will fast for the first dinner since it starts earlier. The others....well....it's the holidays....

    Fasting never works well for me either, though I'd probably eat lighter and ensure I get some form of workout in. We always used to do a 10K benefitting our local food bank on Thanksgiving morning; made for a nice tradition and felt like I had free reign for dinner. Each of the last two years my wife and I have gotten up early to lift before our son was up for presents and breakfast but he's not sleeping nearly as late anymore so we'll see if that tradition continues.

    I'm seeing some decent downward scale movement and seeing a similar elevated TDEE at the end of last year's bulk ~2800/day. Definitely still some room for improvement, too. Working on getting my sleep/training schedule locked in and migrating my food routine back down from bulk mode.

    So I ate more than intended, but I also found that I moved a little more this day and that standing for the entire event, made me quite hungry by the time I departed. We have another dinner tonight, and I probably will do something similar. Honestly, I think I had only about 2600 cals yesterday, including my single glass of red wine, which is quite on par with the higher side of a bulk. (about 2200-2300 maintenance cals). I am not mad. If I only have 2-3 more days like this during the holiday season, success. My only regret is that this type of day leaves me quite sleepless.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    GaryRuns wrote: »
    watts6151 wrote: »
    As I’m uk based what exactly is proats??

    I'm in the US and have never heard that term, but, it looks like it's nothing more than oatmeal with something added for protein, thus protein+oats=proats.

    You are correct. It's a term that means protein oats.

    So for example, that is:

    60g old fashioned oats
    1 1/3 cup almond milk
    1 scoop PEScience chocolate cupcake protein
    1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
    2 tbsp sweetener
    Lily's chocolate chips
    1 Quest protein bar
    Peanut butter
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    It saddens me to say, i respond very well to a keto diet. Weight is doing well, no cravings and no more stomach issues!!! Damn you! I want more carbs.


    I might try to do a cyclical keto diet like UD2
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    It saddens me to say, i respond very well to a keto diet. Weight is doing well, no cravings and no more stomach issues!!! Damn you! I want more carbs.


    I might try to do a cyclical keto diet like UD2

    ahhh what stomach issues did this resolve? I am having a bad bout right now.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    psuLemon wrote: »
    It saddens me to say, i respond very well to a keto diet. Weight is doing well, no cravings and no more stomach issues!!! Damn you! I want more carbs.


    I might try to do a cyclical keto diet like UD2

    ahhh what stomach issues did this resolve? I am having a bad bout right now.

    I was bloated and fairly nauseous. Fiber wasn't much different either.
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    well...i just contracted a virus so i have to take some antivirals...so at least i won't be drinking this holidays season. weight is back to normal and stabalized despite 3 parties last week.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Welp, I've been under the weather with a pretty nasty sinus infection after dealing with seasonal allergy-related congestion for probably the last month (darn mold and leaf PM). My terrible sleep habits finally got the better of me and our weather has been bonkers which never helps matters. I woke up with a slight cough from drainage Thursday morning and it's only escalated from there. Was able to get prescribed some antibiotics this morning. Hoping the antibiotics work fast and I'm back to normal-ish by week's end. Turns out I'm mildly allergic to Delsym, which made things worse Saturday night. At least it's not 'rona but I missed training Thursday & Friday, cut a make-up attempt on Saturday short and had no illusions of training yesterday or today. Weight has been noisy but certainly not losing like I was intending.
  • watts6151
    watts6151 Posts: 905 Member
    Well the plan to start cutting on January 1st might be out the window if the uk decides to close the gyms again 🙄
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    well...i just contracted a virus so i have to take some antivirals...so at least i won't be drinking this holidays season. weight is back to normal and stabalized despite 3 parties last week.

    Sorry to hear that. Feel better
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    steveko89 wrote: »
    Welp, I've been under the weather with a pretty nasty sinus infection after dealing with seasonal allergy-related congestion for probably the last month (darn mold and leaf PM). My terrible sleep habits finally got the better of me and our weather has been bonkers which never helps matters. I woke up with a slight cough from drainage Thursday morning and it's only escalated from there. Was able to get prescribed some antibiotics this morning. Hoping the antibiotics work fast and I'm back to normal-ish by week's end. Turns out I'm mildly allergic to Delsym, which made things worse Saturday night. At least it's not 'rona but I missed training Thursday & Friday, cut a make-up attempt on Saturday short and had no illusions of training yesterday or today. Weight has been noisy but certainly not losing like I was intending.

    Hope you feel better too
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    Welp, I've been under the weather with a pretty nasty sinus infection after dealing with seasonal allergy-related congestion for probably the last month (darn mold and leaf PM). My terrible sleep habits finally got the better of me and our weather has been bonkers which never helps matters. I woke up with a slight cough from drainage Thursday morning and it's only escalated from there. Was able to get prescribed some antibiotics this morning. Hoping the antibiotics work fast and I'm back to normal-ish by week's end. Turns out I'm mildly allergic to Delsym, which made things worse Saturday night. At least it's not 'rona but I missed training Thursday & Friday, cut a make-up attempt on Saturday short and had no illusions of training yesterday or today. Weight has been noisy but certainly not losing like I was intending.

    I feel like I could have written this. Cheers I hope we recover soon. If it makes you feel better, when I had rona, I did not train for SIX WEEKS and I literally weighed the same and got my muscle definition back in 3 weeks.
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    watts6151 wrote: »
    Well the plan to start cutting on January 1st might be out the window if the uk decides to close the gyms again 🙄

    what is your home equipment situation? I would not think about it. It's over 10 days away and a lot can happen in 10 days (such as omicron quadrupling in countries). I would expect just some level of restriction vice a total close down.
  • watts6151
    watts6151 Posts: 905 Member
    watts6151 wrote: »
    Well the plan to start cutting on January 1st might be out the window if the uk decides to close the gyms again 🙄

    what is your home equipment situation? I would not think about it. It's over 10 days away and a lot can happen in 10 days (such as omicron quadrupling in countries). I would expect just some level of restriction vice a total close down.

    Luckily I’m good friends with the gym owner,
    I’ll get to borrow any free weights i need.
    Have spent the last few weeks planning out my next 5 months prep 😂
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Thanks @alexandramosenson and @psuLemon. Already improving with the antibiotics and cough is being less frequent. The downside is when I do cough it's ridiculously violent; pulled a muscle in my torso late last night in a coughing spell... so that's fun.
  • alexandramosenson
    alexandramosenson Posts: 50 Member
    steveko89 wrote: »
    Thanks @alexandramosenson and @psuLemon. Already improving with the antibiotics and cough is being less frequent. The downside is when I do cough it's ridiculously violent; pulled a muscle in my torso late last night in a coughing spell... so that's fun.

    I am actually similar on medicine, but this coincides with a much needed rest week. I trained hard for 5 weeks and my body said "enough!!". again, I would not think of it, as a 1-2 course dose will not affect you greatly.
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    I hope the new year is treating everyone well. I've eased down into the 175s on trend and after feeling rudderless last week on training I've come to a consensus on a direction and had a nice lifting session this morning. Still coming back from the pulled muscle (serratus anterior perhaps?) to a degree. Really working on getting my sleep back to where it should be and cutting down on some social media habits I've let get out of hand with regard to mental health and self-talk.
  • watts6151
    watts6151 Posts: 905 Member
    Managed to maintain weight over the holidays while
    Doing a maintenance phase and taking two weeks off totally for recovery, the last meso before Christmas beat the hell out of me.

    I’m 2 days into my cut and already planning my first cheat meal 😂
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    Happy new year everyone. I have done pretty well. Sitting at 167 with carbs. Definition and strength is up. Still focusing on strengthening my back to alleviate all injury. Not focused on fat loss, but rather just getting strong. Sitting around maintenance.

    Might consider having two days a week where i have a 500-700 calorie deficit. Ideally, I'd likento get to 160-162 (on carbs) before i turn 40 in July. So 1-2 lbs a month should be doable.
  • I had an extended maintenance break over crimbo. Back to a deficit now. I’m aiming to lose 10 more pounds and see what I look like. I’m not giving myself a timeframe and I might need more maintenance breaks. I’m not a happy bunny when I’m in any kind of deficit.

    There’s not a lot of muscle to be seen at the moment but I look fine dressed. I’ll keep telling myself that!
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,223 Member
    Flirting with the 173s the last few days. Trend weight down to 174.6 which has me down ~5lbs in the ~6 weeks back to 12/1. Sleep habits are improving but I'm having issues finding the right pillow(s) that are optimal to avoid snoring, back aches, and sinus congestion.
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    i turn 40 in July. So 1-2 lbs a month should be doable.

    I'm turning the big 4-0 in March! Leaning out a bit for that, just because