cutting and bulking diet at the same time... ?

[miketattoo25]

as of june 13th 2005, i weighed 231pounds. june13th 2006, i weighed 158pounds. i feel great, but i still have some fat left to loose, mainly those damn loves handles, but im plagued by loose skin. my question is, if anyone has any input on this or knows of anyone who might, would it be possible to be on somewhat of both a bulking and cutting diet at the same time? ive been working out with weights the past 7 months and ive been doing cardioo big time for the past year. my diet is clean about 2500cals a day, 150g protein,and i work out 4-5 days a week for an hour to an hour and a half, and im 5'6...any info would be appreciated

 

[fallingeggs]

For short probably over simplified answer; No -
For a bulking diet you need to intake more calories in a day then you use. Cutting is the opposite. So just for this reason, you can not do a cutting and bulking diet at the same time.

Some options that I can pull out of my ass is to just to bump up your protein some and check your total calorie intake b/c it seems a little high for a 160lbs cutting diet then finish off your cutting till you are happy; then bulk. Or add some mass then go back to cutting off the fat. Pick one. Or maybe if you are ready you could add gear.

Read some stuff on the diet you pick and make something up or post the one you use now and your stats to see if you can get some people to tell you what you can do better.

Anyone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Lifterforlife]

After you are past newbie stage, even intermediate....this becomes a very hard proposition. It is of course what we would all like to do. You will find some folks/sites that say, yes you can do this, but good luck with it. They use an analogy statins something like "feed the muscle, starve the fat". Sounds good on paper, but in reality it does not work. (If you go over your calories in any manner, protein even, you will gain weight..they normally have a "super protein" to sell you that will not put on fat. )

I would suggest the best thing you can do to stay fairly lean(natural athlete) is bulking/cutting cycles. That is, bulk for say 12 weeks, then cut for maybe 4-6. Depends on where you see yourself asthetically at that time. The longer your bulk, the longer your subsequent cut will be. So, you will have to guage this.

Use a guage that you can live with. For example, I used my abs for a long time. When they got blurred to the point you could barely see them even with flexing, I would start a cut and go with it till I was happy again. Then go back to a bulk.

 

[Ghede]

500 cal a day deficit: safe loss.
500 cal a day surpluss: slow, clean, safe and LEAN gain... you just have to be satisfied with very much the same diet just a LITTLE more than you need to maintain.

Its very hard to live life on a 'diet', frankly, and most folks on 'bulking' phases use this as an excuse to eat shit and pretty much lots of it.

If you are uberstrict and super dedicated, you can sloooowwwwly put on LBM without a major fat blimping if you just very very gradually go from deficit to tiny surplus and eat cleaner than clean.

the guys that do 2500 cals a day surplus are going to gain LBM for sure, but at what cost?

You want to spend half the year fat and half the year depriving yourself? i suppose if you are a competitor with very little self control, what the hell?

Case in point: My work partner in crime is a competitor that has had ONE cheat meal since LAST SUMMERS competition season. She just upped her cals a LITTLE with damn near exactly the same diet as she uses while 'dieting'. AMAZING results. Definitely more mass and instead of having to drop 35+lbs for this summers shows she has only had to drop 12. Lean, hard and spot on. But you have to have iron will and thats a fact.

 

[Lifterforlife]

500 cal a day deficit: safe loss.
500 cal a day surpluss: slow, clean, safe and LEAN gain... you just have to be satisfied with very much the same diet just a LITTLE more than you need to maintain.

Its very hard to live life on a 'diet', frankly, and most folks on 'bulking' phases use this as an excuse to eat shit and pretty much lots of it.

If you are uberstrict and super dedicated, you can sloooowwwwly put on LBM without a major fat blimping if you just very very gradually go from deficit to tiny surplus and eat cleaner than clean.

the guys that do 2500 cals a day surplus are going to gain LBM for sure, but at what cost?

You want to spend half the year fat and half the year depriving yourself? i suppose if you are a competitor with very little self control, what the hell?

Case in point: My work partner in crime is a competitor that has had ONE cheat meal since LAST SUMMERS competition season. She just upped her cals a LITTLE with damn near exactly the same diet as she uses while 'dieting'. AMAZING results. Definitely more mass and instead of having to drop 35+lbs for this summers shows she has only had to drop 12. Lean, hard and spot on. But you have to have iron will and thats a fact.

That is a nice post...and right to the point. I did not elaborate on the bulk/cut cycles, guess I assumed because I knew, whoever read that would also. One reason I put in asthetics, because if you are not competing, this is in fact what you will go by.

Ghede is right with the mentality of the bulk, most start out nicely, just eating more of what they ate on a diet, and then it turns inot a piggout. You will have to be able to control yourself here just as you would on a leaning out diet.

Sensibility...must be used in all phases. Now, you do not have to be miserable for it to work, again, just sensible. Know your body, know your limitations.

For instance, I know I am not a high carb guy. If you look at any "chart" that says how many calories you should eat to gain and breakdown, most will have me well at 400 gr. or more a day. I have learned my body that I know I would blow up like a baloon with that intake. So, it is important to observe yourself, see what makes you bloat for instance, see what your tolerances are for macronutrients(protein stays pretty standard).

Hope this makes sense...this could actually be a very long post, lots to put into one....