To Cut or To Bulk?

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Millenwagon)

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:20:44 GMT

2000 calories is low, as the mens guideline is 2500 a day, so 2000 a day would be a good start to lose some fat, check the carbs and fat content of all the foods you eat, this really helops you know what ur eating, take note of everyting you eat and add the totals up as you go along to make sure you dont exceed 75gram of fat a day and 2500 calories, i think basically, the best way to lose your fat would be to eat real healthy food, i personally feel that your diet plays about 70%, and the excesise only 30%

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:28:19 GMT

Sorry to DA and IWillMakeIt. I made a bit of a mistake. By the time I posted the initial post, I had been starting my routine for about a week. So its about 15-18 days, 9 pounds, which seems pretty reasonable (3 pounds or so a week?).

I will try upping my calories a bit more to make sure it doesn't go too far.

The thing is, I don't have a goal of a weight to reach before I start to bulk up. I was considering 160 or so. Any suggestions (normally I'd aim for a bf% but I cannot calculate this at this time).

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (IwillMakeIt)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:28:25 GMT

yeah thats a lil to high.. you should aime for 1-2 pounds a week.. u probably need to up ur cals but iuno you have a very weird situation after reading your post.. but i can tell you thats too much weight loss in 11 days

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:43:33 GMT

ORIGINAL: DA

You've lost 9lbs in... 11 days.

I would estimate about 7 to 9 pounds. Is this too much? Should I up the amount of calories I intake per day?

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (DA)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:27:34 GMT

You've lost 9lbs in... 11 days.

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:54:56 GMT

Hi guys!

Just wanted to get a quick update to see if my progress is fast / too fast / slow / too slow. Currently my weight (again from my Doctor's office) was about 171, so I've lost 9 pounds since my first post.

Here's a picture to see the difference. I'm just curious if anyone has any guesses on how much more I should go before starting to bulk? I don't really have a target weight (160 maybe?). I have no way to actually calculate BF% at this time.

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:17:15 GMT

OK So I weighed myself this week at the gym, which has an accurate scale - similar to the one in my Doctor's office - and I came up to 176. So I lost 4 pounds! This doesn't seem bad - most people say to aim for 2-3 pounds a week, so 4 is just a bit on the border. After about a month of this, I guess I can start to bulk up.

Also, just wanted to thank everyone for their help and advice. :)! I really appreciate it.

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (edrice2)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:09:07 GMT

yeah thats strange to me, good idea to contact a doctor about it. the other thing that came to mind, u mentioned u lost weight, did u gain that weight right after losing weight? it could be your body balancing back out or somethng from the bowel issues. strange situation.

i would think that 2000 is not much to be eating given your size and age. im 20 and 5'9, to maintain my weight at like 147 (where i tend to be at if i dont try to bulk or cut) i need around 2500-2800 calories on just lifting 3-4 days no cardio...i guess i do a lot of walking and general activity tho, but still i would think you would need more.

i mean, if you keep gaining weight tho with 2000 calories something is wrong i would guess...you should at least stop gaining at some point since you would theoretically plateau anyway, confusing i dunno

about the meals, yeah try to balance them as best as you can, but i would say better unbalanced than long periods of time with nothing.

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:12:29 GMT

ORIGINAL: TheSilverFox

hmm.. it's really hard to say about the calorie level.     you didn't post how old you are (that i saw), but 2000 calories for a person around 20 years old doing cardio 6 days a week seems a bit low.

what are your meals like?   are you eating 3 main meals, or more like 6 or 7 small meals.

eating more meals every 2 or 3 hours (small ones) will crank up your metabolism.     when you give the body the bare minimum, it goes into starvation mode and starts to store everything it can (yes, even fat) b/c it thinks it's not getting enough and wants to prepare for the future.

20 is a good guess :) just turned 21. I only have time to eat 3 main meals a day, although I usually aim for 4. 6 or 7 is really hard for me because I'm very busy during the day. Can you be eating anything during the 6 or 7 meals or should it try to be somewhat balanced?

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (TheSilverFox)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:47:42 GMT

hmm.. it's really hard to say about the calorie level.     you didn't post how old you are (that i saw), but 2000 calories for a person around 20 years old doing cardio 6 days a week seems a bit low.

what are your meals like?   are you eating 3 main meals, or more like 6 or 7 small meals.

eating more meals every 2 or 3 hours (small ones) will crank up your metabolism.     when you give the body the bare minimum, it goes into starvation mode and starts to store everything it can (yes, even fat) b/c it thinks it's not getting enough and wants to prepare for the future.

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:40:56 GMT

ORIGINAL: TheSilverFox

not trying to scare you, or blame it on something easy..

but keep in mind that an underactive thyroid gland can cause a person to gain weight excessively. that's just something i thought of off the top of my head. is this reason likely?? no probably not. but, it is possible

No, we did a thyroid test. I do have some bowel issues which cause me to not intake enough nutrients, causing rapid weight loss. For instance last year I weight 150 and couldn't seem to get my weight up. Then suddenly it increased to about 170. It's probably related to this, but since this is the first time I've worked out before I found it a bit weird to still have a jump.

Edric/NBSFighter/Silverfox: Is my current calorie intake at a good enough level? I'm a bit worried about under eating since I have such little muscle mass to begin with..

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (TheSilverFox)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:31:53 GMT

not trying to scare you, or blame it on something easy..

but keep in mind that an underactive thyroid gland can cause a person to gain weight excessively. that's just something i thought of off the top of my head. is this reason likely?? no probably not. but, it is possible

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:23:16 GMT

ORIGINAL: NBSFighter

Something just isn't adding up. If you're taking in 2000 and putting out 400 most days, with your stats it's impossible for you to be gaining weight. You're just not eating enough to.

This is what I thought too, so I went to my doctor. It was confirmed, my weight went from about 165 to 180 in a 1 month period.

I am not lying, I was confused too. She said we would watch my weight monthly to see, because it didn't make sense to her either.

This is the first time I've really started to work out though, could be it just initial muscle mass gain?

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (NBSFighter)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:20:07 GMT

Something just isn't adding up. If you're taking in 2000 and putting out 400 most days, with your stats it's impossible for you to be gaining weight. You're just not eating enough to.

RE: To Cut or To Bulk? (Calmless)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:09:42 GMT

ORIGINAL: NBSFighter

How often do you drink? Sounds like the culprit to me...

Rarely drink. Maybe 3 times a year (seriously I don't like alcohol). I use to drink a pop a day , I think that did it :p

edrice, I'm not sure I'm following. Do you mean I need to reduce my calorie count more? or increase it? I calculated it out, everyday I eat approximately 2000 calories. Should I be eating more?