Should I Lose Weight Or Bulk First?

Today we are going to talk about something very important. Before you know it summer will be here and the last thing you want to do is miss that 4 – 6 week window where you should be getting RIPPED and ready to show off your gains! Am I right? But bulking and cutting goes much deeper than “looking” a certain way at a certain time. A lot of people just kind of fall into the category of “bulking” or “cutting” because they THINK they need to bulk or cut at certain times of the year…which is RIDICULOUS. Let me explain…

Too Skinny Or Too Fat?

Now if you’re extremely thin, it obviously makes sense to start bulking and if you are currently overweight, you obviously need to start cutting fat. But what if you belong in neither of these groups? What if you are kind of on the overweight side but you don’t really have a lot of muscle? Or what if you’re on the skinny side but you still hold on to a lot of fat around your stomach and love handles area?

This is the place where I’m sure the majority of you will fall into and both of these types of “looks” are due to the same reason – not eating enough food. So let’s dive into that first and then be sure to read through to the end of the article as I will give you the most simple advice to follow for cutting and bulking once you have your EATING and WORKOUT PROGRAM under control.

The Problem With ‘Eating Clean’

A lot of times when we set a goal to “eat clean”, whether to gain muscle or lose fat, we instinctively reduce calories or just end up eating less because “clean eating” usually involves no snacking on junk throughout the day.

So even though you’re eating “better”, your overall calories may have gone down, especially if you are not TRACKING THEM. If you’re skinny fat or kind of overweight with not a lot of muscle and are thinking about cutting, you’re just going to make things worse.  Your muscles are STARVING for food and now because you VISUALLY see fat all over your body, you think the solution is even LESS calories. However, this is going to send you down a road too many people find themselves on which is LOTS AND LOTS of gym time with little to no results.

So my advice is simple. Unless your body fat is SUPER high, like over 22% for men and 26% for woman, it doesn’t make sense to restrict your calories and place yourself in a deficit to start cutting. Clean eating and training at this point will actually result in muscle gain and fat loss at the same time which is known as “body recomposition”.

You see, the only reason why you’re skinny fat or slightly overweight with no muscle tone is because your muscles don’t have the calories & nutrients they need to sustain or repair and grow from training. But once you start feeding them PROPERLY and combine that with a good gym routine, your metabolism will start to increase and that stubborn fat will melt off.

So for the majority of you it’s not going to be BULKING or CUTTING…it’s going to be EATING CORRECTLY for the first time because now you’re tracking your macros, hopefully with MY CUSTOM MEAL PLAN APP…because it is awesome!

How Much Weight Should I Gain When I Bulk?

But what about for those of you who ARE seasoned lifters, eat right and already have a great workout program. If you’ve never seen my video “Bulking: You Are Doing It Wrong”, I suggest you watch it. But to summarize a few of the points I made, even if you’re TRYING to put on more muscle, your bulk shouldn’t consist of gaining 20-30 pounds of fat. That’s old school, and when you know the facts, it makes ZERO SENSE as a natural lifter and this is why.

I am about to drop some hard facts, so pay attention. In your first year of lifting you can gain up to 20-25 pounds of muscle. In year 2, that becomes more like 12-15lbs. Year 3 you are looking at about 6-8lbs and in your 4^th year and every year after you should only expect 3-5 pounds of muscle MAX, no matter how much fat you put on during your bulk. So why the drop-off?The answer is simple, because your body can only hold so much muscle NATURALLY.

Conclusion

So now that you’re armed with that knowledge, unless you have an event or photoshoot or just WANT to be lean you should always be eating for a “bulk” but your calorie surplus is going to be small. It should only be 250-500 calories over your TDEE at most. This way the excess bodyfat is MINIMAL as you’re gaining muscle, and then when it comes time to CUT, all you have to do is go into a slight deficit of 250-500 calories. By doing this, you’ll be able to be shredded in a matter of weeks without putting your body through an intense period of calorie restriction because you were eating WAY TOO MUCH during your bulk. For example, if your TDEE is 3,000 calories, then when you are bulking you should be at around 3250-3500 calories, and when cutting you should be between 2750-2500 calories. You can also switch up your workout routine and add more cardio but that’s an article for another day!