Genetics and "Ease" of Staying Lean

L

lovelivelaugh

New member
I often "group" lifters into two categories:

Category 1: Lifters who (seemingly) effortlessly stay lean (sub 15% bf) between bulks and cuts.

Category 2: Lifters who have a really hard time staying lean (sub 15% bf) between bulks and cuts.

There are some lifters I see online (Insta, Youtube, etc) that simply look and stay lean (sub 15%) year round and make it seem effortless (Joe Delaney, for example:
). Dude is natural and has stayed lean throughout his entire lifting journey, something I admire a lot. Another example is a guy like Rob Lipsett:
.

Then there are other lifters, like myself (I think?), who seemingly have a really hard time staying lean (sub 15%) year round. For example, Vitruvian Physique has gotten quite heavy in the past when bulking:
. Another example is Omar Isuf:
. Both guys seem to get heavier when bulking.

I have a tough time understanding why this is for certain people. Does it just come down to genetics? Like are some people just pre-disposed to be and stay leaner?

Or is it more of a conscious decision to not bulk past 15% bf (i.e. mini-cut or cut when you hit 15%), take things much slower, and be precise with diet and tracking both on a cut and on a lean bulk?

Perhaps it's partially environmental in that, when growing up, if you were chubbier at one point, those fat cells stay with you vs. if you never really get fat at all?

I am interested in what you guys think. Do any of you categorize yourself in the above groups? If so, have you ever gotten lean or fat during bulks (i.e. if you're cat 1, have you ever sent it on a bulk and gotten fat, and vice versa).
 
@lovelivelaugh Left to my own devices, I become obese. Calorie tracking has solved this for me.

Obviously calories in/out is the actual mechanism for their (non) leanness.

I believe Dr. Doucette is onto something with hunger/satiety signalling being stronger/weaker in different people. I've not got a voracious appetite, but I will never feel "full" for very long.

I always thought I had a "slow" metabolism. Turns out it's a bit (5%) higher than mfp estimates.
 
@dawn16 I think there is something to this affect as well. When growing up, I remember as a like 7-8 year old slamming 14 slices of pizza at a friends birthday. My parents were appalled lol.

Some of my other friends could just have 1-3 slices depending on how hungry they were, and stop.

Never really worked that way for me. It has always been all or nothing from an eating perspective.

Perhaps people who stay leaner do in fact just have a better natural tendency to stop eating when they are 'full' and won't finish their plates/food just for the sake of doing it (like I kind of did in the past), keeping them leaner overall.
 
@lovelivelaugh Similar for me and I think it was a learned behavior. My mom would serve me a ton of food and ground me/punish me if I didn't finish everything on my plate even if I was full. She also liked to keep me pretty chubby cuz to her it meant healthy. Well, guess who's had to work to develop good eating habits as an adult? I still don't ever feel full for long even on a bulk. I've almost given up on the idea of satiety lol.
 
@lovelivelaugh I once at 13 slices of pound cake. I remember because I was 6 and at first my Mom was appalled and then after a time everyone became intrigued. Being sub-15% BF has NEVER been something I’ve done. Closest now at like 15.5% and slowly working towards 12% — I was like 19% in January 🎉
 
@lovelivelaugh Could be. But for me atleast, I don't have too much of an appetite. But if I don't eat then I lose weight. I usually stay 12% body fat year around without even trying to diet.
 
@lovelivelaugh Neurologically our balance of neurotransmitters can affect this. If a person's usual state is low dopamine, the person will crave stimulation through food. Finding out how to raise baseline dopamine through diet and supplementation really helps.

I've also made huge improvements by realizing that I'm a 'volume eater' and not everyone is. I like to eat until I'm distended. Making a list of low calorie foods I love really helped this. Cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, mushroom, tomato, shiritake noodles, bell peppers, are a godsend for me.
 
@rjozen Yeah I'm the same.

I don't need to be constantly eating every 1-3 hours, but whenever I do eat, if I'm not tracking/am not on a diet, I'll just intuitively eat until I'm grossly full no problem.
 
@dawn16 I relate completely to you, man. Greg is right when he says that people have different genetic levels of hunger and satiety. I think it is also due to upbringing too. My mum would always encourage eating junk food all the time and thought of enjoying exercise as bizarre. So, being fat in my early teens definitely affected my approach to food.
 
@dawn16 Do you have a link to that video? I definitely have a HUGE appetite. Yet, on a bulk I ate upwards of 4000 calories or more a day (more than +1000) but only gained 15lbs in 4 months. The math didn't add up for me as I likely should've gained twice that much (should've been more than an extra 2 lbs a week, 30lbs or more in that time period). Im curious about whether or not I habe this "faster" metabolism.
 
@lovelivelaugh You must realize some influencers lean out only once/twice per year, take a shit-ton of photos, and then release only those photos throughout the year. You must also realize some people have more of a hard-on to stay as lean as possible year-round, while others don't mind getting fluffy in order to add a bit more muscle. It has more to do with personal goals than genetics.
 
@lovelivelaugh I’m definitely group 1. I attribute it to a combination of genetics and lifestyle choices. Hormones play a huge role in regulating body fat usage.

I have for the first time in my life managed to get close to >15%, but it was stupid hard. I had to keep milk and orange juice on hand constantly, and deep fry my sandwich bread in olive oil, really extreme lengths, eating as much healthy fat and carbs as possible.

There are environmental factors that can act on the endocrine system, I know some plastic by products, all sorts of stuff. Also I think your diet has a huge influence, nutritional deficiencies can have negative impacts. Exercise affects your hormones.

And genetics of course, most the guys I see predisposed to move a ton of weight tend to get fat easier, whereas the guys who easily stay lean usually struggled gaining and will look jacked and have to work hard for much more modest lifts.
 
@strayghost
I have for the first time in my life managed to get close to >15%, but it was stupid hard. I had to keep milk and orange juice on hand constantly, and deep fry my sandwich bread in olive oil, really extreme lengths, eating as much healthy fat and carbs as possible.
Click to expand...

I feel so envious of you, because I fucking love food and eating lol. But then I think about how hard it must've been for you to actually gain weight and eat this amount of food if you truly didn't want to.

On either side of things (Cat 1 or 2), there are major pros and cons.
 
@lovelivelaugh I'm on his side too. Gained 50+ lbs (~115 to 167) and while it's gotten easier, I'm still mostly eating because I know my body needs it, not because I want to. I pretty much don't mind hunger at all, and if I know I've hit my nutrition goals for the day i'll happily go to bed with hunger.

I like food occasionally but most of the time it's just such a hassle to deal with every single day...
 
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