Many thanks to T Nation over the years. I found such great advice here. I came back as an old man to ask for advice and articles about how to optimally transition out of a long cut. I couldn’t find any good articles when I searched, so feel free to give me shit about being too old to computer properly.
Long story short: I’ve lost 42 lbs since mid-June, 'gunna cut another 10 (20?) and then ???.
41 years old
5’7"
Starting weight: 217lbs
Current Weight: 175lbs
Goal Weight: 165lbs (maybe lower? this cut is easy-ish)
Goal: To transition into being a fit older dude rather than a fat-ass old man. I want to set my diet on auto-pilot as much as is possible (basically what I’ve done for this cut)
Advice, anecdotes, articles all very welcome.
Should I ramp up calories? Just jump to maintenance? Go immediately to a surplus? Should training goals move towards strength for a few months? Just go right to hypertrophy? I’d love to know what T Nation’ers think.
Edit:
I’m really looking for strategies and thoughts behind transitioning out of a deep cut and how to do it effectively. Articles or other reading materials would be very helpful.
For context:
I’ve got my diet and macros dialed in pretty well. I’ve been losing an average of 1.6lbs/week consistently for months. I’ve been able to “dial in” macros in that time. I feel confident that I could jump to my TDEE or a slight surplus accurately, or–if I do make a mistake–I’d realize it within a few weeks and be able to adjust. My question is one of short or mid-term strategy rather than long term goals. I’ve never been this heavy nor lost this much weight before, so advice from those who’ve done it would be helpful
I’ve been training using t-nation or equivalent programs on-and-off since around '04. This go around, mostly Waterbury and TBT-type.
That said, in terms of long-term goals,
Maximum Muscular Potential
How ripped could you get? According to Martin Berkhan’s formula, your maximum muscular potential is 155 lbs at 5% body fat. Most people have no desire to be 5% body fat though, so you’d be 163 lbs at 10% body fat & 171 lbs at 15% body fat. These numbers are good goals to aim for if you are bulking up!