I am getting married next June. That leaves me with 9 months. I have been doing a workout called Pulling the Chain and it is GREAT!!! Thats not where I need the help. I need to know which way I should go as far as bulking or cutting.
Right now I eat about 2500-2700 cals a day and have been losing about 1-1.5 lbs a week. My diet is about 92% clean. Yep, I actually calculated it. I eat 6 meals a day. I am a former fatty so I am at a disadvantage when it comes to conventional bulking…I really have to watch my intake and fat gain.
Would you guys say to cut down to a very low bodyfat and the do a SLOW clean bulk until the wedding, or do a moderate clean bulk now and then cut until the wedding??? Thanks guys!!!
Dont get me wrong, I am no newb to lifting. I have always taken the slow and steady approach, but I would like to know what would get me the best results by then. I used to weigh in at 285 and am now around 190 @ 6’2".
[quote]boss99er wrote:
I am getting married next June. That leaves me with 9 months. I have been doing a workout called Pulling the Chain and it is GREAT!!! Thats not where I need the help. I need to know which way I should go as far as bulking or cutting.
Right now I eat about 2500-2700 cals a day and have been losing about 1-1.5 lbs a week. My diet is about 92% clean. Yep, I actually calculated it. I eat 6 meals a day. I am a former fatty so I am at a disadvantage when it comes to conventional bulking…I really have to watch my intake and fat gain.
Would you guys say to cut down to a very low bodyfat and the do a SLOW clean bulk until the wedding, or do a moderate clean bulk now and then cut until the wedding??? Thanks guys!!!
Dont get me wrong, I am no newb to lifting. I have always taken the slow and steady approach, but I would like to know what would get me the best results by then. I used to weigh in at 285 and am now around 190 @ 6’2".[/quote]
6’2’’ is pretty tall. Why not do a controlled bulk with periodic times when you’re just eating at maintenance or just below to get rid of a little fat. Then keep going until maybe 2 months left. Then do a more conventional cut. That gives you six months too add muscle and 2 to lean back out.
Try to be around a low bodyfat at the time of your wedding. There is a little fat pad around the base of your penis. When your fat, so’s the pad, and that can affect your size. you want your lady to enjoy her wedding night, dont you?
pre-wedding organiztion can be a mental hassle. So can cutting weight.
I suggest maintaining low body fat until then if you want to keep it that way. Then afterwards you can get bigger.
Also make sure you stay similar in size once you get your tux measured. If you gain to much size between tux measurements and your wedding date it can be a catasrophe. I knew a guy that carbed up before his wedding and the tux wouldn’t fit his shoulders and chest.
[quote]BarneyFife wrote:
Try to be around a low bodyfat at the time of your wedding. There is a little fat pad around the base of your penis. When your fat, so’s the pad, and that can affect your size. you want your lady to enjoy her wedding night, dont you?[/quote]
Ha ha, good advice…but I actually did know that. Ummm Any other advice??? If I eat at close to maintenance, I know I can gain strength, but can I gain size too, just at a slower rate than a conventional bulk???
[quote]Sxio wrote:
You’re gonna get married anyway, so why stress it? Just train the way you want to. If you stay clean with your diet you’re not going to get fat.
As an FFB however I wouldn’t recommend any bulking whatsoever. [/quote]
Second that. As a former fatty, you should aim to get very lean as number 1 priority, then add muscle slowly. You will find it next to impossible to do the reverse without packing on a heap of fat.
Well I guess I will just continue to eat right at or barely below maintenance and see how it goes. Is it possible that I am gaining muscle VERY slowly at this cal intake? I feel like I am but I cant tell if its just fat coming off and making the muscle I have look bigger or if I am actually gaining.
One place I seem to be gaining is in my traps. I have been doing heavy deads and snatch and clean pulls in the Pull your Chain workout. It seems to be increasing my trap size. I guess I will just continue on this path and see where I end up. This may be a good experiment for former fattys. I might take some pics to better chart my progress.
Just try to get as much protein as you can. Eat a little above maintenance, but not a lot. Some might disagree with me, but if you eat around maintenance, and are working out really hard, you may not neccessarily gain any muscle mass, but your body comp will change a bit.
It can take a long time to drop a serious amount of weight.
Doing something like the v-diet really takes away your energy and ability to deal with stress, probably not a good idea with all the crap of a looming wedding on your mind.
If you are making gains in the gym, size or strength, and are currently losing weight, then keep doing what you are doing. When you stop making gains in the gym, you may need to change your nutritional strategies a bit.
At some point you’ll probably stop losing weight while making gains, and that’s when you’ll have some real decisions to make.
Yeah, I am really hoping that day comes later than sooner. I wouldnt really consider myself a newb to lifting, but I am still in the beginner stages of what my body is capable of. I think that is helping me see gains and burn fat at the same time. Soon though I know that I will lose that advantage and have to decide at that time if I want to bulk or cut.
Hey buddy… for sure CUT IT UP!! You can still gain good muscle mass and stay lean… If you start consuming your meals every 2-4 hours, Half protien/carbs your metabolism will definetly speed up burning unwanted fat, and a a good carb/protien balance will for sure pack on muscle. In 9 months you could realisticly be a different person with the right Lifestyle change.
I call it a change of lifestyle because your body is a machine once you understand how it works you will understand how to fuel it. Good luck, and Congrats.
I read it already…and a very good article it was. My problem is that I have a few areas that still need to lose fat. Mainly my love handles and my chest have some fat left.
If I start a slow controlled bulk like CT talks about, will I eventually lose those areas too due to the muscle coming on and the increase in metabolism? Or, should I continue to cut down until those areas are taken care of and then start the slow bulk?
B.P. Thanks for the post. Yeah I have made HUGE improvements in my body as you can read in the first post. I used to have such a terrible understanding of nutrition when I was in highschool and college. I have a really good diet right now. I have read a TON of articles on this and other sites from some of the best authors.
I eat about 6 clean meals a day or every 2-3 hours. I usually have about 2500-3000 cals a day, depending on if it is a lifting day or not. On lifting days I also take in more carbs than on non lifting days. I am seeing some good changes so hopefully I can keep riding this train.
[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
Maybe bulk for the next 6, 7 months or so… then do the V-diet, then for the last month stay on something like the T-dawg 2.0 to stay lean.
If you were to do this, I’d suggest not doing the V diet the month right before due to the ‘stresses’ of your wedding.
What do I know though? I’m not married. Barney should be able to help you out a little more.[/quote]
Im not married either,RJC, so I don’t understand what that has to do with the quality of advice. I was just saying that try to be lean at the time of the wedding, so that the little fat pad at the base of the penis wont cover half of it up.
To the original poster, remeber, there is a 50% chance this will be the only wedding you have. So remember, you will only have one set of wedding picture to look at, if thats the case. Think what you want to look at when your 80.