Hey guys! I’m 5’7”, down to 185 lbs now from 195 since the beginning of my mini-cut. The goal is the usual: get as big as possible while staying lean. I’m 4 weeks into my second mini-cut ever (6 weeks) and I’m also in my last weeks of my current cycle/blast so I know the compounds have helped me preserve muscles (I’ve been blasting and cruising since last fall). I’m liking how I look now and I expect to look even leaner in the next two weeks. However, instead of getting back to a 12-week bulk I’m tempted to just do a long cut to stay this way all summer. This isn’t really what I originally planned, the plan was to get back on bulk lol. Most mini-cut protocols that I’ve seen include a long cut anyway but I’m not sure if I’d be doing it too soon. Do you know what the long cut is for, exactly? And I’ve also read that most of you no longer do long cuts.
What would you do in this situation? Considering that this is only my second mini-cut, should I do more mini-cuts and 12-week bulks before doing a long, regular cut? And considering that I’ll be switching to cruising dosage after two weeks meaning I’ll be more likely to lose muscles if I continue cutting, would you avoid doing a long cut at this point?
Or maybe a long cut with a high-calorie day every week or two just to make muscle loss less likely? Or… should I just try to do a maintenance/recomp amount of calories all summer? If so, what would maintenance calories exactly be—the same as my mini-cut calories now or slightly higher?
Thanks in advance! (Stop asking for pictures, I’ve tattoos and I’m not yet very open about roid use)
How deep is your deficit?
You say your lean but what does that mean?
Can you post pics?
What is your end goal?
You did a lot of talking here but didn’t really give any useful info for guidance.
I would that you could get there if you only did mini-cuts. It is safer to assure that you are less likely to diet off muscle. IMO, you want to have enough muscle to look like you lift weights and you want to be sufficiently lean enough to see distinct muscle separation.
I pic would allow us to see how far along you are on that journey.
I was employing Jamie Lewis’ “Feast, Famine and Ferocity” protocol, which is essentially a 2 week cut followed by a 4 week bulk, cycled indefinitely. I did this for about a year. It worked well, with the 2 week cuts essentially resetting my baseline again and getting me re-sensitized to food before I pushed nutrition hard for gaining.
However, for May, I ended up pushing the gaining for longer, and have now extended the fat loss phase for longer to compensate, and I’m kind of appreciating spending a little longer in the deficit to establish a more solid baseline before continuing the protocol.
All this to say: I feel like a once per year period of actually focusing on one goal for a prolonged period is a worthwhile idea.
If you like how you look now, and you just want to maintain that for summer, it seems logical to me to do just that: eat at maintenance. If you’re pretty solid/ consistent on your daily calories, you could be in a great spot to try to slowly bring those up, without gaining any weight/ fat, so you have a higher baseline with which to work. This works against you when you want to transition to a build, if you don’t like eating (I don’t have that issue at all), but is friendlier to your next cut (and actually more forgiving in your build). Which one is harder for you?
I see what you’re saying. I was planning to lower my calories to about 2,100-2,150 for the last two weeks of my mini-cut. If I were do maintenance for the rest of the summer, maintenance would mean to stay at that amount of calories at the end of my mini-cut, correct?
And when you say slowly bring it up, how often and by how much would you suggest? (Until I get back to a 12-week bulk again in September)
Also, I’ll be on cruising mode (almost off-steroid cycle). So that’s a big thing for me to consider. Like, even at maintenance, will I still look like this off-cycle lol.
So @jskrabac does this better than anyone; I’ll ping him here.
Generally, I like to either add calories or reduce cardio in ~10% increments, leave it for a week, and see what happens. That 10% is relatively arbitrary; if you’re down to 50g carbs, I’m not going to have the patience nor the sophistication to add 5g - the general concept is there, though.
So let’s say you add 25g carbs a day. You’d leave that for a week, and keep an eye on whatever metrics you like (scale, mirror, belt notch, etc.). If nothing happens (maybe you even lose weight!), you add a little more for next week. Eventually you gain weight or look blurry, so then you go back to the previous week’s intake and see if that fixes it. If so, hold that for a couple weeks before trying to bring it back up. The idea is to find maintenance at a higher caloric level; you should be able to maintain on higher calories than you lost on anyway.
Moral of that story: 10% caloric bumps, assess weekly.
I don’t know anything about the cycle side, so I can’t be helpful there. I would imagine you’ll need to appropriately set your own expectations, though.
This all pretty much sounds like what I’d recommend with only a few small differences.
I take smaller than 10% jumps. More like 2%.
I don’t drop the calories back if I have a week where I gain. I just stay the course and let it normalize. Going back and forth with calories is just a mindfuck for me. I also believe in big decreases but small increases for those trying to stay lean year round.
You would keep doing 2% calorie increase starting when, how often and until when? And after what would you do?
What do you mean by “don’t drop the calories back if you have a week where you gain. Just stay the course and let it normalize.?” Going back and forth for what I currently do is 12-week bulk and 6-week cut.
Another question. The mini cut I’m doing is designed to be only done for 6 weeks because muscle loss is expected if done longer. Would your suggestion at least be able to help with muscle loss prevention?
Another question. The mini cut I’m doing is designed to be only done for 6 weeks because muscle loss is expected if done longer. Would your suggestion at least be able to help with muscle loss prevention?
I’ve never had this issue, as long as you’re getting enough protein and not severely undereating. You haven’t really provided much info, so I can’t really provide more input at this stage. It’s fine you don’t want to share pics, but there’s really so much insight that provides that we don’t have. We’re really just talking hypotheticals here. I mean we get posters on here who say they are “lean” and “eat well” only for pictures to reveal they are 20+% bodyfat with no separation in their arms even. On the other hand, we get posters who are asking for cutting advice, only for pictures to reveal they are pretty shredded, developed a temporary case of body dysmorphia and need to put the breaks on cutting. Without pics, you’re asking us to solve a black box equation, while not even providing us the input or output!
As always, @jskrabac is going to be on-point here. I do just want to make sure we’re talking the same thing, because I think we’ve switched concepts a little.
A reverse diet has nothing to do with preserving muscle mass. It’s about limiting fat gain in a post-diet rebound; you should be gaining some muscle.
A mini-cut is typically relatively drastic and for a short time; you’re unlikely to make the same methodical adjustments.
Now, if you’re asking if you can reverse the above for a cut, of course. It’s a great way to do it without getting deep into your calories. The key is to keep your protein high and make a deep enough cut the first time that you actually get things moving. 10% might not do you any good to begin with; it’s more an adjustment than starting point.
Thanks! Last question. When you reach a certain weight or amount of calories, do you do a regular bulk, a regular cut or the reverse of this (cutting calories little by little)?
I don’t say this to be rude or insulting, so please don’t read as if I’m denigrating your knowledge/ experience/ accomplishment, capability, but I do worry a bit about you running gear simultaneously with these questions. I’m not saying you don’t know what you’re doing there (and it’s not an area I know at all); more so that you may be able to get more out of nailing all these variables for a time, milk all that progress, then move onto the next enhancement. Hopefully that made sense: the idea would be to get everything you can out of each intervention somewhat independently.
Anyway, in regards to your question, it’s going to be somewhat goal-dependent. The purpose of the reverse diet is to get your baseline calories up so that your metabolism is in a better place. I’d hold that top-end for several weeks, at least, before I did anything else. You want to “settle” there. You might actually find your body composition continue to improve, so you don’t really have to add a ton of calories.
Personally, I don’t really love the full-on “bulk”. It tends to result in too much fat gain (so you have to cut again, which sucks), health markers tend to degrade (not great if you’re also doing other things), and I haven’t seen anything, anecdotally or in research, to indicate it speeds hypertrophy beyond a more reasonable surplus. You certainly need enoigh nutrients to grow, and a bulk guarantees you’re getting them, but a disciplined reverse diet should put you in the position to know what enough is. I would just add in those 10% increments we discussed, ensuring you’re not gaining more than a couple lbs a month (once the initial water/ glycogen has settled, which it should after the reverse). That specific number may not be accurate/ high enough depending what else you’re doing, but the idea should hold.
For context, I’m saying this because you started out asking about cutting. I’m assuming you’re more like me: I’m happy to eat and I have a tougher time getting lean. I’m reluctant to build myself a higher fat loss obstacle to break down. A lot of times we see folks that are the opposite: they can’t stand blurring their 6-pack at all, refuse to eat, and gain no muscle. Meticulously counting your calories the way we’re talking should solve for either, though.
So… I just finished my 6-week “mini-cut,” decided to do a carb refeed day and then I’m extending my cut to two more weeks (so basically it’s no longer a mini-cut but a regular cut) and lowering my calories again to push myself to the limit (I’m still on gear to save my muscles) before going back to cruising on low-level testosterone (basically almost off gear) AND doing a one-week hiatus from the gym as I’ll be traveling. I am planning to do the reverse diet you suggested right after my 1-week break. What do you suggest that I do with my calories during this 1-week break? Stay at my calorie level at the end of my cut? I heard this should be a recovery week and some say I shouldn’t be in a deficit? Let me know what you think. Thanks!
