Bulk or Cut

Ok first post im 5 foot 5 155. Ive lost about 100 pounds in about a year and a half. Should i cut some more to get my stomach down or bulk to fill up

Good work on that 100lbs. Now put it back on but make it muscle.

eek, I’m sure most will say bulk. Oh and congrats on the weight loss.

Congrats on the weight loss and staying motivated. I would start gradually adding more cals into the diet and put some solid muscle on.

I would say bulk, but be careful. Take the caloric changes slowly, and cycle your carbs.

-dizzle

Start bulking, without a doubt.

Once you build up some muscle it’s metabolically active enough to help you keep leaner.

Start a clean bulk, and good luck.

“If you have to ask, then you probably need to bulk.”

You lost 100 pounds? Wow! Do you feel a lot better now? Do you have any before pics (even dressed if that’s all you have)? Congrats! I definitely don’t think you need to lose more fat. Why are you standing sideways? :slight_smile:

Fantastic work on your weightloss.

My advice is think of bulking and cutting as a contiuum with bulking on one side and cutting on the other. Personally I believe that to many people limit themselves to either a bulk or a cutting diet without considering the middle ground. Please note on this point I am not making an argument for gaining muscle as well as similtaneously losing fat nor am I making a argument against bulking. I believe that these arguements are possible from both a physiological and personal experience standpoint, but i caution there usage due to high risk of failure, mediocre results for the first and excessive fat gain for the second.

My reccomendations would be to

  1. find your daily calorie requirements, and if you are below this to gradually move to this level and maintain it for about two weeks
  2. When your at this level add 500 calories and start an appropriate muscle building program

My reasoning is as follows considering you have just come off a harsh diet, as previously mentioned in the thread, your body may try to put the extra calories into your fat stores. My reccomendation of adding 500 calories, although stereotypical of the conservative approach, will allow for progress and hopefully limit fat gain. Furthermore it is also easy to add extra calories if this approach is not working.

wow…no need for any before pics, i can see you lost a massive amt from the pic…my advice would be to increase the calories by 250/day each week, cycle your carb intake and get on a good program like Thib’s hypermetabolism. I used it to recomp myself from 19% to 15% at the same weight, and I believe it can be used quite effectively for bulking.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1499282

IMO it works best with carb cycling as described in here:

to quote Christian

"
I’ll use Jelena as an example… We do cycle her carbs…

  1. Higher on the strength workout days
  2. Lower on the lactate-inducing days
  3. Lowest on the “off”’ days

Protein stays the same at around 1.25 - 1.5g per pound (I,d go with 1.25g for men over 180 and 1.5 for women and men under 180).

Depending on objective of the phase the caloric intake is set at:

MAXIMUM FAT LOSS
High(er) days = maintenance
Low days = 10% below maintenance
Lowest days = 20% below maintenance

FAT LOSS WITH MAX MASS MAINTENANCE
High(er) days = 5% above maintenance
Low days = 5% below maintenance
Lowest days = 15% below maintenance

SMALL FAT LOSS WITH SOME MUSCLE GAIN
High(er) days = 10% above maintenance
Low days = 5% below maintenance
Lowest days = 10% below maintenance

MUSCLE GAIN WITH MINIMAL FAT GAIN
High(er) days = 15% above maintenance
Low days = Maintenance
Lowest days = 10% below maintenance

MAXIMUM MUSCLE GAIN WITH SOME FAT GAIN
High(er) days = 20% above maintenance
Low days = 10% above maintenance
Lowest days = 5% above maintenance "