Plans to Cut Without Losing Muscle or Strength?

Training
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Hello everyone Swoleheim here I am wondering what workout plans you guys would recommend for someone trying to cut while maintaining as much muscle and strength possible. I have been running DC training on my second training “cycle” currently sitting 199 down 12 pounds from a month ago but I cut out alcohol and crap food all together. I am sitting around a 1700 to 2300 calorie intake a day while working a flooring job (construction kicks your ass basically) full-time and hitting the gym 4 times a week in the AM, I’m running Push pull currently with fasted cardio beforehand.

Now to my issues, I have a fucked appetite and no matter what I don’t ever feel like eating especially in the mornings. As of the last few days I have been feeling lethargic and run down.

I am taking 12.5mg caradarine, 10mg RAD140, and 10mg Mk-2866; only been taking 2 days while continuing to eat and train the same. Planning on running this compound stack for 8 weeks. Then PCT and see where we sit in terms of overall BF% loss.

I am here to see what others think and recommend for me in terms of getting down to 10% BF, currently sitting around 20% I believe maybe even more, I have already lost 6 inches on my waist in the last 3 weeks and see the fat coming off I just want to keep it going.

OH and lifting stats bench is 225 for 1 squat is 225 for 3 and deadlift is 315 for 3, I haven’t tested anything heavy out yet, just from my knowledge this is my strength 3 weeks back into the gym. :wink:

Overall goal currently is to cut down then slow gain my way back up with a 3200 caloric intake (40%/30%/30%)
And of course put on as much LEAN muscle as possible

Should I increase cardio time to 1 hour sessions of low impact or increase my training to 5 times a week Monday through Friday with a different split? I also understand 3 weeks isn’t a considerable amount of time to see large progress, I just want to make sure I am setting myself up for success rather than failure.

Any questions please respond and I will answer promptly and to the best of my ability, thanks guys.

Pictures below (no legs yet, they aren’t impressive though I promise)

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Taken today Post workout

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Misc pictures taken in last week

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Cool. DC training articles mention losing weight - I think Dante is a fan of using more cardio to lose weight, but you’re obviously doing something right.

You’re 23, right? I wouldn’t advocate for anyone of any age to be taking this stuff, but especially not at your age. Cut this crap out.

You should continue what you’re doing, minus the designer drugs and plus caloric deficit and cardio, and only worry about changing your training plan and your diet plan once the weight loss stops coming.

Posting pictures for advice isn’t so you can only post things you feel are favorable. You don’t look bad or anything, but nothing you posted is “impressive”. Physique pics in advice threads aren’t so dudes can admire other dudes’ bodies - it’s so the people posting can get honest and direct advice on how to achieve their goals.

I bet you’ll look great with some fat loss and maintaining muscle. You’re on the right track.

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12 pounds in a month is pretty aggressive weight loss. If you want to maintain lots of muscle while you lose fat think about slowing down a little.

1700 calories per day seems very low for a 200 pound dude working a physical job all day, plus trying to lift (on a pretty strenuous routine) and do cardio. That could definitely explain while you feel like you have no energy and no appetite.

Personally, I would try to eat a little more food. And make sure your getting lots of protein to hold your muscles. Or I guess to keep calories closer to 2300 consistently for awhile. Find the right balance where you’re losing 1-2 pounds per week, but you still have energy to get through your day. The you can whittle down the calories over time to the steady weight loss going.

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Any of Brian Ahlsruhes programs.

You’ll lift heavy - aka try to keep muscle
Do some hypertrophy - see above
Push your conditioning - assist weight loss

But it mostly depends how you like to train.

If you don’t like hard ass giant sets you probably won’t do them with the intensity required to get the results

If you do like them, then you will get the results you seek.

My humble suggestion, but I’m certainly not a bodybuilder

Any of John meadows plans. Guy was a guru. Bless.

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Yes I have lost weight from DC training no issue there I will just up the cardio in the mornings and see it play out, I am 23 but did an anabolic cycle at 17 so my hormones have been fucked up before, I didnt think SARMS would really hurt me and I had them on hand already would be a waste to not use them I thought. I am still in a caloric deficit and will change plans accordingly when progress comes to a hault, I am not sure how my metabolism is running currently but I hope to caloric deficit until cut is over then reverse diet back up. Finally of course I am not posting these pictures to be amazing looking it is purely for you guys and to see where my physique sits, I was just mentioning I havent taken pictures of my legs yet so I had none to show. Thank you for your response, I appreciate it alot.

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Yes but I figured the 12 pounds was due to my increase in workload with cardio and minusing out the large amounts of beer I was drinking daily and switching to whole foods versus my old processed shit I was consuming. I believe I am looking better than when I started also bigger so I dont believe the 12 pounds was anything important. 1700 calories is on the VERY low end most days im around 2300, just recently in the last week have I seen days with 1700 calories. I am focusing protein over most everything, always making sure each meal has 20-35 grams of protein with some carbs. Keeping my diet LEAN and MEAN atleast im trying too lol. I will keep my caloric intake a bit higher in the meanwhile and just focus on the slow grind.

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Thank you for the advice, I appreciate your input, I will look into these programs and see if they fit me. I enjoy giant sets, HIIT training, super sets, pyramids, and being a former powerlifter of course STRENGTH WORK. use to run 5x5s and 5x3s aton while I was on an Olympic squat routine.

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I have AIs and PCT on hand I want to continue taking the sarms, I will up dosage was just starting out light to see if I would have any sarms, yes cardarine causes cancer, im okay with that my family has history of cancer regardless so I am going to get it one way or another, ignorant yes, stupid? yes extremely.

Awesome I will increase cardio keep my workload the same I have been tracking calories first 2 weeks I took in 2300-2400 calories a day, just the last few days I have been clocking in 1700-1800 calories. I use an app to calculate everything my macros are 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight so 200 grams protein 240 carbs 80 fats roughly in the last week this is accurate give or take 10 to 20 grams each place. I use to weigh but lately have just been doing serving size. I am never guessing though I promise this.

I only plan on running an 8 week cycle anyways with nolva and clomid PCT afterwards.

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I have 5 bottles of test enanthate, 250mg/ml 10ml/bottle, I have had them for a couple years though, I dont believe they would be bad just alittle suspicious to try them out. I would rather go to my doctor and get the hormone through them. Yes I am 23 but I dont know how awesome my baseline test is considering the anadrol/test cycle I did at 17. Completely crashed myself into the dirt then and experienced a plethora of sides going as far to gyno. I dont believe I have actual breast tissue growth but I wouldnt put it down as a complete no.

So you think me just running the sarms is a bad idea but if I use a base injection of test ontop of it we would be solid? I have no quarrals to needles just dont want to add more hormones ontop of the already unneccesary sarms.

I didnt buy these sarms because someone shilled them to me I have been doing my own research along these lines and didnt find anything saying a testosterone base is needed since sarms dont aromatize. They do suppress natural test but they wont completely shut down until my dosage raises yeah?

THIS is why I ask questions on this forum. thank you for the info man youre awesome.

(the test I have is from an unknown source some underground lab my buddy sold me them awhile back but he ran them and looked fine so I believe they are actually what they say to be.)

Essentially I dont want to add another hormone to the compound I just wanted to use this sarm stack to perserve my muscle in a cut, not looking to make huge gains out of it at all. Just lower BF then 8 weeks prior. With muscle staying in tack.

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Try this, will slice the fat off…

This gets very good feedback also…

Yeah low dose cardarine is fine. As other said drop the sarms. Just do low dose TRT if really want ‘something’ Also a new GW like cardarine out thats meant to be safer.
Boring, but at your age just really focusing on dialling in sleep, Big water + hammering core supps like Vit D3, creatine etc …can work wonders

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Ok, let us know how it goes
FYI at your age, you can get a hell of a lot out of 200mg a week or even 150.

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Why in the world would somebody at 23 go on a TRT dose and permanently wreck their body’s natural production?

He doesn’t know if his test is crashed or not. And he just explicitly said he doesn’t care if cardarine gives him cancer because of a family history of it, which, assuming there’s a single person on this planet who cares for him, is a childish and outrageously selfish statement.

I’m sorry, but this whole thing reeks of immaturity and impulsivity, and the article/vid are solid but this is extremely poor advice to go along with it.

Clearly this is one of those “I’m gonna do what I want” things, so I’m out of here. Good luck.

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I agree brother, I will not be doing the extraneous hormone dose, I’m just accruing information in regards to what everyone is saying. I will continue what I am doing no drugs involved because I believe I don’t need them. The cardarine statement wasn’t necessarily meant to sound stupid but fuck man everything in this world gives us cancer and the only solid proof they have is in rats, they’ve ran the same tests in humans but GW specifically increases cell enzyme activity… so kind of a hard study when you test cell enzyme activity and then use a chemical that directly increases it. I don’t believe this 8 week cycle will riddle me with any cancer in regards to my long term life. I’m sure I’ll make it to 60 regardless, I’ll keep up to date with everyone. Currently 199 shooting for 190 in the next couple months. LETS GOOOO

Please don’t think your advice was neglected, I will be taking your advice out of everything I’ve gathered thus far. I have wreaked my hormones once and do not plan on doing it again. :upside_down_face:

Just because it’s on hand doesn’t mean I’m gonna plow right past basics of training and start abusing hormones.
Just figured the few sarms would kick start this cut because my bulk will be natural, creatine whey some aminos, just basic supps. I cut naturally a year and half ago and it went amazing, I know the sarms are not needed 100%, I don’t believe that cut I held much muscle after because I basically cut lost my weight then started eating hefty again, natural cut though depleted and feeling great lmao. That cut was 220 to 185 though in 6 months

Picture of me previous cut 20 YO

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1 month after refeeds at 20 YO

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Just looking to get back to this look but more lean muscle… sorry the thread got off track with drug talk.

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You looked great then. I hope you can get to where you want to be again in a healthy and sustainable way. I won’t clog this up any further, good luck dude.

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I think you do looking at your photos. I would suggest you follow a weight program for two years putting in the hard effort. Not a check the box style. Eat clean. Get a baseline after you haven’t been on anything for 6 months. And then look at where you are. You don’t appear to have the work ethic engraved in your soul at this point. You need a few year of noticeable progress.

I wouldn’t suggest you touch drugs until you are 35ish, or you become so seasoned that you KNOW what must be done.

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Thanks man I appreciate the response, I could definitely have some gynocomastia I am not sure as when I cut last time it didn’t seem to be a fat lump but who fucking knows.

I will say this the work ethic is no problem, I’ll check back in a month and see where I’m sitting, up cardio keep my training the same and just follow the numbers on the scale and in the gym.

Been in and out the gym since 14, life has been giving hiccups but I’m finally in a good place to focus on food sleep and my health.

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Too much cardio is bad. I’d focus on weights primarily

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Sounds good I’ll just keep my regiment then currently and keep following the numbers I’m seeing