Increase your training volume would be my first guess.
Others will probably disagree with me but I don't think beginners have any reason to get into a bulk/cut cycle. Your first few years are one long bulk. You have to build the muscle before it is any use to you. Bulking and cutting serves no purpose until you have the base.
The bulk I am referring to does not necessarily involve donuts and shit and 20% bodyfat, I just mean eat well train hard and keep your head down until you have some size. If you have allowed yourself to get fat along the way and you don't like it, then cut out the shit food and train hard and keep your head down until you have some size.
It really is that simple. Cutting before you are ready will just reduce your lean mass along with the fat and you will wind up being skinny forever like everyone else who does it.
Absolutely right BullIncrease your training volume would be my first guess.
Others will probably disagree with me but I don't think beginners have any reason to get into a bulk/cut cycle. Your first few years are one long bulk. You have to build the muscle before it is any use to you. Bulking and cutting serves no purpose until you have the base.
The bulk I am referring to does not necessarily involve donuts and shit and 20% bodyfat, I just mean eat well train hard and keep your head down until you have some size. If you have allowed yourself to get fat along the way and you don't like it, then cut out the shit food and train hard and keep your head down until you have some size.
It really is that simple. Cutting before you are ready will just reduce your lean mass along with the fat and you will wind up being skinny forever like everyone else who does it.
Absolutely right Bull
I'll go even further and say that unless you're a pro bodybuilder who can dial it in everytime, us regular folk have no business jumping on the bulk/cut bandwagon.
thanks guys,
that was my other thought to just go back to eating in surplus and keep "bulking".
i can feel i have already started to build a good base but just the flab around the midsection is demotivating.
Bulking and cutting does serve a purpose, gaining and losing weight.
if someone wants to lose their gut at the expense of muscle it is their choice.
Most times when someone asks for advice on how to do something, they don't get an answer on their question, they get told why they shouldn't do it.
fair enough OP shouldn't have bulked the way he did, but he did it and now wants to lose his gut.
eat less or exercise more.
1800 cals should do the trick.
How many people do you know who've actually lost any noteworthy amount of fat just by being more muscular? Because I can't think of any. When people aim to get bigger, they tend to get fatter as well. For anyone past the first couple months of training, it's rare to see anyone gain any meaningful amount of muscle faster than they gain fat, or to do so without getting fatter.You are right in as much as I did make some assumptions in my answer.
I assumed that he wasn't choosing to waste the muscle he had tried to build. I assumed that he didn't know any better and was wasting it unintentionally.
There is one part of your post that I don't agree with and that is the "eat less or exercise more." There is a third option which imo is far superior to either of those, increase your BMR by adding a heap of muscle.
However 1800 cals will certainly do the trick and hey, some girls don't like muscles anyway.
For anyone past the first couple months of training, it's rare to see anyone gain any meaningful amount of muscle faster than they gain fat, or to do so without getting fatter.
They are eating too much. Bodyfat is very easy to control, all you need is a mirror once a week.
This is the problem with the bulk/cut thing, people accept fat when they bulk and they don't have to. My point is forget it and eat and train.
I'm not trying to convince anyone, do whatever you like, I'm simply offering an opinion.
My experience is that the scale doesn't move very far without taking bodyfat% with it. In 8 years, I'm yet to find a way after the first few months of training to gain any visually recognisable new muscle mass without gaining fat with it, ultimately requiring a cut as a result. Attempting to build muscle without gaining fat resulted in me remaining skinny. After noob gains, nothing happened to my muscles until I did accept fat gains.They are eating too much. Bodyfat is very easy to control, all you need is a mirror once a week.
This is the problem with the bulk/cut thing, people accept fat when they bulk and they don't have to. My point is forget it and eat and train.
I'm not trying to convince anyone, do whatever you like, I'm simply offering an opinion.
My experience is that the scale doesn't move very far without taking bodyfat% with it. In 8 years, I'm yet to find a way after the first few months of training to gain any visually recognisable new muscle mass without gaining fat with it, ultimately requiring a cut as a result. Attempting to build muscle without gaining fat resulted in me remaining skinny. After noob gains, nothing happened to my muscles until I did accept fat gains.
Do you have experience to support what you're saying? Any photos, or at least measurements to demonstrate that doing it the way you recommend gets good results?
*reads a couple articles on carb back-loading* Well, I'm not convinced that this would work better for body composition than a different arrangement of the same amount of macros, although I am curious. The recommendation for high sugar, high processed foods as your carbs sounds like a great recipe for health, though.Supposedly Carb Backloading bypasses alot of that. Try doing some reading on it and see if you believe the author. Proof is in the pudding though, literally
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