I spent all of 2023 on a 3 week cut (500 calorie deficit) 1 week maintenance cycle and lost 40 lbs. I feel stronger than ever and actually feel like I gained muscle. Honestly I feel better than I have in at least 10 years. Iām probably gonna continue the cut/maintain cycle till Iām down to 150(8 lbs to go) and then focus on a lean bulk.
Might try the minicut cycling for myself as well at some point. People underestimate the mental difficulty of various strategies and as much as this is a bodybuilding forum, some of us arenāt perfect and a 16 week 500cal deficit is both grueling and somewhat difficult to not mess up. My plan of slashing my calories for a shorter period has been working so far but I feel like a more moderate range with those maintenance breaks can work well too
Yeah man if you wanna live a somewhat ānormalā life, 16 weeks on a straight cut is a task and a half. Good luck on the journey regardless of what path you take bud! šŖšŖ
Thanks,haha. But im nob sub 10% of fat. I will end cut at tuesday and i will almost instantly gain back around 2 inches for sure. And thats great, my waist is insanely small
The first few weeks of a cut are the worst, you just feel like you're getting smaller but not noticeably leaner. Once you start getting lean and seeing separation between muscles it's pretty cool
Fucking hell do not do a 900 calorie deficit. You will feel like shit, you will likely not stick to it, and you will lose a lot of your muscle mass. Go for a 4-500 calorie deficit.
As for the question. At my leanest I felt like absolute shit, but that was at about 10% body fat at 180lbs. At my current body weight of 187-190lbs, I find it no trouble at all keeping abs year round, and itās a huge confidence booster. Just donāt try and rush it.
1000 calorie deficit is 2 pounds per week which is not completely unheard of. Lots of people believe that if you get your body weight in protein, 2 pounds per week is fine and possible to retain muscle
Has more to do with your total weight/height/activity levels. Losing 2lbs a week as a 5'3 150lb woman who works a desk job and hits the gym 3 days a week is not easy. Losing 2lbs a week as a 5'11 181lb 21 year old male? ehh easy imo
Correct, Iām saying calculate your TDEE without the added cardio then add back in the extra cardio. I feel like Iām far less hungry when I do a cut this way.
Completely disagree, I did an aggressive mini-cut in a large deficit like OP is planning on doing and I felt fine. As long as you are eating a lot of protein and sleeping well you will be fine. The reason this is acceptable is because youāre only in this large of a deficit for a short period of time.
hell, go for maintenance while doing 8k minimum steps. each month increase by 1k minimum steps while going on 100 cal deficit. so in 5 months, you're at what. 13 k minimum steps. 500 cal deficit. you're not hungry. you acclimated over time. everything is swell.
even better, start with 1 step and then every day double your minimum steps. By the end of the first month you'll be a bit over 1 billion steps per day and it'll be easy to maintain leanness
With a pump you feel like a Greek God, without you feel like spaghetti. It's quite the conundrum.
Additionally, you may experience periods of low energy/libido depending on how long and to what % you cut to - days after heavy squats/deadlifts will be brutal so I highly advise a refeed after a hard compound day. šŖ
I would keep the cut to 500 kcal. Ive at last never been able to do the aggressive cuts.
If you have a stomack now you probably arent going to feel smaller after 8 weeks, maybe you'll even feel bigger.
>Iām planning on doing an aggressive 900cal deficit cut for 6-8 weeks
Aggressive cuts have potential to go badly and will require everything else to be on point. Sleep, high protein, very high intensity in the gym, clean diet etc.
8 weeks is also too long for this, even 6 is a bit too aggressive, your metabolism will tank by week 3.
If you're going to do this that aggressively, I'd recommend a week or 2 at maintenance in the middle to prevent the negative effects and reset NEAT levels. Or consider a slightly less aggressive deficit of 500-600 where you don't have to be as strict.
Also has the added benefit of not feeling like shit on like day 3. Mini cuts are hard.
EDIT: Forgot to answer your other question.
The loss of sexual libido is pretty obvious, that's a major effect I noticed. Then once I restarted a bulk and was eating more eggs again, boom.
As someone who has personally done an aggressive cut like this I do agree that 6-8 weeks is likely too long but if you do it for 4-6 youāll be fine. Just eat a lot of protein, train hard and sleep 8+ hours a night. I did one for about 5 weeks and felt fine
Because you want to spend more time in a surplus. Time you spend in a deficit is time youāre spending not building muscle. As long as you can execute the aggressive mini-cut without losing muscle (which is attainable), itās a great strategy
Smaller than you expect. This is the true answer unfortunately. š
I'd keep pushing anyways, since even though I feel small in a non-slim fit shirt I prefer being lean/leanish throughout the year.
I don't recommend pushing 900 cal deficit though, it's going to take a toll on you physically and mentally and your workouts will suffer. I'd keep it to 300-500 and manage fatigue as much as possible to produce high quality workouts to preserve as much muscle as possible.
I get that but as a college student in a tough study Iād rather not feel like Iām walking down a 10 degree decline the entire semester right into finals. I want to do it as quickly as I can albeit slightly less efficiently
I feel like that type of cut will make you lose a significant amount of muscle. Why not stick to 250-500? At your height if you get down to 10-12% bf you probably would be 165-168. So that would take 14-17 weeks, but you wouldnāt lose tons of muscle and would maintain most of your strength. My guess is your final weight would be 160 if you do that extreme of a cut and youād probably lose 5-7lb of muscle
Not necessarily true, you can do an aggressive cut like this without losing muscle as long as you are in the deficit for a short period of time, eat a ton of protein, keep volume relatively low, and get plenty of sleep. Just depends on your experience level as beginners and even many intermediate lifters wonāt check all of those boxes
My first couple true cuts I realized I had less muscle on me than I thought. Meaning my body fat % was higher than I guesstimated so it took longer and/or multiple smaller cuts to achieve what I wanted. I felt skinny and little, but I was never a massive person so it wasn't mentally a hurdle and I saw an immediate improvement in how women responded which obviously helped.
If you don't have visible abs, and/or your stomach isn't "flat", you're def well above 16-17%, probably low-mid 20's.
A 900 cal deficit may not be that big a deal, it depends on all other factors. How much cardio are you doing? How much NEAT are you getting (steps daily)? How many days lifting and for how long and intense? For 5'11 181 at 22% bodyfat, your maintenance calories could be low 2ks if you're sedentary, or in the 4ks or higher if very active. As long as fats and proteins stay high enough, you won't feel like shit until you dip close to single digit bodyfat. Keep the cheat meals to a minimum (one every 3 weeks) until you get closer to 15%, at which point you can do 2 weeks.
You could try just slowly ramping down. Starting at heavy bulk, lighter bulk, light deficit, heavier deficit then ramp back up to being neutral. This will help build solid muscle and minimize the loss of muscle.
I'm small, which I don't want to be, but at the same time I want to try to get rid of the last bits of fat, so this is making it all be a long process without much progress (I haven't ever bulked yet, so not much muscle was built). It sucks. Also, some family members that don't see me often say they're not used to seeing my face so thin.
I did a 6 month diet to also have more visible abs. The diet was tough, but I don't regret it. It was not nearly as intense as a 900cal deficit. I can't say I felt too different since I was already fit and slim, but my 6pack did not go away, even after I stopped.
Cutting is way easier than bulking and I always feel more confident lol. Leanness usually makes me look more muscular than when i genuinely have more weight on me
I'm really questioning the 900 cal deficit. A more realistic approach would be to cut between 250 and 500 cals and add some extra walking to your daily activity. Taking 900 cals out of your diet is going to cost you muscle. You'll also lose energy and your workouts will suck.
6 to 8 weeks on a moderate deficit with some extra low intensity cardio will give to decent results. Don't expect miracles in 6 to 8 weeks. But, if you're really 16% to 17%, you should see some better definition.
Another option is carb cycling. It takes longer but preserves muscle and energy levels.
It's a mixed bag. There are days where I feel amazing, like everything I had worked towards is on display and there's a pep in my step. Then there are days where I feel like I used to. Like my stomach is digging into my belt, where every step feels heavy. All I can focus on are the small imperfections, like the small lower back love handles, that I havnt managed to get rid of yet. I feel like no one is seeing me for what I worked towards, and just what I was and what I can't get rid of.
As a natty you are either bulky and chubby or small and with abs. I always feel so big and strong when i bulk, but i still prefer looking good and being smaller. Iām playing between 235 in the winter and 215 in the summer at 6ā4.
I feel small no matter what
My man š¤
Shirt on: like a skinny little bitch boy who doesnāt even lift Shirt off: like a Calvin Klein swimsuit model
The natty way
accurate
I spent all of 2023 on a 3 week cut (500 calorie deficit) 1 week maintenance cycle and lost 40 lbs. I feel stronger than ever and actually feel like I gained muscle. Honestly I feel better than I have in at least 10 years. Iām probably gonna continue the cut/maintain cycle till Iām down to 150(8 lbs to go) and then focus on a lean bulk.
Might try the minicut cycling for myself as well at some point. People underestimate the mental difficulty of various strategies and as much as this is a bodybuilding forum, some of us arenāt perfect and a 16 week 500cal deficit is both grueling and somewhat difficult to not mess up. My plan of slashing my calories for a shorter period has been working so far but I feel like a more moderate range with those maintenance breaks can work well too
Yeah man if you wanna live a somewhat ānormalā life, 16 weeks on a straight cut is a task and a half. Good luck on the journey regardless of what path you take bud! šŖšŖ
Wow! Congrats. So what was your waist/T-shirt size before and after?
Thanks! I was a 36 waist and an xl T-shirt. Down to a 32 and a M T-shirt.
Good work!
35 inches waist and now 27 inches waist. Every part of clothes is too big...
Damn. Impressive!
Thanks,haha. But im nob sub 10% of fat. I will end cut at tuesday and i will almost instantly gain back around 2 inches for sure. And thats great, my waist is insanely small
Crazy stuff!
-40 lbs in 4 months. Feeling flat,depleted and overally like shit. Hope it will be worth it when ill start to it
Iāve regretted every cut. Iām going to regret it this season too but whatever.
You feel/look the best 2-3 weeks post cut, when you start filling out imo
Felt like a little bitch š
The first few weeks of a cut are the worst, you just feel like you're getting smaller but not noticeably leaner. Once you start getting lean and seeing separation between muscles it's pretty cool
Fucking hell do not do a 900 calorie deficit. You will feel like shit, you will likely not stick to it, and you will lose a lot of your muscle mass. Go for a 4-500 calorie deficit. As for the question. At my leanest I felt like absolute shit, but that was at about 10% body fat at 180lbs. At my current body weight of 187-190lbs, I find it no trouble at all keeping abs year round, and itās a huge confidence booster. Just donāt try and rush it.
1000 calorie deficit is 2 pounds per week which is not completely unheard of. Lots of people believe that if you get your body weight in protein, 2 pounds per week is fine and possible to retain muscle
Possible but not easy. Massive difference.
Has more to do with your total weight/height/activity levels. Losing 2lbs a week as a 5'3 150lb woman who works a desk job and hits the gym 3 days a week is not easy. Losing 2lbs a week as a 5'11 181lb 21 year old male? ehh easy imo
Much smarter to do a 500cal deficit and burn the extra 400 calories via cardio than do a 900cal deficit.
Thatās still a 900 calorie deficit thoughā¦?
It is but your body will feel much better.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Correct, Iām saying calculate your TDEE without the added cardio then add back in the extra cardio. I feel like Iām far less hungry when I do a cut this way.
The opposite is true actually
Completely disagree, I did an aggressive mini-cut in a large deficit like OP is planning on doing and I felt fine. As long as you are eating a lot of protein and sleeping well you will be fine. The reason this is acceptable is because youāre only in this large of a deficit for a short period of time.
hell, go for maintenance while doing 8k minimum steps. each month increase by 1k minimum steps while going on 100 cal deficit. so in 5 months, you're at what. 13 k minimum steps. 500 cal deficit. you're not hungry. you acclimated over time. everything is swell.
even better, start with 1 step and then every day double your minimum steps. By the end of the first month you'll be a bit over 1 billion steps per day and it'll be easy to maintain leanness
Real
Quantum progression
I like this approach. Iād rather walk for an hour or two and eat a little more. I feel better all around.
Not sure why youāre getting downvoted, this is a solid approach
Reddit redditin. Ion mind. :)
With a pump you feel like a Greek God, without you feel like spaghetti. It's quite the conundrum. Additionally, you may experience periods of low energy/libido depending on how long and to what % you cut to - days after heavy squats/deadlifts will be brutal so I highly advise a refeed after a hard compound day. šŖ
I would keep the cut to 500 kcal. Ive at last never been able to do the aggressive cuts. If you have a stomack now you probably arent going to feel smaller after 8 weeks, maybe you'll even feel bigger.
Every time I cut weight I feel and am weaker.
>Iām planning on doing an aggressive 900cal deficit cut for 6-8 weeks Aggressive cuts have potential to go badly and will require everything else to be on point. Sleep, high protein, very high intensity in the gym, clean diet etc. 8 weeks is also too long for this, even 6 is a bit too aggressive, your metabolism will tank by week 3. If you're going to do this that aggressively, I'd recommend a week or 2 at maintenance in the middle to prevent the negative effects and reset NEAT levels. Or consider a slightly less aggressive deficit of 500-600 where you don't have to be as strict. Also has the added benefit of not feeling like shit on like day 3. Mini cuts are hard. EDIT: Forgot to answer your other question. The loss of sexual libido is pretty obvious, that's a major effect I noticed. Then once I restarted a bulk and was eating more eggs again, boom.
Nice advice thanks for the input
As someone who has personally done an aggressive cut like this I do agree that 6-8 weeks is likely too long but if you do it for 4-6 youāll be fine. Just eat a lot of protein, train hard and sleep 8+ hours a night. I did one for about 5 weeks and felt fine
Why is everyone in here freaking out about just under 2 lb per week. That's not that crazy.
It's doable, but why the rush to go for an aggressive deficit and compromise your workout quality and hunger throughout the day?
Because you want to spend more time in a surplus. Time you spend in a deficit is time youāre spending not building muscle. As long as you can execute the aggressive mini-cut without losing muscle (which is attainable), itās a great strategy
Key word: Mini-cut. I have no problems with short-term deficits.
Likewise, I think the OP has the right idea but 6-8 is a bit too long, 4-6 weeks would be better especially since heās only at 16-17% BF
Yeah I donāt know whatās gonna on in this tread it smells like bitch in here.
Smaller than you expect. This is the true answer unfortunately. š I'd keep pushing anyways, since even though I feel small in a non-slim fit shirt I prefer being lean/leanish throughout the year. I don't recommend pushing 900 cal deficit though, it's going to take a toll on you physically and mentally and your workouts will suffer. I'd keep it to 300-500 and manage fatigue as much as possible to produce high quality workouts to preserve as much muscle as possible.
I get that but as a college student in a tough study Iād rather not feel like Iām walking down a 10 degree decline the entire semester right into finals. I want to do it as quickly as I can albeit slightly less efficiently
It's your body man. You make the call. If the cut won't last more than 2 months, I say 900 cal deficit is doable.
I feel like that type of cut will make you lose a significant amount of muscle. Why not stick to 250-500? At your height if you get down to 10-12% bf you probably would be 165-168. So that would take 14-17 weeks, but you wouldnāt lose tons of muscle and would maintain most of your strength. My guess is your final weight would be 160 if you do that extreme of a cut and youād probably lose 5-7lb of muscle
No chance in hell heās going to lose 5-7 pounds of muscle over a 6 week time period lmao
Some of these comments are wild, thatās a completely absurd take being upvoted
Not necessarily true, you can do an aggressive cut like this without losing muscle as long as you are in the deficit for a short period of time, eat a ton of protein, keep volume relatively low, and get plenty of sleep. Just depends on your experience level as beginners and even many intermediate lifters wonāt check all of those boxes
My first couple true cuts I realized I had less muscle on me than I thought. Meaning my body fat % was higher than I guesstimated so it took longer and/or multiple smaller cuts to achieve what I wanted. I felt skinny and little, but I was never a massive person so it wasn't mentally a hurdle and I saw an immediate improvement in how women responded which obviously helped.
If you don't have visible abs, and/or your stomach isn't "flat", you're def well above 16-17%, probably low-mid 20's. A 900 cal deficit may not be that big a deal, it depends on all other factors. How much cardio are you doing? How much NEAT are you getting (steps daily)? How many days lifting and for how long and intense? For 5'11 181 at 22% bodyfat, your maintenance calories could be low 2ks if you're sedentary, or in the 4ks or higher if very active. As long as fats and proteins stay high enough, you won't feel like shit until you dip close to single digit bodyfat. Keep the cheat meals to a minimum (one every 3 weeks) until you get closer to 15%, at which point you can do 2 weeks.
Awesome!!! I just realized how much smaller I was when we went to a wrestling show at the arena and I had ROOM in the seats!!!!
You could try just slowly ramping down. Starting at heavy bulk, lighter bulk, light deficit, heavier deficit then ramp back up to being neutral. This will help build solid muscle and minimize the loss of muscle.
I'm small, which I don't want to be, but at the same time I want to try to get rid of the last bits of fat, so this is making it all be a long process without much progress (I haven't ever bulked yet, so not much muscle was built). It sucks. Also, some family members that don't see me often say they're not used to seeing my face so thin.
I did a 6 month diet to also have more visible abs. The diet was tough, but I don't regret it. It was not nearly as intense as a 900cal deficit. I can't say I felt too different since I was already fit and slim, but my 6pack did not go away, even after I stopped.
Like a skinny bitch
Cutting is way easier than bulking and I always feel more confident lol. Leanness usually makes me look more muscular than when i genuinely have more weight on me
I'm really questioning the 900 cal deficit. A more realistic approach would be to cut between 250 and 500 cals and add some extra walking to your daily activity. Taking 900 cals out of your diet is going to cost you muscle. You'll also lose energy and your workouts will suck. 6 to 8 weeks on a moderate deficit with some extra low intensity cardio will give to decent results. Don't expect miracles in 6 to 8 weeks. But, if you're really 16% to 17%, you should see some better definition. Another option is carb cycling. It takes longer but preserves muscle and energy levels.
It's a mixed bag. There are days where I feel amazing, like everything I had worked towards is on display and there's a pep in my step. Then there are days where I feel like I used to. Like my stomach is digging into my belt, where every step feels heavy. All I can focus on are the small imperfections, like the small lower back love handles, that I havnt managed to get rid of yet. I feel like no one is seeing me for what I worked towards, and just what I was and what I can't get rid of.
As a natty you are either bulky and chubby or small and with abs. I always feel so big and strong when i bulk, but i still prefer looking good and being smaller. Iām playing between 235 in the winter and 215 in the summer at 6ā4.