Is Bulking or Cutting Easier for You?

just curious as to what some of noticed about your bodies. post weight just in case there’s a 150lber saying cutting for 6pack.

bulking muscle

It depends on your psychological disposition.

More like building muscle or losing fat, and the latter will almost always be the easier of the 2.

I have the slowest metabolism in the world, and it’s still easy as shit to lose fat. All it takes is a LITTLE bit of mental discipline and disregard of hunger pangs.

[quote]SSC wrote:
I have the slowest metabolism in the world, and it’s still easy as shit to lose fat. All it takes is a LITTLE bit of mental discipline and disregard of hunger pangs.[/quote]

I think most will agree with that…but you always have some guys who make an issue of this as if dieting is the hardest thing in the world. Dieting is not that hard. However, it is taxing and requires a complete mental shift where you go from thinking about getting bigger and stronger…to suddenly working on getting smaller essentially. That “smaller” aspect alone is why some larger guys don’t even bother with it.

It takes about 5-10 years for most people to go from “untrained” to “extremely developed” if not more time than that. There are so few people walking around who can even train consistently for 5 years straight with no long lay offs that I am not sure how anyone can claim that is EASIER than dieting for 3 months.

Hell, most of the people here train “off and on” which means they can’t even do it for a short period of time.

It takes way more dedication and drive to stick with this for half a decade or more with serious intent.

Any fat housewife can diet for 2 or 3 months before they return back to eating cake for breakfast.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

Any fat housewife can diet for 2 or 3 months before they return back to eating cake for breakfast.[/quote]

If fat people can do it, it has to be easier.

Cutting is much easier. it’s more psychological than anything else.
Bulking is much more difficult as adding more muscle is simple but never easy.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
I have the slowest metabolism in the world, and it’s still easy as shit to lose fat. All it takes is a LITTLE bit of mental discipline and disregard of hunger pangs.

I think most will agree with that…but you always have some guys who make an issue of this as if dieting is the hardest thing in the world. Dieting is not that hard. However, it is taxing and requires a complete mental shift where you go from thinking about getting bigger and stronger…to suddenly working on getting smaller essentially. That “smaller” aspect alone is why some larger guys don’t even bother with it.

It takes about 5-10 years for most people to go from “untrained” to “extremely developed” if not more time than that. There are so few people walking around who can even train consistently for 5 years straight with no long lay offs that I am not sure how anyone can claim that is EASIER than dieting for 3 months.

Hell, most of the people here train “off and on” which means they can’t even do it for a short period of time.

It takes way more dedication and drive to stick with this for half a decade or more with serious intent.

Any fat housewife can diet for 2 or 3 months before they return back to eating cake for breakfast.[/quote]

I disagree, it always depends on where you first started.

You started off skinny, so I can imagine that force feeding must have been difficult initially. But I started off as a fat kid, when I’m bulking I find it very easy to just eat.

Then again, the hardest part is always “the shift” from one mindset to another.

Bulking vs Cutting (for me): Bulking was easier

Gaining Muscle vs Losing Fat (for me): Losing Fat was easier

But overall, gaining muscle is the hardest thing to do. I mean, lots of people can train hard and eat tons of shit and gain muscle. But this person might gain 25lbs and only have 8lbs of it be usable muscle.

Efficiency is key, and that dials down to having the correct diet for the individual. That is probably the hardest thing that I’ve encountered.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
I have the slowest metabolism in the world, and it’s still easy as shit to lose fat. All it takes is a LITTLE bit of mental discipline and disregard of hunger pangs.

I think most will agree with that…but you always have some guys who make an issue of this as if dieting is the hardest thing in the world. Dieting is not that hard. However, it is taxing and requires a complete mental shift where you go from thinking about getting bigger and stronger…to suddenly working on getting smaller essentially. That “smaller” aspect alone is why some larger guys don’t even bother with it.

It takes about 5-10 years for most people to go from “untrained” to “extremely developed” if not more time than that. There are so few people walking around who can even train consistently for 5 years straight with no long lay offs that I am not sure how anyone can claim that is EASIER than dieting for 3 months.

Hell, most of the people here train “off and on” which means they can’t even do it for a short period of time.

It takes way more dedication and drive to stick with this for half a decade or more with serious intent.

Any fat housewife can diet for 2 or 3 months before they return back to eating cake for breakfast.[/quote]

Mmmm…cake for breakfast.

[quote]WP wrote:
Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
I have the slowest metabolism in the world, and it’s still easy as shit to lose fat. All it takes is a LITTLE bit of mental discipline and disregard of hunger pangs.

I think most will agree with that…but you always have some guys who make an issue of this as if dieting is the hardest thing in the world. Dieting is not that hard. However, it is taxing and requires a complete mental shift where you go from thinking about getting bigger and stronger…to suddenly working on getting smaller essentially. That “smaller” aspect alone is why some larger guys don’t even bother with it.

It takes about 5-10 years for most people to go from “untrained” to “extremely developed” if not more time than that. There are so few people walking around who can even train consistently for 5 years straight with no long lay offs that I am not sure how anyone can claim that is EASIER than dieting for 3 months.

Hell, most of the people here train “off and on” which means they can’t even do it for a short period of time.

It takes way more dedication and drive to stick with this for half a decade or more with serious intent.

Any fat housewife can diet for 2 or 3 months before they return back to eating cake for breakfast.

I disagree, it always depends on where you first started.

You started off skinny, so I can imagine that force feeding must have been difficult initially. But I started off as a fat kid, when I’m bulking I find it very easy to just eat.

Then again, the hardest part is always “the shift” from one mindset to another.

[/quote]

I really don’t think that changes much at all. In fact, the “fat kids” always seemed to be the ones making even faster gains in muscle mass once they started training regularly.

Like I have said before, our current trend in society to sit on your ass all day is why most kids are fat now. It isn’t because of some genetic predisposition and it is a condition that quickly resolves itself once that person becomes extremely active.

You simply started at the other end of the scale…and YES, force feeding yourself at 150lbs and ending up well over 100lbs more than that IS very fucking difficult. I am not sure if worrying about eating too much compares to having to make sure you eat 6 or 7 times a day just to gain or eating past the point of satiety sometimes feeling like you might vomit…and still eating a little more.

The biggest obstacle guys like you seem to have…is YOURSELVES. That is why so many seem to be in true fear of weight gain which does nothing but hinder further progress.

If most guys like that realized that the only reason they were “fat” previously was because they weren’t doing enough to prevent it, they just might stop making gaining seem like it is such a negative issue for them.

Precisely, we can’t relate, it’s entirely subjective as to whether bulking or cutting is difficult. In the same way I can’t imagine eating 6 times a day is difficult, you can’t really imagine why breaking binge eating habits (which I had) are difficult.

Eating less is something I can easily parallel with breaking drug habits. You only realise how much you DON’T control yourself when you have to shift 50lb of lard.

Im currently trying to bulk up, and I can definitely say that it’s harder than cutting, in my opinion of course. I guess it’s different for other people both because of the type of person, and if they’ve chosen to eat clean while bulking or if they’re going all out. The latter makes no sense to me, so I’m getting my surplus from the same clean foods I eat all year round no matter what my goals are. It’s also really fuckin expensive! What about you guys? When you bulk, do you continue to eat clean?

[quote]WP wrote:
I am not sure if worrying about eating too much compares to having to make sure you eat 6 or 7 times a day just to gain or eating past the point of satiety sometimes feeling like you might vomit…and still eating a little more.

Precisely, we can’t relate, it’s entirely subjective as to whether bulking or cutting is difficult. In the same way I can’t imagine eating 6 times a day is difficult, you can’t really imagine why breaking binge eating habits (which I had) are difficult.

Eating less is something I can easily parallel with breaking drug habits. You only realise how much you DON’T control yourself when you have to shift 50lb of lard.[/quote]

But that goes back to MENTAL STRESS and has nothing to do with the actual physical effort. You had to learn new habits. That is difficult for ANY human whether we are discussing fat loss or quitting smoking. That doesn’t mean NOT smoking is more difficult than smoking in its most basic terms.

I have never had issues with control like that and am pretty sure at this point that I don’t have the genes that make someone more prone to addiction.

That doesn’t mean I am making light of what you have accomplished either…I just know that I had to literally train my body to accept more food and utilize it. You had to train your brain to stop using food as a crutch.

[quote]dan.desroches wrote:
Im currently trying to bulk up, and I can definitely say that it’s harder than cutting, in my opinion of course. I guess it’s different for other people both because of the type of person, and if they’ve chosen to eat clean while bulking or if they’re going all out. The latter makes no sense to me, so I’m getting my surplus from the same clean foods I eat all year round no matter what my goals are. It’s also really fuckin expensive! What about you guys? When you bulk, do you continue to eat clean? [/quote]

I did not eat clean when I was just starting because 1) I needed a very large amount of food and 2) I did not have the funds or even the transportation (in college) to even get to a store regularly. I also didn’t have the knowledge I have now of HOW to cook and eat to match the caloric needs I had.

I would not recommend doing it like I did because more fat came with it than desired, but more muscle also came which for me justified my actions. I would have been doing it wrong if I was gaining more body fat than muscle.

As far as what YOU should do, that is an individual choice. I personally always had the mentality of accepting a little fat gain over losing muscle…so if I was going to miss a meal or was in class all day and couldn’t eat, I would not hesitate to get down those tacos and those chicken wings.

You base how you eat on the results you see. Some people can get away with more than others. there is no cookie cutter approach to this.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
I have the slowest metabolism in the world, and it’s still easy as shit to lose fat. All it takes is a LITTLE bit of mental discipline and disregard of hunger pangs.

I think most will agree with that…but you always have some guys who make an issue of this as if dieting is the hardest thing in the world. Dieting is not that hard. However, it is taxing and requires a complete mental shift where you go from thinking about getting bigger and stronger…to suddenly working on getting smaller essentially. That “smaller” aspect alone is why some larger guys don’t even bother with it.

It takes about 5-10 years for most people to go from “untrained” to “extremely developed” if not more time than that. There are so few people walking around who can even train consistently for 5 years straight with no long lay offs that I am not sure how anyone can claim that is EASIER than dieting for 3 months.

Hell, most of the people here train “off and on” which means they can’t even do it for a short period of time.

It takes way more dedication and drive to stick with this for half a decade or more with serious intent.

Any fat housewife can diet for 2 or 3 months before they return back to eating cake for breakfast.[/quote]

Hence it’s all according to the persons psychological disposition.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
WP wrote:
I am not sure if worrying about eating too much compares to having to make sure you eat 6 or 7 times a day just to gain or eating past the point of satiety sometimes feeling like you might vomit…and still eating a little more.

Precisely, we can’t relate, it’s entirely subjective as to whether bulking or cutting is difficult. In the same way I can’t imagine eating 6 times a day is difficult, you can’t really imagine why breaking binge eating habits (which I had) are difficult.

Eating less is something I can easily parallel with breaking drug habits. You only realise how much you DON’T control yourself when you have to shift 50lb of lard.

But that goes back to MENTAL STRESS and has nothing to do with the actual physical effort. You had to learn new habits. That is difficult for ANY human whether we are discussing fat loss or quitting smoking. That doesn’t mean NOT smoking is more difficult than smoking in its most basic terms.

I have never had issues with control like that and am pretty sure at this point that I don’t have the genes that make someone more prone to addiction.

That doesn’t mean I am making light of what you have accomplished either…I just know that I had to literally train my body to accept more food and utilize it. You had to train your brain to stop using food as a crutch.
[/quote]

Ah, I understand what you mean.

Interestingly though, my binge eating habit forced me to eat despite feeling full, almost to a point where I felt like throwing up.

I’m very much predisposed to having an addictive personality.

2nd on that addictive personality.
On the issue I feel bulking is harder than dieting. I use to be fat as well but i dont think it was an overeating thing so much as poor food choices, getting drunk 4-5 times a week, and eating shitty food after leaving the bar/party while in college. I really dont think people realize how hard it is to actually consume 6,000 calories (just an example) in less then a 24 hour period while combined with other responsibilities (work, family, school etc.) I feel dieting is truly easier. It depends on the complexity of the diet but all some people need to do is cut out liquid calories (soda, lattes).

Just my opinion

bulking is easier for me. Of course it’s bulking fat. but hey it’s way easier then not eating cake ice cream and california pizza kitchen all day.
Cutting is insane for me I always think about food anyway, when I cut then I’m constantly thinking about how I’m not eating. after about 2 days I say fuck this.

[quote]dan.desroches wrote:
Im currently trying to bulk up, and I can definitely say that it’s harder than cutting, in my opinion of course. I guess it’s different for other people both because of the type of person, and if they’ve chosen to eat clean while bulking or if they’re going all out. The latter makes no sense to me, so I’m getting my surplus from the same clean foods I eat all year round no matter what my goals are. It’s also really fuckin expensive! What about you guys? When you bulk, do you continue to eat clean? [/quote]

I go by “no total crap.” I’ll eat fast food if it’s going to be the only way to get my meal in for whatever reason, but there are plenty of things to order with reasonable amounts of protein per calorie.

I’m starving all the time even as scale weight and gym lifts are going up - maybe means I should get more fiber or something but I am having fruits or veggies with my meals.