#Does bulking and cutting bad for you how to

When cutting weight, it’s important that you use strength training sessions to preserve muscle mass. Read our article using the If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM) Approach To Losing Weight. Remember, the more time you have to cut weight, the more muscle you can typically preserve. Any more and you may actually be losing too much weight, too fast, which can result in losing both muscle and fat. So, start with a moderately aggressive cutting phase lasting 8-12 weeks assuming you were bulking for that long as well.Ī good aiming point for the cutting phase is to lose 0.75% of body weight per week. Going more than this time period (assuming you bulked for just as long) can actually make your body more resilient to losing body fat (not good for cutting) which will leave you feeling run down, not losing fat, hungry, and probably losing muscle. If you are 8-12 weeks into a cutting phase, and still feel like you want to cut more, it may be a smart idea to take 2-3 weeks and increase calories slightly so that your body is forced to kick up the metabolism.

Mike Israetel of RP Periodization says, “Ultra-Rapid Diets are Usually Bad Ideas”. If you are thinking you can bulk for 12 weeks and cut body fat in 4, you will most likely run yourself into the ground and lose more muscle in the process than if you took 6-8 weeks. In an ideal world, you can allow for a long, slow cutting phase, one that can be done without drastic measures so that the highest amounts of muscle mass can be preserved. You cannot cut weight forever, nor should you.

#Does bulking and cutting bad for you how to

Related Article: How To Build Muscle After Weight Loss (7 Things To Know)

Midway through April, you can start your cutting cycle, which will run for 8-12 weeks with you finish the final weeks of the cut just as you enter into the summer season! In this example, you could plan to enter a bulking phase in which you gain 0.50% of bodyweight per week for 8-12 weeks (January, February, and March), followed by a 2-3 week maintenance phase in which you need to body to stabilize at that new weight to preserve muscle growth. For example, if you want to look great for summer, be sure to give yourself March, April, and May to cut weight slowly so you can preserve as much muscle mass as possible. That said, I suggest starting your cut phase 8-12 weeks out from an event/season/date you are looking to feel your best. Often, this baseline is preceded by a bulking phase, in which the individual systematically increases caloric intake that allows for increased body weight at a slow, steady rate of 0.50% of bodyweight per week for 8-12 weeks OR until body fat levels increase above 15% or so.īulking during a phase in which you have high amounts of body fat (often 15% or more) can actually be counterproductive, as your body is “too good” at gaining weight, and often means it gains higher proportions of fat than muscle during this phase than normal. Prior to any cutting phase, it’s recommended that you are in a state of calorie equilibrium to best set the baseline for progress.