My experience bulking and cutting as a petite person

eheart77

New member
I am 30 years old, 5’3” and currently 117 pounds. I strength train with weights 5 days per week. I’m in the process of cutting for the first time after bulking for 4 months. I’m managing to lose weight eating 2150 calories now!

I was nervous to bulk. To intentionally gain weight?! What if I couldn’t lose it afterwards? But I wanted more muscles and a round booty! So I thought I’d give it a try. I was able to lose weight before and I knew I could do it again.

The bulk

During my little bulk, I gained 9 to 10 pounds. I started out at 113 pounds in September and got to 122 pounds by January. In September, I knew I could maintain on 2000-2100 calories so I started out bulking on 2300-2400. I gained only one pound after two and a half months. I realized I needed to be eating more if this bulk was going to be worth it.

From then on, I started eating 2400-3000 calories per day. The daily amount varied but I was always aiming for at least 2400. I thought this sounded impossible but with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years around the corner for me it actually wasn’t that hard to do. Every family dinner I piled my plate with massive portions and ate it all. I hit 2700-3000 calories easily, multiple times per week. I enjoyed every moment!!! Come January 1st, I was feeling like I was nearly bursting out of my clothes. I managed to gain almost 10 pounds! My glutes were looking huge! (To me, lol). I was up to 122 on the scale. I was also feeling bloated. I decided it was time to stop bulking and research cutting.

Finding out my maintenance

I went back to maintenance for all of January and determined that’s about 2200-2300 calories daily. By the end of January, I was fluctuating between 119 and 120 pounds. I could have lost some fat, but I honestly think my holiday bulking led to some water retention due to lots of salt and sugary foods. So I might have just lost water weight by cleaning up my diet a smidge. Or I’ve underestimated my current maintenance calories and was actually eating in a deficit. I’ll find that out eventually. I still enjoyed snacks and sweets as long as they stuck within my calorie goals. I decided to start officially cutting the week of Feb 1st.

Starting to cut

Starting February, I aimed to get 2150 calories per day, give or take to experiment with a calorie deficit. Some days I exceed that but still track it. Last week I had a big “cheat” day and ate ~2700 calories. I highly prioritize protein at 120g-140g daily. I’m now fluctuating between 117 and 118 pounds this week! I think at this rate, I will be fluctuating between 115 and 116 by the end of March. At that time I’ll reassess if I should cut a little more or just maintain from there. I don’t think I’ll drop below 2150 calories at the frequency I’m exercising or else I’ll burn out.

I want to share this because I am amazed I’m losing weight and eating such a high number of calories for someone my size. I can still make room for some of my favorite foods each day with 2150 calories. I don’t have too much more to lose, so the slow rate is worth the extra calories for me.

Weight lifting and protein are not magic, but sometimes the results make them feel like it! I managed to up my maintenance calories and gain a lot of muscle in just one year of lifting.
 
@eheart77 It always blows my mind, how people have gotten weight loss and muscle gain down to a scientific equation almost. It's so cool.

I only wish I knew this stuff when I was younger.
Noone teaches you fitness/health like this. At least I did not learn this stuff.
 
@crossguy Right?! I didn’t learn this stuff growing up either. My parents are big cardio people and love a yo-yo diet. Juice cleanses, low carb diets, weight watchers. That’s what I thought being healthy looked like.

It wasn’t until my sister in law started lifting that I realized fitness doesn’t have to be miserable and mean as little food as possible.
 
@stormandfury Thank you! Yep, pretty much.

I lift 5x per week following Meg Squat’s Stronger by the Day program and have been for 8 months. It is primarily a power lifting program with conditioning. The conditioning includes a short run each week. I also go to hot yoga 1x per week. This ends up being 6 days of exercise each week when I don’t deviate from my plans.

Walking certainly helps a lot too, I walk about 1 mile every day with my dogs and get between 7,000-10,000 steps daily!
 
@goat__man Only 1 year! I started working out January 2023 in my basement with 3lb - 10lb weights. I couldn’t even bench press a barbell. Now I own a barbell, plates, a squat rack and a gym membership and can lift heavy weights!
 
@eheart77 Shoot, those are amazing maintenance calories for only lifting for a year!! I'm 5'3", 38 years old, have been lifting for 15 years, and my maintenance calories are 2400ish.
 
@soldier_of_god I wouldn’t have thought this was possible a year ago, I had no idea muscle mass could increase metabolism until this subreddit and getting into fitness. I am hoping to reach 2400 for my maintenance someday soon!
 
@brian18373 Sort of, it was more figuring it all out as I went! My BIGGEST takeaway is to stay consistent, not perfect. Most weeks I am in the gym 5 days per week. However, there were some weeks I couldn’t do that because I was on vacation or even sick. I just let myself take the break and always got back to it the following week.

I started out doing Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series on YouTube at home. After I finished that 2x, I was ready to try out going to a gym. I signed up for a couple free personal training sessions and started following a plan written by a trainer at the gym. I did that for about 2 months.

After feeling comfortable with some basics, I started following Meg Squat’s free program Before the Barbell and also picking out individual work outs from YouTube. Eventually I got bored and wanted a solid routine, so I signed up for Stronger by the Day (also by Meg Squats). I love that woman now, if you can’t tell! I’ve been following that program through various macro cycles ever since and that was 8 months ago.

I learned everything about eating protein goals from this subreddit, which I luckily found early in this journey when I was still doing Caroline Girvan videos.
 
@eheart77 Thanks for sharing! I’m currently bulking for the first time and it’s hard mentally. But I don’t freak out anymore seeing the scale going up. I also gained 9 pounds and feeling good about it!
 
@dwells It really is hard! Tbh, had I known the weight was really going to come off like this in a cut, I might have continued bulking for just one more month! But I was feeling tired of it by then for sure. Nice job on the gains!
 
@eheart77 So awesome! I'm currently bulking and am finding it so mentally daunting, so thank you for sharing! Did you still do cardio when you bulked? I love cardio, but don't know if it's counterproductive or not...
 
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