Cut from 253 to 205 from Now til May. Realistic?

Hello everyone, I’m a powerlifter but thought I’d ask the BB forum about this, as I want to get lean. I’m currently 253 lbs. and around 26% bodyfat and I’d like to cut to 205 lbs. which would be around 10% with the same muscle mass. My next meet is in mid May 2015, and I plan on cutting all the way from now (started yesterday) until then.

Does this sound realistic to you guys? I’d like to keep as much muscle and strength as possible. Also tips on keeping strength with my cut are all appreciated. I’m doing carbnite by the way because I’m very fat.


I cut from 260+ down to 210 in under 9 months starting in december. Actually made some gains too. I would say it is realistic for you if you stay committed.

Rounding slightly, you want to lose 50# in 30 weeks, which necessitates averaging 1.5-2# weight loss per week. This is do-able, but the process will be stressful, and accompanied by an ever-growing sense of deprivation.

Put another way: You will have to run an average daily caloric deficit of 750-1000 cals for thirty weeks. That is a long time to be that hungry. It is going to be very, very challenging to see this all the way through to your goal.

As for keeping your strength, continue to lift heavy and you should be fine. When you start feeling fatigued/stale (and you will), cut back on volume rather than on weight. Best of luck.

Just IMO, but I believe this would be very difficult to do for someone who is already well-trained. Anecdotally at least, these types of dramatic weight loss examples tend to occur in people whose bodies are acclimated to training and have a real shock to the system.

I would also be concerned that someone at your age might end up going too far on it and do yourself a disservice (or, worse, negatively affect your health). So if you want to pursue such a big weight loss while maintaining the types of lifts you are, you may consider hiring a coach. Powerlifting can put significant stress on the joints due to the heavy, low rep loads, and operating at a severe calorie deficit may be ill-advised.

Would be interested to hear thoughts of people like PWNisher and other more strongman/powerlifting-oriented folks.

Id say come down very hard for 12 weeks and then evaluate…

You shouldnt lose any muscle until you get near a true 10%. Especially if you use good bcaas/Biotest supps. Strength can also usually be regained with a week or two of stuffing your face.


Its %100 realistic and doable sir.
I did this in 8 months. From 95 kg to 73 kg.

[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
Would be interested to hear thoughts of people like PWNisher and other more strongman/powerlifting-oriented folks.[/quote]

I’ve never cut that much weight to be able to have an opinion on the matter honestly. Most I’ve done (to include a water cut for weigh in) was going from 202lbs to 180. I increased my strength during that time, but it was a very slow and gradual cut, whereas this looks like it would have to be more aggressive to fit in with the timeline.

[quote]Beast Status wrote:
I cut from 260+ down to 210 in under 9 months starting in december. Actually made some gains too. I would say it is realistic for you if you stay committed. [/quote]

Congratulations,

Any insights into how you did that?

For you guys who lost big weight, what happened to your bench press as you cut?

I’ve gained and lost weight, and +/-15 pounds is enough to make the bench feel like a new lift.

Skinny-closer grip, elbows more tucked, straighter bar path
Swole-wider grip, more elbow flare, bar finishes over shoulders

[quote]FlatsFarmer wrote:
For you guys who lost big weight, what happened to your bench press as you cut?

I’ve gained and lost weight, and +/-15 pounds is enough to make the bench feel like a new lift.

Skinny-closer grip, elbows more tucked, straighter bar path
Swole-wider grip, more elbow flare, bar finishes over shoulders

[/quote]

I dont bench so cant give you an answer about that but as expected my strength declined on most lifts.

Gorilla, with all due respect for your having lost weight, you’re not now from an athletic standpoint in the same class as a powerlifter who has some training under his belt, much less when you started.

His losing a significant amount of weight is an entirely different proposition than your own transformation.

[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
Gorilla, with all due respect for your having lost weight, you’re not now from an athletic standpoint in the same class as a powerlifter who has some training under his belt, much less when you started.

His losing a significant amount of weight is an entirely different proposition than your own transformation.[/quote]

yeah sure but i was just trying to motivate him.

[quote]FlatsFarmer wrote:
For you guys who lost big weight, what happened to your bench press as you cut?

I’ve gained and lost weight, and +/-15 pounds is enough to make the bench feel like a new lift.

Skinny-closer grip, elbows more tucked, straighter bar path
Swole-wider grip, more elbow flare, bar finishes over shoulders

[/quote]

I went from 260 to 190 in about 14 months and my bench went from 345 to 325

Youre unlikely to keep absolute strength, especially if you don’t eat for performance. Keeping your strength levels will be a fantastic achievement for that long and aggressive a diet.

However, your relative strength (wilks) can most certainly improve

Honestly, I don’t post much, but what a douchey comment… lol

With all respect to the OP, he is not competing at some high level in power lifting… Gorilla looks like he has built up a pretty good base over the years, this isn’t some magic fucking transformation if the OP has to lose a little weight… lol

Edit: Honestly, I remember reading your initial comment and thinking… wow, that’s really stupid, but I just wasn’t moved to action until reading your latest one.

Why a trained individual with higher muscle mass would have a more difficult time dieting is beyond me.

[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
Gorilla, with all due respect for your having lost weight, you’re not now from an athletic standpoint in the same class as a powerlifter who has some training under his belt, much less when you started.

His losing a significant amount of weight is an entirely different proposition than your own transformation.[/quote]

If you have exactly 28 weeks and 48 lbs to lose, I would say lose 2 lbs/week for 24 weeks and gain 1 lb/week for 4 weeks. A 4 lb water cut for the meet should have minimal impact. Use those breaks sparingly when you really need it. I know you have run Sheiko so it would probably be beneficial during the very high volume/intensity weeks. Losing weight while running Sheiko is doable, especially since you’re conditioned for that type of training from having run many cycles with it.

From my experience, the excess calories help most for high volume (med/high intensity) work and the deficit works best when using low volume/ high intensity. It just gets tricky with a weight cut because you have to keep cycling through the volume and intensity to prevent yourself from stagnating. This is based on what I’ve learn from continuously recomping by gaining 1-2 lbs over 3-5 weeks with high volume work and losing it with low volume/ high intensity work over 4-5 weeks.

Keeping the diet very clean and getting plenty of rest will make a big difference.

[quote]DaneMuscle wrote:
Hello everyone, I’m a powerlifter but thought I’d ask the BB forum about this, as I want to get lean. I’m currently 253 lbs. and around 26% bodyfat and I’d like to cut to 205 lbs. which would be around 10% with the same muscle mass. My next meet is in mid May 2015, and I plan on cutting all the way from now (started yesterday) until then.

Does this sound realistic to you guys? I’d like to keep as much muscle and strength as possible. Also tips on keeping strength with my cut are all appreciated. I’m doing carbnite by the way because I’m very fat.[/quote]

I lost ~50lbs in a similar (slightly less) time frame. It is a lot of weight to lose, and affected my strength for sure.

My bench went from 375 to 335 (tested at end of cut). I’m not so sure there was much to do to prevent that. My strength has since started to come back after increasing calories to maintenance, and I’ve gained back 3lbs. I’m not sure what my max is as I’ve just been doing a ton of volume. I’ve hit 260x10 in a not exactly rested state. 1RM calc puts that at 347. Sounds reasonable, and something I might aim to do after running a peaking cycle, but probably not just stroll into the gym and hit tomorrow.

Expect a strength loss. Expect some of it to come back after going back to maintenance, but you may need 4+ weeks for this.

Great Observation!

You don’t need to “recomp,” or whatever the word for healthy weight loss is, the entire way. You can do the slow, healthy thing down to about 213, through April. Then you can just “water cut” or deprive yourself the last few days to suck down and make weight.

Also, if you’re as fat as you say, you should be able to drop the first 8 or so pounds really quickly, just by natural “fluctuations” caused by improved diet.

So 6 months for 30 “real” pounds. That sounds way easier.

[quote]MickyGee wrote:
Honestly, I don’t post much, but what a douchey comment… lol

With all respect to the OP, he is not competing at some high level in power lifting… Gorilla looks like he has built up a pretty good base over the years, this isn’t some magic fucking transformation if the OP has to lose a little weight… lol

Edit: Honestly, I remember reading your initial comment and thinking… wow, that’s really stupid, but I just wasn’t moved to action until reading your latest one.

Why a trained individual with higher muscle mass would have a more difficult time dieting is beyond me.

[quote]MinusTheColon wrote:
Gorilla, with all due respect for your having lost weight, you’re not now from an athletic standpoint in the same class as a powerlifter who has some training under his belt, much less when you started.

His losing a significant amount of weight is an entirely different proposition than your own transformation.[/quote]
[/quote]

Because someone with a substantial amount of lean tissue has to diet in a way that sustains that lean tissue while burning fat. It doesn’t facilitate the type of drastic losses of weight that you see elsewhere. You can consider it “douchey” or whatnot, but the fact of the matter is just that someone who is in training and sustaining performance faces a different situation than someone who is just in the “I am a fat guy who wants to lose weight” situation.

And I literally meant that I did not mean disrespect to Gorilla: he understands (and we all should per his training log) that his training parameters are (or at least were) entirely diet/weight loss focused, with his weight training ultimately facilitating a lean physique with some degree of muscle mass. He’s squatting with a dumbbell standing on two chairs–not trying to improve in a lift that places substantial demands on his CNS or overall body musculature. He has limited equipment that facilitates only doing a lot of exercises that don’t involve very heavy loads. It’s just a different proposition than training for powerlifting, yet one that makes a dramatic weight loss much more feasible.

That is not to say that you can’t lose a substantial amount of weight as a powerlifter; instead, it’s just that you will not see the type of dramatic loss in a short timeframe OP asked about (or that Gorilla saw) within training parameters that aren’t friendly to that type of goal. Gorilla’s protocol was friendly to that type of goal. I can’t imagine a reasonable powerlifting training program that would be: instead, weight loss with powerlifting, setting aside the immediately-pre-competition loss that Pwnisher references, is just a steadier, more responsible/reasonable type of weight loss.

Why 205? To me it would make more sense to only cut enough to make the 220 class. Maybe get a few meets done at that weight and then attempt another cut. If you steadily lean out to say 228, you could probably do a water cut to make the 220s. That goal would certainly be attainable in 30 weeks