Target weight met, now to cut

[boltsmidgets]

I was eating 3000 calories to add 3kg which i have achieved and now want to make the 'cut'. What changes do i make in my diet? Do i change anything as far as the gym goes?

[BeastBuilder]

I was eating 3000 calories to add 3kg which i have achieved and now want to make the 'cut'. What changes do i make in my diet? Do i change anything as far as the gym goes?

I'm no cutting expert by any means, lowest I've ever been was 12% at about 85kg 5'11", am now around 20% at 105kg 5'11", but common sense comes into play here.

Whatever built the muscle will keep it there, many people still get stronger on "cuts" due to being on point with diet and training harder.

Just eat a little less and see if you start to lose fat and keep it the same until you stop losing fat then take out a wee bit more etc etc.

My questions for you though are, if eating 3000 kcal a day put on 3kg, how long of a period was this over and have you been at your current weight for awhile ?

Plus how big are you now etc, because theree is no point bulking for like a month or two then cutting down for the same as you just end up back where you started...

[AZIDE]

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[Shutupandsquat]

Yeah, uhh, why would you want to cut after gaining 3kg?

[boltsmidgets]

Was over 2months and have maintained this weight now for 2 weeks. If i havent mentioned earlier, this is a beginner your speaking too so i apologise if ive come across stupid. Should i not concider cutting yet?

im not looking at having the MASSIVE bodybuilder type physique, more after the 'summer bod' over xmas/NYs then get fully into it next year.

[BeastBuilder]

Sorry also just made the connection between your topic title and your post, your goal weight was only 3kg over what you already were ? I dont even...

I realize you are a beginner though so I'll be nice

Too get that lean look for summer you'll only have to cut for 8-10 weeks depending on how much fat you have (as long as your not over the top fat) so that's only like 2 months, which leaves you another month and a half to do some gaining.

Sorry what was your weight now ? Because if all you are going for is having abs that's easy, just don't eat :pfft: But having a body that actually has some muscle on it will take more than a couple months to build up, if you cut for this summer you will likely lose a bit of what you have gained up until now as your body still isn't used to having the muscle there.

So personally I would recommend just carrying on gaining through the summer, just don't get over the top fat and you'll still look god on the beach, or if you are set on cutting and having abs then do it but don't expect to end up much more than where you started as 3kg is nothing in the grand scheme of things as your weight can change by this in a day or two. (inb4 trolls take it as me meaning 3kg of muscle is nothing :roll: )

[Rxx]

Sorry also just made the connection between your topic title and your post, your goal weight was only 3kg over what you already were ? I dont even...

I realize you are a beginner though so I'll be nice

Too get that lean look for summer you'll only have to cut for 8-10 weeks depending on how much fat you have (as long as your not over the top fat) so that's only like 2 months, which leaves you another month and a half to do some gaining.

Sorry what was your weight now ? Because if all you are going for is having abs that's easy, just don't eat :pfft: But having a body that actually has some muscle on it will take more than a couple months to build up, if you cut for this summer you will likely lose a bit of what you have gained up until now as your body still isn't used to having the muscle there.

So personally I would recommend just carrying on gaining through the summer, just don't get over the top fat and you'll still look god on the beach, or if you are set on cutting and having abs then do it but don't expect to end up much more than where you started as 3kg is nothing in the grand scheme of things as your weight can change by this in a day or two. (inb4 trolls take it as me meaning 3kg of muscle is nothing :roll: )

That's very good advice right there!

[dannyjay]

lol pathetic bulk bro....

3kg jfc....

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

since youve already mentioned that you have been eating 3k cals and currently maintaining the same weight over a 2 week period, this indicates that you have indeed settled on to your current maintenance level.

what does that mean?

basically the energy (from food) coming in is exactly equal to what is being burned by your body -> so you stay the same

where to from here?

since you want to lose weight, all you have to do now is change the balance a little -> what you burn now must become greater than what you take in. two pretty easy way to do this as you may have guessed already.

option 1 : simply add in extra cardio to your routine - this means something like half an hour of moderate pace cardio each day (roughly 300kcals burned) up to an hour (roughly 600kcals) - note that by extra cardio i mean cardio on top of whatever cardio you may already be doing

option 2 : drop the calories taken in from food down by a certain amount but keep the rest of your routine exactly the same - deficits of 300~700cals are common for this weight class i believe (but do experiments and see how it works for you, never make it too much of a deficit or you will not get what you are looking for)

and you could of course always make your own 3rd option which is to burn some calories with cardio as well as lower some food you're taking in.

no cutting expert myself but i've heard many people who go form bulk to cut may also decide to change around some of the c/p/f ratios, so for example they may reduce carbs by half and make up for that by adding the caloric difference to protein

[boltsmidgets]

Wow, tough crowd haha

Appreciate the advice guys, alot to take in.

Eating less is no problem for me. Eating 3000calories per day was tough for me so reducing that will be a breeze. Rugby season has finished now so that takes away some cardio but i can make up for that in the gym or after work by going for a run.

Like most guys out there, the hardest place to lose that unwanted fat is in my stomach. Im not fat by any means but my stomach is definately not looking how i want it to look. Can anyone recommend any of those fat burner pills that will help with that crap that is my stomach?

Also, do you find cardio works better for the core or core workouts them selves? or a mix?

[severe]

if you have got to your goal weight, then cut the fat, you will no longer be at that wight. You would be better off going for another 3kgs, then cutting the fat. That way you may get to your goal weight with an already lean body.

Isn't that the idea? Lean goal weight?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Wow, tough crowd haha

Appreciate the advice guys, alot to take in.

Eating less is no problem for me. Eating 3000calories per day was tough for me so reducing that will be a breeze. Rugby season has finished now so that takes away some cardio but i can make up for that in the gym or after work by going for a run.

Like most guys out there, the hardest place to lose that unwanted fat is in my stomach. Im not fat by any means but my stomach is definately not looking how i want it to look. Can anyone recommend any of those fat burner pills that will help with that crap that is my stomach?

Also, do you find cardio works better for the core or core workouts them selves? or a mix?

the crowd is tough because bulking for only 2months (and for 3kg at that) then going on a cut is kind of a waste of time, if all you wanted was skinny guy with abs look then you should have just gone to concentration camp or something.

if you really want to get big then don't waste your precious time. you already invested 2 months in to bulking and then you're gonna put next 3 months in to cutting so that's 5 months to go back to pretty much what you looked like before you started lifting... you should just make a small sacrifice this year's beach season by continuing your bulk. everyone will see what condition you are in, get heaps of pics and just use that as your motivator for the next year - that you will come back to this place next year with low fat and some real muscle, it will be 100x more impressive than going anorexic mode this year. there will be some mean before & afters to brag about on facebook :pfft:

to answer your questions though; fat burners are meant to assist a well thought out loss routine rather than be the magic pill to sort one so before you even get on to that, give the conventional methods a good try first until you get to a stage where you are steadily losing a little each week.

the stomach will definitely be the last place your body will cut fat from, core exercises won't help that at all because it's not up to you to decide in which order the fat is burned off.

training core can help push abs out a bit but the fact that you are switching to cutting state (caloric deficit) right now means you won't have the spare nutrients to be building muscle in this area (or any other area).

ultimately, the definition in that mid section area all boils down to body fat %, the lower it is the less junk there is covering it -> looks better

you should still always train your core for a tonne of reasons though, regardless of cut or bulk.

"does cardio work better for the core or core workouts them selves" - you might be able to find great exercises which really get your heart pumping and involve your core but generally people will train them separately, do it however you are comfortable. personally i'll do a set or two of crunches to failure then some hanging leg raises straight & side to side for core work then jump on to a staionary bike for a few mins or go for a run with dog for the cardio side.

if you have a bit of a distended stomach following your bulk, you can also practice stomach vacuums to help tighten/flatten things up in that area

[boltsmidgets]

Thanks Ron. After all the advice from everyone i will flag the cut and continue as i am :nod:

Went to the gym today and found my BF to be 13.9%. Not sure if this is good, bad or ok but obviously ill do all i can to lower that over the coming 6-12months. An hour at the gym each day almost doesnt feel like enough - whats your take on this?

[AZIDE]

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[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Thanks Ron. After all the advice from everyone i will flag the cut and continue as i am :nod:

Went to the gym today and found my BF to be 13.9%. Not sure if this is good, bad or ok but obviously ill do all i can to lower that over the coming 6-12months. An hour at the gym each day almost doesnt feel like enough - whats your take on this?

thats real good man, keep a strong attitude. you only just planted the seed so now you gotta keep feeding it... the time to reap the benefits will come soon enough.

1 hour sessions - well everyone's different, if you have a strong urge to try more then do it and see how you feel. if i'm not mistaken, you are already splitting your sessions up between your main muscle groups right? so for example if your monday is all about legs, make sure while you're there that you really work it and if that takes an hour and a half instead of the planned hour to do it then so be it. just keep in mind that longer sessions will need you to prepare yourself better mentally (stay focused the whole time) as well as nutritionally fuelled up.

13.9% bodyfat that's decent man i highly doubt anyone will look at you and call you fat! another tip as a skinny dude is you probably wanna stay floating around 14% for a while until you get huge. it's a little bit of an optical illusion really. if you cut right down then with shirt off you may look ok (cos people see the defined abs) but soon as you put shirt on all people will see is sticks comin out your sleeves - you might hear "do u even lift?" a little too often. bit of fat helps fill out the shirt more :pfft:

get rid of those insecurities because this is not a fatty state. when you start tipping past 18% and still rising (unless power-lifter mode) that's when you gotta start worrying & tone down your bulk, till then enjoy!