The following post was originally contributed my /@e1ouise, who recently left the moderator team, and deleted the original post.
This is a one-stop shop for all weight-related questions -- also known as cutting/bulking/recomp. Ideas, suggestions, guides, workouts, etc -- everything you'll need to answer 99% of questions! This is meant to be a community/collaborative effort, so please add in suggestions in the comments!
To be clear on a couple terms -- when exercising and eating to gain weight, that is called bulking (aka caloric "surplus"). Eating less to lose weight is called cutting (aka caloric "deficit"). And eating just enough to not gain or lose weight is called maintenance (aka recomposition or "recomp").
The idea behind cut and bulk cycles is to gain muscle and fat in a bulk phase and then try to keep all your muscle and burn off fat in a cut phase. This approach is generally 'faster', when done correctly, than "recomps" (recompositions) where you maintain your weight but work out hard and try to replace fat with muscle.
Generally speaking, if you're an active person and/or consistently working out, you can do cut/bulk cycles. To get started, you need to know your maintenance calories ("maint") to have an idea on how many calories you can consume without gaining or losing weight, hence the term maintenance; no change in weight. To bulk, you eat more than maintenance (aka "surplus") and to cut you eat less than maintenance (aka "deficit"). If you are not working out and you bulk, that's how you get fat. So don't eat above maint if you're not also working out.
To get started, you need to know your "maintenance" calorie needs and for an estimate you need a TDEE calculator (I like this one, but you can google for others). Think of this as a starting point to use that will need some adjusting over time.
Once you have an estimated maintenance, you generally add 250-500 calories for a bulk and subtract 250-750 calories in a cut. Generally, it's safer to over-do cuts and under-do bulks. In a bulk you gain both fat and muscle and after a point you only gain fat (fat stores faster than you can build new muscle), so be cautious in bulks and don't "dirty" bulk.
So far as I'm aware, there isn't a hard science behind when to bulk or cut, but there are guidelines to consider. When bulking, our bodies build muscle and store fat and, after a point, our bodies prioritize storing fat over building muscle. This is why dirty bulking is bad and, generally speaking, if your BF% is > 20%, you should not bulk. Any higher BF% and your body tends to prioritize fat storage vs muscle gained from bulking.
Similarly, cuts are usually done to around 10% because any lower than that and the body will begin to consume more muscle than fat and muscle loss is more likely.
You can make strength gains on a cut. You can't build new muscle, but you can "refactor" (that's my word for it, I'm sure there's a scientific one) existing muscle to be more efficient, hence stronger, as you lose fat. Also, repetitive gym visits will help you become more proficient at working out which helps in the long run when you start bulking and building new muscle.
If you're really unsure, you can make a post in r/BulkOrCut to get community feedback on what it's you personally should do.
If you're skinnyfat, generally you can eat at a small maintenance (aka "clean bulk") and make great strength gains. If you have little muscle mass to cut to, you will just look tiny/thin -- especially if you're tall. So for most skinnyfat people, and I would clean bulk and diligently follow a legit lifting routine. Which brings me to...
Before getting into routines, I think it's worth mentioning first that everyone should walk more. At least 5 times per week, 30 minutes per day:
Check out The Beginner's Guide to Working Out
The best workout routine is the one you can consistently follow. If you're new to the gym, just about anything will get you some results. To a point. If you want to be smart about it, do not make up your own routine! There are plenty of legit, tried-and-true, FREE recommended lifting routines to choose from. I like these routines vs googling something random because these are routines many, many people in various subreddits are doing and have done in the past that can help answer any questions you might have. It's nice to have someone else that is doing or has done the program you're running to offer direct advice from their experience. But you can just google other routines if you want. Just make sure it has:
Also another great full body workout for people at home with no equipment.
At the end of the day, for 99% of people (various diseases, ailments, and conditions aside), all that matters are Calories In, Calories Out (CICO). This controls weight gain and loss. Lifting heavy weights encourages strength gains or at least strength maintenance in both surplus/bulks and deficit/cuts. But to gain or lose lbs on a scale, the total calories consumed minus calories used and the resulting surplus/deficit are what matters. But how much of what you eat matters...
There's a lot of suggested science over what to eat, but there are generally sound rules of thumbs to follow which are easily broken down into "Macros" for tracking purposes:
However, how we feel when consuming these calories and what we get out of other nutrients is important.
[h4]Fats[/h4]
We all need healthy fats to help regulate hormonal balances. This is usually room-temp fats (think extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, various nuts, avocados, etc); less important are the fats in meat and dairy products, for example. A general rule of thumb is to aim for at least 30% x total calories for your fats macro. This is the same for cutting or bulking, but when bulking you can increase if you want.
E.g. if you're consuming 2000 calories daily, aim for 0.3x2000 (600) calories to be from fats.
[h4]Carbs[/h4]
Next come carbs. Carbs are not evil. They're a tool. Our body prefers and relies on carbs to refuel energy stores. Simple, nutrient-dense carbs are preferred -- not complex or junk carbs. The reason for this is 1) satiation, how long we'll feel full, and 2) other nutrient content. When you can, get your carbs from fresh/frozen fruits and veggies. That will do far more for you than crackers, cereal, donuts, etc. Even though the carbs will be utilized equally, produce holds far more vitamins and minerals that have relevant health and recovery benefits that can't be overstated.
Generally, aim for 25-45% of your calories to be carbs (depending on cutting/bulking).
[h4]Protein[/h4]
Generally, you want to keep protein fairly high. Anywhere from .75-1+ gram of protein per lbs of body weight. This can come from any source, as our body will utilize them the same. But some sources are preferred, depending on whether you're cutting or bulking. Ideally, aim for now more than 40-50 grams per meal/protein shake and spread out the consumption through the day.
The remainder of your calories should be protein.
[h4]Timing[/h4]
As carbs are for energy, many people prefer to have more carbs timed around workouts (and no fats during this period) to help boost performance and recovery. If you're going to eat your carbs (e.g. rice and chicken breast), do so about two hours before working out; otherwise, liquid/quickly consumed carbs are preferred (e.g. orange or apple juice). Again, post-workout, get simple carbs and protein into your system via a shake or meal fairly soon. Save fats for well-before or after workouts.
First and foremost, gym progress should always be factored in first. If your routine says X lift should go up Y amount each week, generally you want to be hitting that to know you're on track. If your lift #s are going up according to your routine, you're doing great! If you aren't, there's a breakdown somewhere and you should ask for guidance if you cannot asses the fail point yourself.
Secondly, the weight scale. You want to make sure your body weight is trending in your goal direction. It's ideal to weigh yourself the same way every time.
For example, I wake up, go to the bathroom, and then weigh myself every day for three weeks and then I average my daily changes over those three weeks. I generally aim to gain .5-.75 lbs per week and lose .75-1 lbs per week. If I'm gaining or losing too much, I adjust my macros ~ 250 calories and measure again for three weeks and so on.
Don't get caught up daily changes; I sometimes vary 3-5 lbs between days! Weigh daily for three weeks and average it out. Don't worry about the daily weight, find an average to determine where the trend is taking you and adjust if needed. This will take the annoying variances out of the picture and let you focus on meaningful change.
You can also measure your wrists, waist, neck, etc, as well as take photos, but that's more preference and not as commonly suggested.
I've seen people make amazing progress, both gaining and losing weight, in a variety of ways. Ideally, be healthy. Emphasize fresh/frozen fruits and veggies. But, at the end of the day, many approaches work. You can bulk or cut as a vegan, intermittent fasting ("IF"), KETO, IIFYM, etc. Many approaches work. They are but tools available to you, so find one that best helps you meet your goal. So choose the best "diet" or tool that helps you achieve a goal! If that's keto, great! If that's caveman, awesome. I don't care! Limit your calories in whatever "diet" you choose and you'll see results.
In my opinion, it's better to make lifestyle changes that to follow a diet for a short time. So I don't really like "diets" per se, but more so recommend eating like an adult and limiting calories. But even still, different tactics can help in that goal, and you can deploy as many or as few as you want:
Macros are discussed above, but the idea behind IIFYM is that you've a set # for each macro and, so long as what you're eating fits neatly into the prescribed macro allotment, go for eating whatever you want! And, again, so long as total calories are low enough for you, you will lose weight. But this is r/BulkorCut, not r/weightloss. People here are also working out. How well you workout, recover, perform, feel, etc is affected by what you eat. So, sure, add in "fun" foods sometimes. But don't eat like a child simply because it fit your macros. A safe rule of thumb is to eat "cleanly" 80% of the time when bulking, whatever the other 20% of the time. When cutting, I try to eat cleanly 90-95% of the time with fewer treats. What that treat is might change -- some weeks I just want pancakes, other weeks I just want a couple beers. Do what works for you, just do so in controlled quantities.
I liked "banking" calories when I knew I had a special event, date night with the wife, party, or whatever where I'd be consuming extra calories. One way to account for that is to deduct an additional amount of calories each day leading up to the event, to then splurge on that event. Example:
Let's say my maintenance is 2,500 calories and I'm eating at a -500 deficit, so I'm eating 2,000 calories daily. I want to take my wife out for our anniversary, so the week leading up to our date night I deduct an additional -250 calories each day and only eat 1,750 calories daily. This gives me 7x250 (=1750) "banked" calories I can add to my 2,000 calories on our anniversary. Now I can have a nice dinner, dessert, a drink or two, all without blowing my diet out of whack!
Estimating ones body fat % is kind of hard. We can't see how much fat is stored internally around organs; some people store more fat over the abs, some more around their love handles (that's me!), and others in their legs/ass. So it's really hard to tell. There are various ways to scan BF%, but most are imprecise with a +/- 20% variance. In my opinion, the only thing they're useful for is estimating BF% changes. Let's say it reads 20% for you; in six months, you try again and it says 15%. You probably lost around 5% BF%, but your actual BF% might be 12%-18%. So it's not a particularly accurate reading, but the rate change is a useful gauge.
The best ways to learn BF% are via:
This is a one-stop shop for all weight-related questions -- also known as cutting/bulking/recomp. Ideas, suggestions, guides, workouts, etc -- everything you'll need to answer 99% of questions! This is meant to be a community/collaborative effort, so please add in suggestions in the comments!
To be clear on a couple terms -- when exercising and eating to gain weight, that is called bulking (aka caloric "surplus"). Eating less to lose weight is called cutting (aka caloric "deficit"). And eating just enough to not gain or lose weight is called maintenance (aka recomposition or "recomp").
A visual guide to male and female BF% estimates
I don't like guessing BF% as there's no way to know how much visceral fat we store internally. But athleanx's general guidelines are as good as any for visual estimates.Who should cut or bulk?
The idea behind cut and bulk cycles is to gain muscle and fat in a bulk phase and then try to keep all your muscle and burn off fat in a cut phase. This approach is generally 'faster', when done correctly, than "recomps" (recompositions) where you maintain your weight but work out hard and try to replace fat with muscle.
Generally speaking, if you're an active person and/or consistently working out, you can do cut/bulk cycles. To get started, you need to know your maintenance calories ("maint") to have an idea on how many calories you can consume without gaining or losing weight, hence the term maintenance; no change in weight. To bulk, you eat more than maintenance (aka "surplus") and to cut you eat less than maintenance (aka "deficit"). If you are not working out and you bulk, that's how you get fat. So don't eat above maint if you're not also working out.
Getting started
To get started, you need to know your "maintenance" calorie needs and for an estimate you need a TDEE calculator (I like this one, but you can google for others). Think of this as a starting point to use that will need some adjusting over time.
Once you have an estimated maintenance, you generally add 250-500 calories for a bulk and subtract 250-750 calories in a cut. Generally, it's safer to over-do cuts and under-do bulks. In a bulk you gain both fat and muscle and after a point you only gain fat (fat stores faster than you can build new muscle), so be cautious in bulks and don't "dirty" bulk.
Deciding to cut or bulk
So far as I'm aware, there isn't a hard science behind when to bulk or cut, but there are guidelines to consider. When bulking, our bodies build muscle and store fat and, after a point, our bodies prioritize storing fat over building muscle. This is why dirty bulking is bad and, generally speaking, if your BF% is > 20%, you should not bulk. Any higher BF% and your body tends to prioritize fat storage vs muscle gained from bulking.
Similarly, cuts are usually done to around 10% because any lower than that and the body will begin to consume more muscle than fat and muscle loss is more likely.
You can make strength gains on a cut. You can't build new muscle, but you can "refactor" (that's my word for it, I'm sure there's a scientific one) existing muscle to be more efficient, hence stronger, as you lose fat. Also, repetitive gym visits will help you become more proficient at working out which helps in the long run when you start bulking and building new muscle.
If you're really unsure, you can make a post in r/BulkOrCut to get community feedback on what it's you personally should do.
If you're skinnyfat, generally you can eat at a small maintenance (aka "clean bulk") and make great strength gains. If you have little muscle mass to cut to, you will just look tiny/thin -- especially if you're tall. So for most skinnyfat people, and I would clean bulk and diligently follow a legit lifting routine. Which brings me to...
Workout routines
Before getting into routines, I think it's worth mentioning first that everyone should walk more. At least 5 times per week, 30 minutes per day:
Check out The Beginner's Guide to Working Out
The best workout routine is the one you can consistently follow. If you're new to the gym, just about anything will get you some results. To a point. If you want to be smart about it, do not make up your own routine! There are plenty of legit, tried-and-true, FREE recommended lifting routines to choose from. I like these routines vs googling something random because these are routines many, many people in various subreddits are doing and have done in the past that can help answer any questions you might have. It's nice to have someone else that is doing or has done the program you're running to offer direct advice from their experience. But you can just google other routines if you want. Just make sure it has:
- Progressive overload
- 2) Structured days to not hit body parts more than 2x/week
Also another great full body workout for people at home with no equipment.
What to eat
At the end of the day, for 99% of people (various diseases, ailments, and conditions aside), all that matters are Calories In, Calories Out (CICO). This controls weight gain and loss. Lifting heavy weights encourages strength gains or at least strength maintenance in both surplus/bulks and deficit/cuts. But to gain or lose lbs on a scale, the total calories consumed minus calories used and the resulting surplus/deficit are what matters. But how much of what you eat matters...
There's a lot of suggested science over what to eat, but there are generally sound rules of thumbs to follow which are easily broken down into "Macros" for tracking purposes:
- Proteins (1 gram = 4 calories)
- Carbs (1 gram = 4 calories)
- Fats (1 gram = 9 calories)
However, how we feel when consuming these calories and what we get out of other nutrients is important.
[h4]Fats[/h4]
We all need healthy fats to help regulate hormonal balances. This is usually room-temp fats (think extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, various nuts, avocados, etc); less important are the fats in meat and dairy products, for example. A general rule of thumb is to aim for at least 30% x total calories for your fats macro. This is the same for cutting or bulking, but when bulking you can increase if you want.
E.g. if you're consuming 2000 calories daily, aim for 0.3x2000 (600) calories to be from fats.
[h4]Carbs[/h4]
Next come carbs. Carbs are not evil. They're a tool. Our body prefers and relies on carbs to refuel energy stores. Simple, nutrient-dense carbs are preferred -- not complex or junk carbs. The reason for this is 1) satiation, how long we'll feel full, and 2) other nutrient content. When you can, get your carbs from fresh/frozen fruits and veggies. That will do far more for you than crackers, cereal, donuts, etc. Even though the carbs will be utilized equally, produce holds far more vitamins and minerals that have relevant health and recovery benefits that can't be overstated.
Generally, aim for 25-45% of your calories to be carbs (depending on cutting/bulking).
[h4]Protein[/h4]
Generally, you want to keep protein fairly high. Anywhere from .75-1+ gram of protein per lbs of body weight. This can come from any source, as our body will utilize them the same. But some sources are preferred, depending on whether you're cutting or bulking. Ideally, aim for now more than 40-50 grams per meal/protein shake and spread out the consumption through the day.
The remainder of your calories should be protein.
[h4]Timing[/h4]
As carbs are for energy, many people prefer to have more carbs timed around workouts (and no fats during this period) to help boost performance and recovery. If you're going to eat your carbs (e.g. rice and chicken breast), do so about two hours before working out; otherwise, liquid/quickly consumed carbs are preferred (e.g. orange or apple juice). Again, post-workout, get simple carbs and protein into your system via a shake or meal fairly soon. Save fats for well-before or after workouts.
Measuring success
First and foremost, gym progress should always be factored in first. If your routine says X lift should go up Y amount each week, generally you want to be hitting that to know you're on track. If your lift #s are going up according to your routine, you're doing great! If you aren't, there's a breakdown somewhere and you should ask for guidance if you cannot asses the fail point yourself.
Secondly, the weight scale. You want to make sure your body weight is trending in your goal direction. It's ideal to weigh yourself the same way every time.
For example, I wake up, go to the bathroom, and then weigh myself every day for three weeks and then I average my daily changes over those three weeks. I generally aim to gain .5-.75 lbs per week and lose .75-1 lbs per week. If I'm gaining or losing too much, I adjust my macros ~ 250 calories and measure again for three weeks and so on.
Don't get caught up daily changes; I sometimes vary 3-5 lbs between days! Weigh daily for three weeks and average it out. Don't worry about the daily weight, find an average to determine where the trend is taking you and adjust if needed. This will take the annoying variances out of the picture and let you focus on meaningful change.
You can also measure your wrists, waist, neck, etc, as well as take photos, but that's more preference and not as commonly suggested.
Bulking and cutting strategies
I've seen people make amazing progress, both gaining and losing weight, in a variety of ways. Ideally, be healthy. Emphasize fresh/frozen fruits and veggies. But, at the end of the day, many approaches work. You can bulk or cut as a vegan, intermittent fasting ("IF"), KETO, IIFYM, etc. Many approaches work. They are but tools available to you, so find one that best helps you meet your goal. So choose the best "diet" or tool that helps you achieve a goal! If that's keto, great! If that's caveman, awesome. I don't care! Limit your calories in whatever "diet" you choose and you'll see results.
In my opinion, it's better to make lifestyle changes that to follow a diet for a short time. So I don't really like "diets" per se, but more so recommend eating like an adult and limiting calories. But even still, different tactics can help in that goal, and you can deploy as many or as few as you want:
- Intermittent Fasting ("IF")
- Tracking macros / IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros)
- "Banking" calories
Macros are discussed above, but the idea behind IIFYM is that you've a set # for each macro and, so long as what you're eating fits neatly into the prescribed macro allotment, go for eating whatever you want! And, again, so long as total calories are low enough for you, you will lose weight. But this is r/BulkorCut, not r/weightloss. People here are also working out. How well you workout, recover, perform, feel, etc is affected by what you eat. So, sure, add in "fun" foods sometimes. But don't eat like a child simply because it fit your macros. A safe rule of thumb is to eat "cleanly" 80% of the time when bulking, whatever the other 20% of the time. When cutting, I try to eat cleanly 90-95% of the time with fewer treats. What that treat is might change -- some weeks I just want pancakes, other weeks I just want a couple beers. Do what works for you, just do so in controlled quantities.
I liked "banking" calories when I knew I had a special event, date night with the wife, party, or whatever where I'd be consuming extra calories. One way to account for that is to deduct an additional amount of calories each day leading up to the event, to then splurge on that event. Example:
Let's say my maintenance is 2,500 calories and I'm eating at a -500 deficit, so I'm eating 2,000 calories daily. I want to take my wife out for our anniversary, so the week leading up to our date night I deduct an additional -250 calories each day and only eat 1,750 calories daily. This gives me 7x250 (=1750) "banked" calories I can add to my 2,000 calories on our anniversary. Now I can have a nice dinner, dessert, a drink or two, all without blowing my diet out of whack!
Body fat % (BF%) estimates
Estimating ones body fat % is kind of hard. We can't see how much fat is stored internally around organs; some people store more fat over the abs, some more around their love handles (that's me!), and others in their legs/ass. So it's really hard to tell. There are various ways to scan BF%, but most are imprecise with a +/- 20% variance. In my opinion, the only thing they're useful for is estimating BF% changes. Let's say it reads 20% for you; in six months, you try again and it says 15%. You probably lost around 5% BF%, but your actual BF% might be 12%-18%. So it's not a particularly accurate reading, but the rate change is a useful gauge.
The best ways to learn BF% are via:
- Underwater Weighing (Hydrostatic Weighing) (1-2% variance)
- DEXA scan (1-2% variance)
Differences in males and females
- Basically, there aren't any
- It ultimately comes down to goals and therefore what you're going to emphasize/work towards.
Useful posts/resources
- The Absolute Beginner's Guide to the Gym
- To Bulk And Cut Or Not To Bulk And Cut
- Here is a credible, no BS approach to getting abs
People to follow
- pheasyque - excellent diagrams, tutorials, and generally great content on how to lift properly
- Stefi Cohen - 22 world records, doctorate in physical therapy, gym owner, coach. TONS of useful tips, talks, and various informative content.
- Brian Alsruhe - Strongman competitor/gym owner, great content on lift techniques and personally the most beneficial video I've watched on breathing and bracing.
