1 YEAR TRANSFORMATION (cut->bulk->cut)

[Insilicio]

Respect.

[goodcupcakes]

Wow that's an inspirational transformation. Awesome work. What are you focusing on your second bulk? Do you have certain areas you need to bring up?

You've convinced me to add creatine to my cut. We're about the same height and weight but your first cut looks better than me (although I'm only halfway through).

[bbsapphireee]

That's a lot of progress in one year, a bulk and two cuts! damnnnn

Envious.

[bboyjihad]

Awesome work mate! So you were on 2000 calories a day for those first 3 months? What were your macros? I'm eating at a deficit until Christmas and it's driving me nuts. Like yourself, I think i need a day where i eat something i really enjoy, keeping in with the macros of course...although i'm not sure how a Big Mac meal balances up, haha!

Yes bro, I was hitting 2000 cals/day, sometimes a little lower but around that mark. Macros were about 180g protein, 90g fat and the rest carbs. If you haven't already, definately have a fun day once a week, eat some crap/whatever you want and keep it within your macros. It will keep you sane and make your cut much more bearable. Good luck!

[bboyjihad]

Wow that's an inspirational transformation. Awesome work. What are you focusing on your second bulk? Do you have certain areas you need to bring up?

You've convinced me to add creatine to my cut. We're about the same height and weight but your first cut looks better than me (although I'm only halfway through).

Yeh enjoying my second bulk now, just trying to keep it sensible and bulk over a long time with as little fat gain as possible. Good choice with the creatine, definately a good idea in my opinion.

I have a few areas i want to focus on, i've never pushed my leg workouts hard enough and now my upper body has devloped significantly more than my legs so now i'm gonna focus on building some tree trunks with squats, squats and maybe some more squats. With my upper body, i think i'm just gonna focus on everything equally, no area stands out more than another IMO.

Good luck bro!

[Shandlar]

I just can't get over how lean you were able to stay bulking for what, 9 months? And still able to pack on legit mass. You should right a book on lean gaining.

[ultra99]

i was were your energy levels on your first first? i'm studying, so going that low on calories makes me hungry all time... and i like snack while studying... :/

[bboyjihad]

I just can't get over how lean you were able to stay bulking for what, 9 months? And still able to pack on legit mass. You should right a book on lean gaining.

lol thanks man, it was all about calories, i was in a calorie excess of between 500-700 calories and I did gain a little fat, but fortunately not too much.

[bboyjihad]

i was were your energy levels on your first first? i'm studying, so going that low on calories makes me hungry all time... and i like snack while studying... :/

During the first cut, my energy levels definately went down but i adapted quite quickly and after a couple of weeks I was fine. I used intermittent fasting to control my urge to snack. The evening is when I am at my most likely to play up and ruin my deficit so what I did was fast all day up to about 5:00pm, then i'd eat my 2000 claories between 5:00pm-11:00pm. This meant that the usual sugar cravings I get in the night weren't anywhere near as bad because I was eating alot during that time.

If you haven't already, I recommend trying intermittent fasting if you're a snacker and the lack of energy will be temporary, your body will adapt pretty quick. Good luck!

[ultra99]

During the first cut, my energy levels definately went down but i adapted quite quickly and after a couple of weeks I was fine. I used intermittent fasting to control my urge to snack. The evening is when I am at my most likely to play up and ruin my deficit so what I did was fast all day up to about 5:00pm, then i'd eat my 2000 claories between 5:00pm-11:00pm. This meant that the usual sugar cravings I get in the night weren't anywhere near as bad because I was eating alot during that time.

If you haven't already, I recommend trying intermittent fasting if you're a snacker and the lack of energy will be temporary, your body will adapt pretty quick. Good luck!

IF like fast for 14hrs? I did a couple days ago and I was literally drained! couldn't do a thing, was like a vegetable.

[bboyjihad]

IF like fast for 14hrs? I did a couple days ago and I was literally drained! couldn't do a thing, was like a vegetable.

Like anything new, it is hard initially but you will get used to it, and when you do, it really is an excellent tool.

[Insilicio]

He did fast 18 hours, since his eating window was 6 hours. U can start with a 8 hour eating window. I eat for example from 11 morning to 7 evening, only sucks a bit in the morning that I wanna eat, but overall I am fine

Pretty cool u also did IF, gives me a bit more motivation (or well, already motivated), that it can be done this way. Did you also use IF with bulking? I think I might do it when I reach 12% to minimize fat gain.

And fwiw, I have CFS and I am in treatment for it, and I even feel better now.

[SideSteal]

This is excellent progress. Way to go.

[bboyjihad]

He did fast 18 hours, since his eating window was 6 hours. U can start with a 8 hour eating window. I eat for example from 11 morning to 7 evening, only sucks a bit in the morning that I wanna eat, but overall I am fine

Pretty cool u also did IF, gives me a bit more motivation (or well, already motivated), that it can be done this way. Did you also use IF with bulking? I think I might do it when I reach 12% to minimize fat gain.

And fwiw, I have CFS and I am in treatment for it, and I even feel better now.

I only did IF when cutting. Many people do IF while bulking too but for me, I couldn't. Firstly, I only used IF to control myself in staying within 2000 calories. I also liked to get some carbs in before my workout when bulking and finally, I would find it quite hard to eat 3500+ calories in a 6 or even 8 hour window, especially when eating clean/healthy food. For me, when bulking, I just prefer to eat a hearty breakfast, lunch, then head to the gym in the evening, then eat dinner when I get back.

[ultra99]

Like anything new, it is hard initially but you will get used to it, and when you do, it really is an excellent tool.

But did you lift while fasting?

[EWC88]

Holy sh*t man! Seeing this just makes me want to go even harder at the gym! I am on a cut right now to then hopefully bulk. Like you I have had knee injuries/surgeries with one being fairly fresh, year and half ago, so cardio is hard for me to do for a long period, but I get a good time still on the elliptical and bike.

Keep up the good work! Might be seeing a PM from me.

[jerkeife]

Wow great work!

[bboyjihad]

But did you lift while fasting?

Yeh most of the time I lifted about 1 1/2 hours after breaking my fast. I did a couple a sessions lifting while fasting but i found it difficult and ran out of energy. Some people experience more energy with IF but I didn't .

[noobydooby]

this is my question too. to lose 1.5kg / week, you would have had to have been on a 1600 calorie deficit, not just the 1000 you mentioned. either you worked out much harder, or ate much less than you thought.

but great job and awesome results!

^amazing man! But im interested in your first 3 months, 18kg down!! HOW?? 1.5kg/week?

[bboyjihad]

this is my question too. to lose 1.5kg / week, you would have had to have been on a 1600 calorie deficit, not just the 1000 you mentioned. either you worked out much harder, or ate much less than you thought.

but great job and awesome results!

Yeh you're right but my weight loss wasn't consistent throughout the cut, I was losing around 2kg in the beginning, obviously becuase i was in a bigger deficit than i thought, but as i became better at counting and tracking calories the weight loss became more consistent at about 1kg/week.

[Benz1990]

This has inspired me but i do have a few questions if you have time

1. Did you ever push yourself so hard in the gym you spewed up
2. with the list of food you ate, did you make it yourself or just copied it from somewhere. This isnt ment to come off dicky but im curious as to what you had from breakfast/lunch/dinner each day and how you prepared your meals so i can emulate it myself
3. With your cheat day, did you always stay within 3k cals? was there anytime where you were like "**** it, im grabbing a pizza (2.5k cals avg) and a coke for dinner"
4. were you big on cardio before your first cut or did you only get into it once your knee got better and you lost the weight the first cut and were like "this is so much easier to do cardio now im lighter"
5. When you were on your cuts and still lifting heavy were you maintaining the muscle or actually getting bigger at the same time?
6. Probably the most important question, what made you do the routine you have been doing the past 18 months? was it self made, a PT did it up for you, copied it from a sticky, a friend did it up for you?

[bboyjihad]

This has inspired me but i do have a few questions if you have time

1. Did you ever push yourself so hard in the gym you spewed up
2. with the list of food you ate, did you make it yourself or just copied it from somewhere. This isnt ment to come off dicky but im curious as to what you had from breakfast/lunch/dinner each day and how you prepared your meals so i can emulate it myself
3. With your cheat day, did you always stay within 3k cals? was there anytime where you were like "**** it, im grabbing a pizza (2.5k cals avg) and a coke for dinner"
4. were you big on cardio before your first cut or did you only get into it once your knee got better and you lost the weight the first cut and were like "this is so much easier to do cardio now im lighter"
5. When you were on your cuts and still lifting heavy were you maintaining the muscle or actually getting bigger at the same time?
6. Probably the most important question, what made you do the routine you have been doing the past 18 months? was it self made, a PT did it up for you, copied it from a sticky, a friend did it up for you?

No problem bro, i'll try to answer your question as best I can.

1. I never physically spewed but i worked my arse of, and felt quite light headed many times.
2. I made the list of food up myself, I just picked the healthy food that i liked and ate that ensuring that the foods were balanced enough that it enabled me to get the require protein, carbs and fat.
3. On my cheat days I never went over my maintence of 3000cals, never. 3000 calories is quite alot and you can enjoy yourself. I would usually fast till 5pm then eat a large mcdonalds and ice cream and still have 1500 cals to play with.
4. I've never been big on cardio in terms of running but i've always been into sports, playing basketball/mma/squash/etc. so i got my cardio from this. In my opinion, i'd rather just eat a little less and not have to go for a long run, the outcome in terms of weight loss will be the same, cardio is not reuired at all. If you choose to do cardio, you eat a little more, depends what u love more i suppose. Of course, from cardio you get the added biological benefits.
5. when i was cutting, i was lifting heavy but definately not gaining muscle, in fact, i was probably losing muscle towards the end of the cut when my bodyfat got lower. If you're not a complete noob, i would consider it impossible to be in a big deficit and gaining mass. I was just trying to minimise the muscle loss.
6. The routine was not taken from anywhere, it was from my own knowledge from over the years of working out on and off. It was nothing special, just big compound exercises and some smaller isolating ones 3/4 times per week.

Hope this helps.

[chevy72blu]

You had quite a bit of mass when you started - I did not have anywhere near as much definition at 180 or so lbs at the same height. What is your lifting/exercise background? You mentioned mma which often incorporates weight training.

Also surprising to see how much muscle you retained while cutting at greater than 2 lbs/week. Defies the common recommendations here.

Again, very impressive work. Motivating to say the least.

[bboyjihad]

You had quite a bit of mass when you started - I did not have anywhere near as much definition at 180 or so lbs at the same height. What is your lifting/exercise background? You mentioned mma which often incorporates weight training.

Also surprising to see how much muscle you retained while cutting at greater than 2 lbs/week. Defies the common recommendations here.

Again, very impressive work. Motivating to say the least.

Thanks. Yeh you're right, although i looked light sh*t because of the fat, I actually did have a pretty good amount a lean mass hiding under there because i'd been in the gym on and off for a couple of years. I definately lost muscle mass during the cut but like i said, because i already had a decent base, I still looked alright.

[chevy72blu]

Gotcha. I just wanted to make sure people were keeping their expectations reasonable... most people who dont have a history of working out and/or havent been in shape since HS will not look like you after their first cut

Would be nice tho

[aussieguy81]

Great Results man

[mikegt87]

I'm about 8 lbs aaway from starting a long slow bulk.. inspiring

[AnderzMan]

great work!!

[natej911]

Wow great transformation. Repped.

[cartercan]

Great work man, awesome transformation