I’ve been training for 4 years. Started TRT in September because I was low. I started on 150mg which put me at 1101 ng/dl, but for TRT this was too high for me and I felt on edge all the time, so now I’m at 90mg. I have been bulking since September, and now it is time for a cut as I don’t have abs, and I’m definitely a little more fluffy/fat. My question is, will I lose lots of size and muscle when I start cutting? I hate feeling small when dieting and want to know how to prevent this. Do I run my TRT higher? or is it as simple as just hit my macros perfectly, and I’ll be fine.
I didn’t put as much muscle on my arms/shoulders as I would have liked to, so I am worried about the cut if I will look very small. I’m tempted to keep bulking and keep hitting arms and shoulders harder, but I think I will regret this come summer when I am not as lean as I want to be.
TRT is not steroids or PEDs. Sure it helps having adequate T levels vs low T but it’s not magic. Your cut and muscle holding ability are going to be largely genetic combined with how well you plan your cut. The best way to preserve muscle is to cut slowly aiming for 1-1.5lbs per week.
For you? Losing muscle mass on a cut is only going to be a concern if you wanted to go sub 10% body fat. Past that point it’s possible to need to add additional AAS depending on how much mass you started with.
As long as you are not going into crazy deficit or trying to get super lean(under 9-10%) then you’ll be fine as long as your taking in enough protien and resistance training.
Diet smart. Small drops when fat loss stalls. Don’t just pick an arbitrary deficit number.
If you want help with your diet start a training/diet log and there is plenty of knowledge on here and folks willing to help.
Your arms just may not hold fat like the rest of your body. I’m the same way. I put on BF everywhere but arms and legs. When i diet aside from possible glycogen depletion the arms and legs look the same but I drop fat where i’m holding it.
I’d encourage you to think about proportions, not single measurements. If you lose a decent amount of weight (20+) lbs, your arms will likely measure smaller. However, your waist will as well, and your arms will look leaner. A well defined arm with decent development and a small waist will look better in most cases than a softer looking bigger arm and a larger waist.
To answer your question, for you, you will likely have minimal loss of muscle because you just started TRT. If you were a lot more muscular from AAS use, you’d have a harder time keeping the muscle with just TRT. If you basically only have natural muscle and are now on TRT and cutting, you’ll have an easier time than any other losing the fat while retaining muscle.
I’m not trying to be a jerk with that question: I’m being sincere. Many folks aren’t burdened with having a lot of muscle in the first place, such, that, when they lose fat, they’re not at risk of losing a lot of muscle. It’s typically the 300lbers at single digit bodyfat that need to be concerned about jettisoning muscle.
About the only thing TRT impacts on a cut is that you can go lower fat than someone who isn’t using TRT, since your hormone regulation is controlled externally. Otherwise, same rules apply compared to someone who does not need TRT.
I am sure not as optimistic as the other comments.
What kind of muscle do you now have?
What is your height and weight?
How strong are you now?
How old are you?
Maybe you shouldn’t be “bulking” at all. IMO, you should never allow your percent body fat to get higher than 15% if you are interested in looking like a bodybuilder.