IMG-1232 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB - July 2024
IMG-3752 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB - January
IMG-4145 hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB February
I lost around 24 kilos but got over eating like 1600 calories a day and not progressing my lifts. So since January I’ve upped my test from 260mg (prescribed TRT dose) to 500mg and eating 3000 calories a day.
I think I’m starting to look chubby again but desperately want to gain muscle on my chest.
Should I keep bulking for another 10 weeks and cut?
Personally i’d try lowering calories to just be in a small surplus. You’ve nearly doubled your calories so will gain excessive fat along the way
I would consider dropping cals to maintenance and going high protien/low car/low fat and tighten up a bit and then get back at it.
Thanks. I feel like the doubling of test has made me hungrier.
Do you think my lifts will stall doing low carb? What does that do for gym performance? The last month I’ve made good gains on things like hack squat and Dumbbell press
Most likely yes. Anytime you lower cals you will regress a bit.
I’m not talking about going no carb. You don’t list your macros and I don’t know your maintenance so i’ll give you an example based off 3000cals being a 500cal surplus since you should not be eating more than that for your size.
Example based off not knowing much about you.
2500cals maint
300g protien (1200cals)
200g carb(800cals)
35g fats(315cals)
This would put you in a slight deficit of about 200cals. You could run this for 5-6 weeks or until your happy with your physique. Once your happy add 200cals back in and hold it for a couple weeks. If weight goes up hold it there
You have to determine what is more important. Keeping the lifts going up and getting fatter or taking a short break to get in better shape and then getting back to it. Strength comes back very quickly.
If you feel the need to limit your carb intake.
You can always bias your carbs towards your pre and intra workout window and lower your carbs in all other meals.
I’m not an expert on TRT but both of those doses sound like full-on steroid cycles to me. What’s the end game here? Simply vanity? You’ve escaped one potential means to a heart attack and are now pursuing a different route to the same destination in my eyes.
Thanks for outlining that.
So if I’m eating on the deficit what is the purpose of the gym, I won’t be working towards gaining muscle. After being on a cut for so long, I feel like this is demotivating.
You train to maintain the muscle that you have. In the absence of a stimulus, your body will shed the muscle, as there is no demand for it.
Resistance training ALSO hosts a variety of metabolic benefits unrelated to the building of muscle, to include nutrient partitioning and glucose/blood sugar regulation.
@T3hPwnisher has you covered.
You don’t think I should be looking at trying to gain some muscle now after months of cutting. Did you see my July photo? Honestly I’ll probably lose motivation if I have to go back to a lifts staying the same , no muscle gained for a few months. It’s not something I’m willing to accept right now.
I did not look at any of your photos: just answering the question regarding the purpose of lifting with reduced calories.
If you replace the lost electrolytes, you shouldn’t …
Atrophy happens very rapidly without stimulus … read a new study today.
You’re leaner in February than you were in January.
The drugs are working, keep feeding the machine!
Your numbers should still be going up, even in a deficit. You have a lot of room to grow and you have drugs on your side. Keep pushing hard in the gym and pushing for progression.
It is pretty sad to me that you haven’t come remotely close to figuring out effective training or nutrition and yet you’re blasting steroids. You absolutely went about all of this backwards.
What makes you think this? I was able to lose 23 kg in six months through tracking everything I ate. I train 4-5 times a week. I was already on TRT because my natural test was LOW. The prescribed level only really got me to a normal range. I then last month decided to increase the dosage and see how I feel along with eating more calories and i have seen better gains in lifts in 6 weeks than I had in the previous 6 months on the cut.
I’m not an expert but I’m also not a complete newbie.
Your questions and comments here give me the impression you don’t really have the best grasp on how this all works. You have only 6 months of experience and you aren’t even aware that your lifts should be progressing even in a deficit and aren’t even sure of the benefit of weight training in a deficit. Especially when you add on top of the fact that you’re taking more milligrams of test than Arnold.
Your questions and decision making is clearly that of a newb and someone who wants shortcuts. Not trying to be a jerk, but this is straight up bad decision making and I don’t want any people in your boat thinking what you’re doing is okay.
I didn’t see where you mention how many years you have been lifting weights.
I would expect you to have at least 2 years of experience lifting weights before using enhanced levels of testosterone.
That said, how many months did it take for your doctor to settle on 260mg/wk as “TRT”? If he started you on 260mg/wk, I would not see him if you really need medical assistance. That is more testosterone than I ever took on a cycle. And now upping the testosterone to 500mg/wk??? This was your idea, right?
IMO, you need to look like you lift weights before using enhanced drugs to build muscle.
Good luck.