Increasing calories on cut

[tso.bulk]

Although hard to do, what are some signs that you need to increase calories and by how much would you usually increase?

[wrkoutfrq]

actually a pretty good question... in4response

[GregC24]

Although hard to do, what are some signs that you need to increase calories and by how much would you usually increase?

I'd probably increase my calories if I noticed I was losing weight too rapidly, and/or my strength was decreasing at a rapid rate.
I don't count my calories, but just yesterday I just increased my food intake because I was losing weight to quickly for my liking. I was afraid of losing muscle.
But i mainly just guesssed at how much I wanted to increase.

[muladesigns]

I am also curious to see responses. I am trying to cut right now (204 lbs.) to a leaner (195 lbs). then after seeing what I look like at 195 I will determine if I need to loose more BF. But I do not want to loose much size, if any. (obviously). I know when a person leans out they appear bigger, but I'm not big enough (compared to my goal size) to afford much mass loss. i am trying to loose 1 lb. per week. I figure I could maintain most of my mass while loosing the fat slowly. Compared to loosing 2-3 lbs per week. which I know will make me loose a bit of muscle as well.

[Slovation]

Increase cals when either.......

tanked ur metabolism
have no more fat to lose
Losing weight too fast

[Roasted]

Increase cals when either.......

tanked ur metabolism
have no more fat to lose
Losing weight too fast

Pretty much this...or you're conest date is too far when looking at the rate at which you are loosing.

I recently increased my cals by 200 per day cause I thought I was loosing too fast, but now my mind is playing tricks on me as I'm 4 weeks out and my legs and especially glutes aren't quite where I'd like em to be so I'm kind of bouncing between my old and new cal count. Probably not good. :( Might just go back down to previous cals.

[TheNaturalOak]

Pretty much this...or you're conest date is too far when looking at the rate at which you are loosing.

I recently increased my cals by 200 per day cause I thought I was loosing too fast, but now my mind is playing tricks on me as I'm 4 weeks out and my legs and especially glutes aren't quite where I'd like em to be so I'm kind of bouncing between my old and new cal count. Probably not good. :( Might just go back down to previous cals.

heh sounds very familiar lmao

[Roasted]

heh sounds very familiar lmao

Yeah man, have to remind myself to stop freaking out and just stick to the plan. Kind of late to be making last minute tweaks like this. I thought my conditioning was PERFECT my last show but now that I'm paying more attention to detail and I'm learning that I'm FAAAR from having this figured out. I tried on some posing suits (got fitted for a custom suit this time) and realized my glutes are not ready for prime time yet....still a layer of fat there. I'm hoping 4 weeks is enough to iron that out (or 5 weeks for show after that). We shall see.

[TheNaturalOak]

Yeah man, have to remind myself to stop freaking out and just stick to the plan. Kind of late to be making last minute tweaks like this. I thought my conditioning was PERFECT my last show but now that I'm paying more attention to detail and I'm learning that I'm FAAAR from having this figured out. I tried on some posing suits (got fitted for a custom suit this time) and realized my glutes are not ready for prime time yet....still a layer of fat there. I'm hoping 4 weeks is enough to iron that out (or 5 weeks for show after that). We shall see.

well goodluck I only have jst under 3 wks. Glutes arent an option 4 me, oddly Im running into some lose/crinkled skin back there!

Not the leanest bb'er around but im assuming I've hit / will hit < 8% bf. Which isnt too bad.

I plan on doing bodpod when im 1wk out. Kind of excited/scared to see results

[tumtum]

I am also curious to see responses. I am trying to cut right now (204 lbs.) to a leaner (195 lbs). then after seeing what I look like at 195 I will determine if I need to loose more BF. But I do not want to loose much size, if any. (obviously). I know when a person leans out they appear bigger, but I'm not big enough (compared to my goal size) to afford much mass loss. i am trying to loose 1 lb. per week. I figure I could maintain most of my mass while loosing the fat slowly. Compared to loosing 2-3 lbs per week. which I know will make me loose a bit of muscle as well.

IMO you'll only be satisfied with a 10 lbs loss when you're already at about 10-12% bf.. holding any more fat and you'll trick yourself into thinking you're losing size.. but that's just my opinion

[muladesigns]

IMO you'll only be satisfied with a 10 lbs loss when you're already at about 10-12% bf.. holding any more fat and you'll trick yourself into thinking you're losing size.. but that's just my opinion

I'm not quite understanding your comment. if my goal is 10% BF, and theoretically, lets say i was at that point, Your suggesting then at that point I would want to loose 10 more pounds?

[tumtum]

i'm saying if you're around 15-17% bf 10 lbs wont make that much of a visual difference. however if you're 10-12% bf it's going to make a TON of difference..

i bring this point up because often times ppl think they are around 12-13%.. they lose 10 lbs and aren't nearly as lean as they thought. it's actually because they were more like 15-17% and it's going to take a lot more than they thought.. (this happens to me on every cut lol)

and if this is the case often times they lose 10 lbs and think "well i wasn't that fat, i must be losing size" when they actually WERE that fat and they aren't losing size.. it's just taking forever..

hope i haven't hijacked the thread OP.. i'd up the calories for all the reasons stated, losing weight too fast, strength RAPIDLY dropping. another would be if you stopped losing weight after you are really low on cals (1400-1600).. i'd up the calories then and rethink how they are arranged and my cardio scheme

[muladesigns]

i'm saying if you're around 15-17% bf 10 lbs wont make that much of a visual difference. however if you're 10-12% bf it's going to make a TON of difference..

i bring this point up because often times ppl think they are around 12-13%.. they lose 10 lbs and aren't nearly as lean as they thought. it's actually because they were more like 15-17% and it's going to take a lot more than they thought.. (this happens to me on every cut lol)

and if this is the case often times they lose 10 lbs and think "well i wasn't that fat, i must be losing size" when they actually WERE that fat and they aren't losing size.. it's just taking forever..

hope i haven't hijacked the thread OP.. i'd up the calories for all the reasons stated, losing weight too fast, strength RAPIDLY dropping. another would be if you stopped losing weight after you are really low on cals (1400-1600).. i'd up the calories then and rethink how they are arranged and my cardio scheme

Oh. now it makes sense. (thanks for the clarity). and your absolutely right! I remember at my leanest I was at 12% and still had more BF then I wanted. I guess for the "ultimate" cut look, one would really want to be in the 8%-10% range. (closer to 8% I would think)
I wonder what would be considered an unsafe BF%? in terms of to low for daily living?

[Roasted]

Oh. now it makes sense. (thanks for the clarity). and your absolutely right! I remember at my leanest I was at 12% and still had more BF then I wanted. I guess for the "ultimate" cut look, one would really want to be in the 8%-10% range. (closer to 8% I would think)
I wonder what would be considered an unsafe BF%? in terms of to low for daily living?

I dunno, some fitness models like Greg Plitt, claim to stay around 6% year round. Kane Sumabat ("Timberwolf" here) seems to do the same. Personally I wouldn't even attempt to maintain anything under about 8-9%. I don't even think it looks good outside of being on stage.

[tumtum]

yeah.. i've read various claims (and no i cant quote any) about "optimum bf percentage to build muscle" not sure if that's a bunch of crap or not. i would think anything under 7 would be unhealthy to maintain.. not to mention ridiculously hard if your genetics aren't insane. my goal is to finish my next "bulk" if i ever do such a thing again and not go above 11. but that's just in my little fairy tale.. (this going to 15-16% has GOT to stop)

[wrkoutfrq]

yeah i'm starting to follow the crowd who ascribe to the idea of a BF set point, meaning there's a point at which your body wants to be at. above that point it's pretty easy to lose fat, whereas below that it's really hard. that point is what a lot of people think to be the optimal BF to gain. the funny thing is, it's easy to gain fat no matter what BF you are at, which is why you see bulkers go past their set point so often in the quest for more mass. i dunno, maybe it's a crock, but from what i've seen it seems to hold true

[Roasted]

yeah i'm starting to follow the crowd who ascribe to the idea of a BF set point, meaning there's a point at which your body wants to be at. above that point it's pretty easy to lose fat, whereas below that it's really hard. that point is what a lot of people think to be the optimal BF to gain. the funny thing is, it's easy to gain fat no matter what BF you are at, which is why you see bulkers go past their set point so often in the quest for more mass. i dunno, maybe it's a crock, but from what i've seen it seems to hold true

Not true, I'm an ecto. I find it MUCH easier to gain from a low bodyfat than once I hit a certain point. After I do a contest and start clean bulking the first 10 lbs is pretty easy, at that point....probably my "set point" I could maintain about 9-10% bf year round if I wanted to with minimal effort. If I bulk my ass off I can gain another 10lbs relatively ok if I put in the effort with eating constantly. After that? Almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to gain on a bulk unless I go filthy...

I think for a guy like me bulking past like 15% bf is POINTLESS. Just not worth the effort, plus, you look like crap anyways.

[tumtum]

I think for a guy like me bulking past like 15% bf is POINTLESS. Just not worth the effort, plus, you look like crap anyways.

if more ppl felt like this... including me... everyone would be better off.

the problem is ppl ppl always think they are a lot leaner.. if i had a dollar for every time i saw someone who thought they were 13% and were actually about 17%... well.. i'd have a s*h*i*t*load of dollars

[Mr. Aries]

I dunno, some fitness models like Greg Plitt, claim to stay around 6% year round. Kane Sumabat ("Timberwolf" here) seems to do the same. Personally I wouldn't even attempt to maintain anything under about 8-9%. I don't even think it looks good outside of being on stage.


I tend to stay well below 10% most of the year, I'd say 10 months out of the year. Feels perfectly fine and function very well at work. Some people are just genetically leaner than others, thus making it much more comfortable to stay at a lower bodyfat percentage, even with normal caloric intake.

[muladesigns]

I tend to stay well below 10% most of the year, I'd say 10 months out of the year. Feels perfectly fine and function very well at work. Some people are just genetically leaner than others, thus making it much more comfortable to stay at a lower bodyfat percentage, even with normal caloric intake.

I would also think that once someone gets into the lower BF % like 8-10 range, there accustomed to eating a certain way. So i would think it easier to maintain. I would be happy at 10% personally. I was 12 once, but didn't have the cut and vascularity that I wanted. Nor the size. I'm working out much smarter now, and I think 10% would fit me well. I guess I'll see what I look like when I hit it.

[tumtum]

I tend to stay well below 10% most of the year, I'd say 10 months out of the year. Feels perfectly fine and function very well at work. Some people are just genetically leaner than others, thus making it much more comfortable to stay at a lower bodyfat percentage, even with normal caloric intake.

damn you genetics.. why do u have to be such a big factor to everything in this sport. lol