First off my weight hasn’t been outside of the range 177#-193# in the last year. Body composition has gotten better so I’m definitely leaner and more muscled but every mass or cutting cycle (6 weeks ea)is really frustrating. I can’t reliably detect if I’m gaining or losing lbm. I use calipers and Tanita 612 but calipers are almost the same all the time and Tanita is all over the place. Here’s what happens: At the beginning of ever mass cycle I rapidly gain about 10# and then I stall for weeks. As soon as I turn to cut I loose 10# in the first week and then stall. The gains and losses are far too fast to be all muscle gain or fat loss. Its more like a massive shift in water weight. Protein and fluid intake is constant. Any thoughts?
Lipo-
When ever I come off a diet, within 3-5 days my body weight increases about 5 lbs. The reason why is that since more calories are being consumed, the muscles replace glycogen (water weight) which was lost during the diet. The same is true for me when I begin a diet- I quickly lose 3-5 lbs due to glycogen usage. As far as 10 lbs, you are probably gaining some muscle and fat as well, and possibly losing it when dieting. However, I have heard of people being able to manipulate their body weight by 9-10 lbs solely by carb depleting and loading.
Thanks TJ, Anyone else want to add to this?
why don’t you stop these “cycles” and just stay reasonably lean and try to add muscle? just a thought
hetyey225, You know, at first I thought your post was a little too simplistic but then I started thinking back to when I started lifting and back then I didn’t check my bodyfat, keep a food log, use any supps, or any other bullshit and I was perfectly fine with my progress. I just lifted, ate clean, and slept. I’m tired of cycling on and off of supplements, increasing/decreasing cals/carbs, and the rest of it. I’m getting back to basics and try to recapture the ‘ignorant newbie effect’.