Kennyn27's Journal, 15 Apr 24

I’ve been writing about my progress in both cutting and bulking lately so I figured, since I got a few questions about it, I would just write a brief description about them.
Bulking is where you eat in a calorie surplus to try and add muscle to the body. Think of it like this, if you owned a one story house and wanted to add a second story to the house you would need a construction company and a lot of supplies like bricks, wood, concrete (these are like the surplus calories). Because without those supplies you could never add onto the house making it bigger. Same goes for the body, you need a surplus of calories (and resistance training) to add muscle onto what you already have. The pros of a bulk are added size, tons of energy for your workout, your strength goes up, your hormones are on point (hopefully) and you get to eat a lot more! Lol. There are some cons that come along with bulking as well, as much as we would like to think that all the weight we are putting on is muscle it’s actually not. About 15 to 20 percent will only be muscle (and that depends on age and genetics) the rest will be fat, stored glycogen, and water. There is a smarter way to bulk to keep the fat gain to a minimum though. I read that the body can only use around 250 calories of the surplus calories for muscle growth a day, and that anything after that will basically be stored as fat. So keeping the surplus to a minimum, by not eating 1000 extra calories a day, will help with fat gain. The more aggressive the bulk, the more aggressive the cut will have to be afterwards. The most optimal amount of time for a bulk is 4 to 6 months, to really see the effect.
Cutting is where you eat in a calorie deficit to try and remove the added fat you put on from the bulk, to reveal the muscle you hopefully put on! Lol. It’s like a sculptor with a big block of clay removing layer after layer of extra clay to reveal the muscular form of a person. There are cons in cutting as well, like gym fatigue, less strength, you get to eat a lot less, and towards the end of your cut, depending on how extreme you go, your sleep won’t be as good, loss of libido and your hormones might be low. The pros are obvious, you get leaner, giving you that chiseled look. Like the bulk the cut shouldn’t be that aggressive, you should aim to lose 1 to 2 percent of your total body weight a week to avoid losing the added muscle you just put on during your bulk. It also a good idea to eat at maintenance calories for a month in between the bulk and cut to let your body get used to that added weight ( set point). I have read that a higher protein intake is more important in a cut rather than a bulk. Due to prevent muscle loss ( although plenty of protein is still needed during your bulk).
Carbs are the macro I manipulate the most in my cut and bulks, they are how I gave myself a surplus/deficit of calories, as fats and protein always remain consistent between both cycles (Although fat will most likely go up a bit in your bulk). Also cutting and bulking (losing fat and gaining muscle) at the same time is nearly impossible, they are two different processes. The only time this is possible is for people who are new to resistance training and those who have a lot of weight to lose. After about a year of consistent training this becomes almost impossible to do naturally.
Hope this helped.

88.4 kg Lost so far: 1.4 kg.    Still to go: 4.5 kg.    Diet followed: Reasonably Well.

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2058 kcal

Fat: 49.95g | Prot: 192.65g | Carbs: 233.54g.   Breakfast: Blueberries, Beyond Raw Precision Amino, Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey - Vanilla Ice Cream, Prime Nutrition Phytoform, Bananas. Lunch: Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey - Vanilla Ice Cream, Bojangles Milk 1% Lowfat (White), Friendship Dairies 2% Pot Style Cottage Cheese, Cheerios, Bob's Red Mill Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. Dinner: Egg White, Schmidt 647 Italian Bread, Egg, Butter. Snacks/Other: Dannon Oikos Triple Zero - Cherry, Kellogg's Pop-Tarts Frosted - Strawberry, Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey - Vanilla Ice Cream. more...

3120 kcal

Exercise: Apple Health - 24 hours. more...