This is why it’s important to have some sort of plan during the ‘transition phase’ from a cut to a bulk. Not to mention that your body is primed to store body fat after being in a calorie deficit for a prolonged period (so you’ll gain a disproportionate amount of fat compared to muscle). You need to realise that your metabolism is ‘slower’ (for lack of a better word) than what it originally was.Īnd if you try to eat the SAME amount of calories that you did 20 LBS heavier then you’re going to gain weight too quickly (1+ lb per week). This is how MOST people who lose a significant amount of weight end up gaining it back in a short period - not because they have a “damaged” metabolism (more on that later). Now, if you were to go from eating 2,000 calories at week 12 of your cut straight to eating 3,000 calories on week 13 then this is a bad idea. The BIGGEST mistake that I see guys making is jumping straight from a cut to a bulk.įor example, let’s say your maintenance calories BEFORE cutting were 2,700 calories and you ate 3,000 calories during your last bulk. Ultimately, this means that by the end of your cut you are A LOT more vulnerable to “binge eating” and piling on a bunch of fat.

You crave food more often and the satiety signals from eating are weaker than normal.

You burn fewer calories during and after exercise.You burn fewer calories from digesting food.This makes weight loss more difficult in several ways: One way it accomplishes this is to alter the balance of Ghrelin (the ‘hunger’ hormone) and Leptin to diminish your energy deficit.

If you try to lower the temperature then your body “fights back” with metabolic adaptation. This is determined by factors outside your control such as your environment, age, gender and (most importantly) genetics.Ī simple way to think of your body fat set point is like the default temperature setting on a thermostat. You see, your body likes to remain in a specific bodyweight range that it is comfortable at (i.e. The longer you’re in a calorie deficit, the more your body will ‘adapt’ to conserve energy (this is known as “adaptive thermogenesis”).īelieve it or not, this is a natural survival mechanism that is intended to prevent starvation and motivate you to start eating more food and move less.

How does bulking and cutting work