Don't Bulk or Cut - Transform Your Body!

[VegasPumped]

How to transform your physique from out of shape, to a much leaner (toned/defined), fit and stronger one.

I am writing this because everyday, I see new trainees carrying a bulking and/or cutting mentality when trying to achieve the physique they desire.

Whether you are thin/skinny/flabby or you have 10-30 pounds of fat to shed, this nutrition/workout plan will work for you, that is if you are after:

Making lift progress (gym progress)
Changing body composition (mirror progress) (losing fat, gaining muscle)

My theory:

Consume the lowest calories possible, but enough to continue making progress in the gym.

Minimum 2000 calories, male or female, with a sufficient amount of protein.

Progress in the gym means:
Getting stronger every week. You are either squatting heavier, or performed better (lifted the same weight for more reps).


My promise: If you focus on lift progress, with the right amount of calories, the progress in the mirror you are looking for will appear.

This will require you to figure out your maintenance.
Be consistent in your caloric intake.
Count calories as accurate as possible.
Make sure your protein intake is covered.
Lift hard, keep track of your lift progress.
Give priority to the compound exercises, working your muscle groups in a sane manner.

Depending on how much physical activity you get, your intake may be higher, requiring you to eat much more than 2500 calories.
But, a smart choice would be to start off low, and increase calorie intake to shatter plateaus and continue gym progress.

For a thin/skinny/flabby/10-30 pounds over-weight male: 2200 calories, at ~150g of protein/day would be a good place to start.
For a female, 2000 would be the starting caloric intake, at 120g of protein.

Again, depending on how much cardio you are incorporating in your fitness program, eating more is a must. Otherwise, lift progress will take toll and so will mirror progress.

DO NOT UNDER EAT
2200 for a male, would be the starting intake.
If you are squatting, shoulder pressing, rowing, bench pressing, deadlifting more the following week, then you are doing it right. If your lifts slow down, keep the intake the same for another week, if you hit a wall, strength wise, up the calories by a 150. Get more rest and continue progress.

By the time you are around 2700 calories, you would have gained a lot of strength, for me by the time I was consuming 2700 calories, 4.5 months into lifting, my shoulder press went from 30 pound dumbells, to 75 pound dumbells, my deadlift went from 85 pounds, to 325 pounds.

It's simple.
You don't need 3000 calories as a beginner to make progress.
And if shedding fat is a big part of your goal physique (leaner/stronger), eating at a healthy 2000-2600 calories at the start, with enough protein will lead you there.

Diet:

Whole wheat pasta or ice cream. Doesn't matter.
Although the pasta may be a healthier choice.
When it comes down to mirror progress, a 300 calorie cookie won't be much different than 2 potatoes. At the end of the day, all that matters is that your intake is in the range best for your goals, for me right now, about 2700 calories. And the protein stays constant, for me around 170g/day.

[pumplikeeecummings]

Great post, but I must disagree with the last statement on wholewheat pasta and ice cream. Ice cream might be ok post workout, but any other time has a lot more potential for turning into fat. Wheat digest slower, so most definitely go for the wheat. But I would say ice cream is more than ok post workout.

[VegasPumped]

Great post, but I must disagree with the last statement on wholewheat pasta and ice cream. Ice cream might be ok post workout, but any other time has a lot more potential for turning into fat. Wheat digest slower, so most definitely go for the wheat. But I would say ice cream is more than ok post workout.

Yeah, but I meant it like..
When people think they need to eat high protein whole grain foods or their transformation will suck.
If you have a bag of chips, it's gonna be carbs and fat, not a bag of chips.

I transformed in 4.5 months myself, so shared what I did.
Thanks for your input man.

[JRoX85]

amen great post

[-KEN-]

agreed

[kfn]

Great post mate, and congratz on your transformation, very good job.

[devildog_99]

nice transformation

[zero_cooljr]

+1.

[NUHusky14]

this type of workout plan or something similar will most likely end up being my summertime maintenance routine. when I began lifting last October, I basically ate at or a little above maintenance and did tons of cardio, and I got into great shape. Didn't exactly put on a lot of muscle, however.

[VegasPumped]

this type of workout plan or something similar will most likely end up being my summertime maintenance routine. when I began lifting last October, I basically ate at or a little above maintenance and did tons of cardio, and I got into great shape. Didn't exactly put on a lot of muscle, however.

Yeah, it's hard to put on muscle eating at maintenance, although as a novice trainee you will.
If you are a 200 pound lean bog boy, you gotta feed your body for it to grow, if you don't you can still make lift progress through adaptation to those exercises. But this article is directed towards anyone trying to get lean, get fit/in shape.

If a novice does this for a while, they would have a brad pitt type physique (fight club), maybe a little more muscled.

If an advanced bodybuilder were to do this, then they would be on their way to getting ripped.

This article is simply saying, don't cut calories low low low if you want to look good.

[jacker710]

I was having this same problem until today. I thought that was the issue, then I found this post - sure enough it works now.

Thanks for the help!

[singage710]

hello all,
i am susan here, i am newbie here, it is really great post, i came to hi say hi all keep posting.
thanks a lot

[john_green]

thanks for the great post!

[35packs]

Yeah, but I meant it like..
When people think they need to eat high protein whole grain foods or their transformation will suck.
If you have a bag of chips, it's gonna be carbs and fat, not a bag of chips.

I transformed in 4.5 months myself, so shared what I did.
Thanks for your input man.

when you say their transformation will suck, what do u mean actually? will suck in terms of what? speed?

[ViktorM]

Atm I am getting stronger on 1800 cals, but haven't seen much progress.

Getting faster/more explosive in my HIIT sprint workouts aswell and hunger/energy levels aren't low.

Is it because I can gain on that low or wtf is wrong with me? :P Not sure I lost any fat, but lost 12 pounds (some water from stopping creatine) but I am still gaining strength regularly so don't think I am losing muscle.

[ViktorM]

Btw, lets see some progress pictures! I wanna see your progress

[nickg4]

i aGREE

[Holly2710]

I was told to do the same thing by my trainer. I have a very tough time doing it though. Just feels like I am overeating at 1800-2000cals. Right now I am doing 1500, very low energy levels and moody. I found when I was doing 1800 my energy levels were through the roof. Only I injured myself so I dropped my cals till I can start lifting again.

[jgreenhaus]

I am 145 now and extremely skinny fat. I weigh too little to cut and i have so much fat still that i dont wanna bulk any more. I already did a 15-20 lb bulk. And i wanna lose fat , so i have been leaning towards doing something along the lines of a maintenance recomp. Any pics of your "transformation" brah?

[VegasPumped]

I am 145 now and extremely skinny fat. I weigh too little to cut and i have so much fat still that i dont wanna bulk any more. I already did a 15-20 lb bulk. And i wanna lose fat , so i have been leaning towards doing something along the lines of a maintenance recomp. Any pics of your "transformation" brah?

click my bodyspace, view my progress pics

[sixsixfivefive]

Good article, Thank you!

[VegasPumped]

Good article, Thank you!

banned, lol

[HockeyPlayer84]

Great Article, I did about the same thing you did by loosing most all fat from body and weight lifting for Appearance and to keep the muscle on me,

Good Post I truly believe transformation is just a better way to put it instead of Bulk or Cut

All in All i agree because I did it...

[Platinum1000]

That is an excellent in-depth view at the nutritional aspect of maintaining a tight physique year round. I would like to invite everyone to check out a free e-book I wrote entitled "Optimized Circuit Training" available at platinumfitness1000.blogspot.com/. I'd post it here but it's kind of long. Please try it out and let me know what results you get with it.

[Ivankannan]

I eat more than 4000 calories per day and its hard for me to increase the weights I lift in the gym. The problem with this approach is its very slow and people might lose motivation.

[followme]

Great post overall..

But be warned, if you eat like crap loading your body with refined carbs (sugars), don't be surprised if it comes back to bite you. When you're ready to tone down your workout and eat more reasonably, can you switch from an "anything goes" diet to a more reasonable one in a pinch?

Additionally, are you ready for adult-onset diabetes?

Additionally, think about the nutritional value of those calories. Ice cream is easier to justify because of the calcium/protein nutritional value, but a lot of "junk food" has no real nutritional value. You don't want to get used to eating things that offer nothing but simple carbs with virtually no vitamins, minerals, EFAs, etc.

[VegasPumped]

Great post overall..

But be warned, if you eat like crap loading your body with refined carbs (sugars), don't be surprised if it comes back to bite you. When you're ready to tone down your workout and eat more reasonably, can you switch from an "anything goes" diet to a more reasonable one in a pinch?

Additionally, are you ready for adult-onset diabetes?

Additionally, think about the nutritional value of those calories. Ice cream is easier to justify because of the calcium/protein nutritional value, but a lot of "junk food" has no real nutritional value. You don't want to get used to eating things that offer nothing but simple carbs with virtually no vitamins, minerals, EFAs, etc.

I agree bro, I love you man, you're my boy.
Eat healthy and in the right calorie range

[createeen]

Nice transformation bro.

[strugz]

while i agree with the concepts of this article. I don't believe it is the quickest route to get where you want to be.
for a personal example.
During my bulk season. My squats went from 130 to 245
deads went up to 285 from 145
press went up to 125
during a 3 month cut, i was able to mostly maintain the same amount of muscle mass, and keep up the same intensity of workout. but i was SEVERLY drained and recuperative time took a lot longer.
what i'm trying to say is that yes:
you will look better all year round
but if you keep caloric intake to near maintenance levels, and count on body fat stores for energy.
You'll notice once ur at your peak lifts (past noobie gain phase) that
progress will move at a snails pace. its hard to consistenly make progress while lifting heavy and eating maintenance levels.
you'll notice you will need a DRASTIC increase in focus to progress
recovery time will be severely dampened.
whereas a typical bulk cut cycle might take you 7 months to accomplish a desired physique
a consistent cycle might take you a full year to get the same results.
once again this is from personal experience.
just trying to show the other spectrum of what could happen with a non bulk/cut mentality
the bulk/cut cycles are analogous to working in an assembly line. You don't just build your product altogether, but each step of the assembly line adds a step to the finished product. its simply more time efficient that way

[VegasPumped]

while i agree with the concepts of this article. I don't believe it is the quickest route to get where you want to be.
for a personal example.
During my bulk season. My squats went from 130 to 245
deads went up to 285 from 145
press went up to 125
during a 3 month cut, i was able to mostly maintain the same amount of muscle mass, and keep up the same intensity of workout. but i was SEVERLY drained and recuperative time took a lot longer.
what i'm trying to say is that yes:
you will look better all year round
but if you keep caloric intake to near maintenance levels, and count on body fat stores for energy.
You'll notice once ur at your peak lifts (past noobie gain phase) that
progress will move at a snails pace. its hard to consistenly make progress while lifting heavy and eating maintenance levels.
you'll notice you will need a DRASTIC increase in focus to progress
recovery time will be severely dampened.
whereas a typical bulk cut cycle might take you 7 months to accomplish a desired physique
a consistent cycle might take you a full year to get the same results.
once again this is from personal experience.
just trying to show the other spectrum of what could happen with a non bulk/cut mentality
the bulk/cut cycles are analogous to working in an assembly line. You don't just build your product altogether, but each step of the assembly line adds a step to the finished product. its simply more time efficient that way

That's why after you get past the fast progression at 1st... you can then decide whether you want to increase your intake and continue to progress on your lifts and size while stopping the fat loss. But for an out of shape person, this is a great way to go about it.