Okay guys, here is a little background on me go down if you want to skip to my question. I started lifting years ago for sports in school but quickly fell in love with just the lifting. I worked more at it and slowly on the nutrition needed to build size. I stopped working out after high school and focused on running to get ready for the military. I am 6’ tall and while in I went from 156 in the start (having abs but not muscle) to 231 at the end (looking like a power lifter…fat with a good amount of muscle).
Well anyway, after I got out I took a “little” time off to get moved back home and settle in. The thing is I never exactly got back into it that much even though I tried but things kept causing me to stop again. Two years later I started lifting and eating better (last fall) and worked on getting my muscle back to some degree while cleaning up my horrible diet. I had gained a ton of fat while losing muscle but finally hit a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore and it was definitely noticeable. (it really sneaks up on you if you let it)
This year in the beginning of January I started a strict diet to cut fat and keep what muscle I managed to gain back. I had some noob gains in there too and at first built up some of my lost muscle and strength while cutting fat down. I started the diet at around 28% body fat at 216 pounds and after ten weeks I am at around 17% at 197 pounds. I still have two weeks left to go and don’t anticipate losing more than 3-5 more pounds.
Now to really what I want to know
I want to get to 10% body fat and know I won’t get there on this diet in two more weeks. I started off eating around 3000 calories, 300g protein, 230g carbs, and 100g fat; cut to 2500 calories, 150g carbs, 70g fat, then right now am at 1900 calories, 300g protein, 90g carbs, and 30g fat. This is the first time I have done a really clean and strict diet program to keep muscle. Last time I was skinny I just didn’t eat anything and had no muscle as a result.
I want to eat more calories for at least a couple weeks and then probably go back into dieting down until I get to the body fat I want to be at. My question is should I do a quick 4 week bulk or just maintain my weight or what? I have never really done this before and don’t know what to do after this. How long should I wait before cutting weight again? I am likely going to go from whatever I do in between diets down to around 2500 calories and cut down as needed. In order to get to 10% body fat I have to weigh around 187 pounds and that means I have to lose 10 pounds from where I am at right now. By the end of this diet I will hopefully only need to lose 6-8 pounds. Thanks for any advice!
160LBM at 6ft is very very small. I was at that point and i looked skinny and my BF was quite low. Not a good look. The more LBM you have the easier you can shed fat. Just getting consistent with the gym a food should allow you to continue to recomp considering where your BF is right now
[quote]JFG wrote:
You are presently around 160-165 lbm at 6 feet tall?
Pack some muscles. The fat will come down. Mathematically if not by loosing it.
BTW, Last time and this time, you are skinny.[/quote]
Not much of a difference but I’m around 169 LBM.
I packed a good amount of muscle at one point but I also packed more fat. It’s that fat I’m trying to lose now since I had lose the muscle already due to being lazy and stopping lifting.
I’m just trying to get lean at the moment so I can build quality lean muscle mass. But like I was asking, I don’t know what to do with my diet before I cut down again. I will bulk later for sure but come April do I bulk for a few weeks then try to burn the rest of my fat or just do normal eating and then cut later so I don’t potentially gain more fat back?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
If you get lazy and stop lifting, you need to fix that first. It doesn’t matter what you do if you don’t even plan to stick with this long term.
[/quote]
This.
Also, if you are 17 percent at 197, you will probably not be 10 percent (or a true 10 percent) at 187…
My advice is to keep eating intelligently (enough to gain weight at a steady, not crazy rate) and training like an animal. If you’re not putting in the work at the gym, no bulk/cut advice will be worth it.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
If you get lazy and stop lifting, you need to fix that first. It doesn’t matter what you do if you don’t even plan to stick with this long term.
[/quote]
I plan on sticking to this one. I worked out on and off for a few years before working out for a solid four years. I just took a break after moving from Texas to Indiana to get settled in and never fully got back into it. I quit due to injury once and laziness got the better of me the other times I tried to get back into it that two years. So far I have been back at it for six months solid and don’t plan on quitting anytime soon.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
If you get lazy and stop lifting, you need to fix that first. It doesn’t matter what you do if you don’t even plan to stick with this long term.
[/quote]
This.
Also, if you are 17 percent at 197, you will probably not be 10 percent (or a true 10 percent) at 187…
My advice is to keep eating intelligently (enough to gain weight at a steady, not crazy rate) and training like an animal. If you’re not putting in the work at the gym, no bulk/cut advice will be worth it. [/quote]
Thanks for the advice! I plan on following good eating and when I do bulk it will be as clean as I can. This diet has helped my motivation a ton but my strength gains have stopped the past few weeks. I will push it to the next level as soon as I know I am done dieting for sure.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
If you get lazy and stop lifting, you need to fix that first. It doesn’t matter what you do if you don’t even plan to stick with this long term.
[/quote]
This.
Also, if you are 17 percent at 197, you will probably not be 10 percent (or a true 10 percent) at 187…
My advice is to keep eating intelligently (enough to gain weight at a steady, not crazy rate) and training like an animal. If you’re not putting in the work at the gym, no bulk/cut advice will be worth it. [/quote]
Don’t let yourself get weaker…dieting and strength loss, unless you’re a few weeks out of a bodybuilding contest (and even then in some cases) is a bit of a myth. Keep pushing as hard as you would if you weren’t dieting.
Thanks for the advice! I plan on following good eating and when I do bulk it will be as clean as I can. This diet has helped my motivation a ton but my strength gains have stopped the past few weeks. I will push it to the next level as soon as I know I am done dieting for sure.[/quote]
Don’t let yourself get weaker…dieting and strength loss, unless you’re a few weeks out of a bodybuilding contest (and even then in some cases) is a bit of a myth. Keep pushing as hard as you would if you weren’t dieting
I haven’t noticed strength loss really, only on some days but it comes back the next time. Mainly just that I’m not really gaining much new ground on some lifts.
[quote]Jordan_J wrote:
I haven’t noticed strength loss really, only on some days but it comes back the next time. Mainly just that I’m not really gaining much new ground on some lifts.[/quote]
Continue the next two weeks like this but honestly 1900 cals is not much if you are working hard in the gym. Keep it higher (2500to3000) but clean still and work harder and the lifts will get stronger and you will still lose fat. Try that for a few months before trying to bulk or cut again, at least that would be my method.