Effective Transitioning Out of Cut

Nutrition
1

I was wondering if anyone has had success in transitioning off of a cut and back in to a gaining phase. By effective, I basically just mean getting the calories back up to gaining mode while minimizing rebound fat gain. From what I’ve read, I’ve seen a few approaches:

  1. Spend a few weeks in “maintenance” mode and then slowly increase calories every week or two until you start gaining again.

  2. Take advantage of the muscular rebound by jumping right back in to gaining (i.e. similar to what a lot of bodybuilders do post-contest)

  3. Bump calories up very high for a few days to rebound, but then cut back to either maintenance of your rebound weight or a little higher and then increase calories as needed to continue to gain

What have you guys found to be an effective transition? And just for clarity, I’m talking about a cut that brings you to the single digits, not like a recomp or anything.

2

What I was wary of after my contest prep last year, was a slightly skewed insulin sensitivity. Obviously you should slowly increase your calories as jumping back to what was your previous BMR is just a surefire way to get unwanted fat. But the insulin issue is the real thing to be careful about.

Except for my day after contest binge (which I believe any competitor is entitled to -lol), I kept all my carbs as very slow digest (mostly bowls of oatmeal actually), and still had my daily total at about 100-150g for the first few weeks.

I also threw in a lot of cinnamon, and vanadyl sulfate (just in case it actually works) in an effort to keep my blood sugar levels stable as my body re-adapted to a high carb intake.

S