aggressive cut vs slow

[rochendil]

I know this question was asked recently, but i’d like to give more context to my personal situation. i’m muslim and we have ramadan coming up in about 2 months, and bulking is impossible during that time. I was considering doing a 6-7 week aggressive cut cuz i read somewhere that as long as your protein intake remains high you can mini cut and see little to no muscle loss. i was planning on eating around 1800-2000 calories (maintenance is 2700, been eating 2900-3000) and keeping protein somewhere between 250-275g, maybe even 300. cuz once the 6-7 week period is over, i want to go straight back to bulking cuz i do have big goals in terms of strength and in the bodybuilding world. what do you guys think?

EDIT: i’m 6’2, 235-240, been bb for year b a half. 18 y/o

 

[weepingwillow422]

@rochendil Honestly, a quick cut and slow bulk is the way I believe most folks should go. I think spending more time in positive energy balance means you're going to need less will power to work out, and will get in more total volume over time.

High protein does have a muscle sparing effect. So does losing while already overweight. Even 250 is pretty high already, but there's no real harm to high protein intake. If you take it all at once you might want to take some digestive aids with it, as well.

 

[summerwindslady]

@weepingwillow422 If I am right in the middle of a slow cut (roughly 1lb per week) do you think it's advisable to switch to a harder cut or just wait until I get to my next cut phase to try an aggressive cut? And can this method be used if you're already somewhat lean?

 

[afriend333]

@summerwindslady Depends how much above your ideal weight you are. The fatter you are the more aggressive you can cut, as your body is less likely to feel fatigued at a higher bf (unless you are 40% bf+ ofc) i usually start my cut pretty aggressively and slow it down when I start to feel really fatigued

 

[sehnsucht9]

@rochendil Honestly a 700 calorie a day deficit at 240 pounds isn't even an aggressive cut. It's just a regular cut. You'd lose roughly 6 pounds a month or 1.5 pounds a week. Regular cut is losing .5% to 1% of bodyweight a week, which would be 1.2 to 2.4 lbs a week. So 1.5 lbs a week is right on point for a regular cut and not all that aggressive. You'd lose roughly 9 or 10 pounds in that 6 or 7 weeks and at the end wouldn't be super lean or anything so the chance that you'd lose any significant amount of muscle is very low. Go for it, and keep up the good work!

 

[rochendil]

@sehnsucht9 so what you’re saying is - i need to starve myself
/s

 

[amyzmom]

@rochendil I’ve tried aggressive quick cut and slow cut and I’d go quick and aggressive. My opinion is that the success rate can drop with slow cuts.

 

[rochendil]

@amyzmom agreed. i immediately plan to hop back on the bulk once the 6-8 weeks is over and once i’ve let my body eat at maintenance for a bit cuz i got some big goals this year in terms of numbers so i’m not tryna waste time yk

 

[kylespringer]

@rochendil How’d the cut end up going big man

 

[rochendil]

@kylespringer not gon hold you i didn’t stick to it something im really tryna work on still is adhering to a meal plan

 

[dawn16]

@amyzmom Renaissance Periodization looked through some data from their diet coaching app and found the same thing. At least on average, adherence was better on shorter diets than longer ones, more than enough to offset the benefit one would expect by having more time.

 

[mysticalrose]

@rochendil do an aggressive cut. There's not gonna be much muscle loss if you do an aggressive cut but what it will do is get you to your goal faster and get you over the misery of cutting quickly.

 

[brad2552]

@rochendil to everyone in this thread: what is aggressive cutting to you? 2% loss per week?

 

[philipdr]

@brad2552 yeah, normal cut is 0.5%% to 1% a week

 

[jcrew72]

@rochendil The higher your body fat, the more aggressive you can be. Start aggressive when dietary side effects are low and decrease the magnitude of deficit as you get leaner to preserve as much LBM as possible.

You're 18 years old. Get this fat loss phase done quick and get back to getting yoked and strong for as long as possible.

 

[dawn16]

@jcrew72 i agree. at this age it’s the best possible time to cut quickly and bulk slowly

 

[dasadler]

@rochendil Ramadan is basically OMAD for a month. People live and train on OMAD for years. There's lots of info out there from the intermittent fasting perspective. I'd browse around that community for advice.

 

[pinetowntree]

@rochendil You don't want a cut to be so aggressive that your performance in the gym is notably going down.

What I would do is seek out advice from people who observe ramadan while pursuing bodybuilding and what has worked for them.

 

[philipdr]

@rochendil hey man, i do ramadan too.

try eating dense caloric food, even tough i did a cut on my last ramadan and went great

 

[patrice]

@rochendil I also cut last Ramadan and it was great, to be honest. I think just to make sure you hydrate well. I broke my fast at the gym with dates and coconut water and trained and the training was great (except for the first two days). and I had rice cakes and a protein shake right after training. then one big meal after I get home. I felt amazing, to be honest.

Ramadan Mubarak ! GO KILL IT!