Help Transitioning from Cutting to Bulking

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hey all,

Have been consistently dieting and lifting for the past nine months. I’m currently at the tail end of my second cut in that period (I went, cut, bulk, cut, when I started again), and was looking for some advice regarding my transition into bulking.

Stats: 5’11 175, 24 y/o
Bodytype: ectomorph

I’m currently at around 1800 cals a day, macro split roughly 40/40/20. My cals are <2000 for the first time ever… hit a bit of a weight loss wall a few weeks ago and decided to reduce carbs for the last two weeks.

Anyway, I’m planning to start bulking in about 4 days. Last time I made the transition, I posted on the bb.com forums, and they were of minimal help. I ended up raising my calories about 700 my first week, then another 700 a week after that. It seemed to work fine.

EDIT: I also do a lot of cardio. How careful do I need to be when transitioning out of this as well? I’ll still be doing some while bulking, like basketball or a steady state run once or twice a week, but I’ll still be reducing cardio by like 15 miles (running) a week.

I was wondering if people could critique that method/share other ways of making the transition. Can I just add all my cals at once? Should I transition slower? Hopefully I provided enough information, let me know.

Thanks

2

Hold your current weight for awhile.

3

Hold your weight/calories for 2 wks, and then add 200 cals. I would maintain that for a month and then re-evaluate and repeat. Track your weight and measure yourself.

4

As others have mentioned, I’d hold the weight as long as you can to avoid the immediate rebound affect that usually shows people putting back fat after a diet. Sit tight on the calories for a week or two, then bump up 250-500 and sit on that for about 2-4 weeks. Then reevaluate and bump up another 250-500 / week.

5

With regards to the cardio, start cutting the cardio back, or ditch it altogether the week you officially “end” the diet. You’ll be holding steady at the same calories (based on the advice of others so far) so that will let your body adjust to the lack of cardio before raising the calories back up.