Thread: Cut Or Bulk, Which is Easier on You?

i love to eat, so i have to go with bulking

Both are hard. I would say bulking is harder though. Not only because there is some level of force-feeding involved, but because of logistic concerns like money and time.

cutting = harder

cutting is dieting, i can eat mass amounts of food so i naturally am always bulking

i haven't gone through cutting yet, but I imagine it will be easier than bulking.

That is a fu-king hard question. No body likes to restrict calories, so cutting is hard. Yet most of us begin to bulk, look in the mirror and think we are gaining too much fat and cut calories causing us to fail at bulking.

bulking by far for me cuz i like my buffalo chicken alot

Isn't it better just to eat well year round? I've never found much use for bulking, So i'd say cutting.

I would say cutting is harder, just because of the self control you need. With bulking, you can eat a ton, just not always exactly what you want. But at least there is some flexibility. Cutting just seems so much more restrictive.

Bulking is very easy for myself, I can gain quickly.

As for cutting, it is difficult. The worst part is when you think you do great, and then you end up a pound heavier, though it may be water weight, it's still an ego killer.

I suppose what I've been doing for the past few months can be called cutting. All I really did was try to eat smaller meals more frequently, eat healthier foods of mostly protein, and eat my last meal much earlier in the day and further from when I go to bed. I've lost about 25 pounds doing this and I didn't find it very hard. If I actually counted calories and macronutrients, etc. I'm sure it would be a lot more difficult, so I'm going to say bulking is probably more difficult because you have to eat so much and still eat the right things so as not to gain fat.

I would say bulking. If I have to eat 6 times a day I'd rather not be doing 400 and 500 calorie meals, thats a joke.

cutting is hard, it takes alot of mental toughness plus its an ego killer maybe losing some strenght and shrinking

Originally Posted by Squaggleboggin

I suppose what I've been doing for the past few months can be called cutting. All I really did was try to eat smaller meals more frequently, eat healthier foods of mostly protein, and eat my last meal much earlier in the day and further from when I go to bed. I've lost about 25 pounds doing this and I didn't find it very hard. If I actually counted calories and macronutrients, etc. I'm sure it would be a lot more difficult, so I'm going to say bulking is probably more difficult because you have to eat so much and still eat the right things so as not to gain fat.

Why would you not eat so long before bed?
During the night, you are already going to be fasted for 6-9 hours...
Why not eat a slow absorbing meal right before bed to maintain lean mass?

I have been trying to slowly lose weight, but I still eat a power bagel with PB spread on it and a glass of skim milk before bed, almost every night.

Works for me.

Originally Posted by garethhe

i love to eat, so i have to go with bulking

Ditto.

Originally Posted by myCATpowerlifts

Why would you not eat so long before bed?
During the night, you are already going to be fasted for 6-9 hours...
Why not eat a slow absorbing meal right before bed to maintain lean mass?

I have been trying to slowly lose weight, but I still eat a power bagel with PB spread on it and a glass of skim milk before bed, almost every night.

Works for me.

The way I understand it, your metabolism basically stops while you're asleep (or slows down to the point that it's negligible). Therefore, eating just before going to bed allows the food to simply sit and not be used by the body and perhaps be stored as fat. Of course, my understanding of that particular system is basic at best, and my ideas may not have any validity. I know that I have continued to gain strength while losing weight, so if I've lost LBM then it wasn't very important I guess.If you can explain something to the contrary, please do - I'm always eager to learn more.

Originally Posted by Squaggleboggin

The way I understand it, your metabolism basically stops while you're asleep (or slows down to the point that it's negligible). Therefore, eating just before going to bed allows the food to simply sit and not be used by the body and perhaps be stored as fat. Of course, my understanding of that particular system is basic at best, and my ideas may not have any validity. I know that I have continued to gain strength while losing weight, so if I've lost LBM then it wasn't very important I guess.If you can explain something to the contrary, please do - I'm always eager to learn more.

Yes, your metabolism does slow down while you're asleep. However, I have read that it only slows down by 15-25% compared to your metabolic rate while concious and inactive.

It's all calories in vs. calories out. If you are eating in a negative energy balance, then your body is going to have to tap into its energy reserves to make up for the difference regardless of what time you ate. This isn't to say that nutrient timing has no place in a diet; quite the contrary.

The point is that you want to maintain postive nitrogen balance throughout the night if at all possible in an attempt to preserve lean body mass. The whole not eating right before bed thing is a myth.

Although I'm only one example, you can see that eating within 30 minutes of sleep every night has not hindered my ability to achieve a lean physique. I'm not an ectomorph either. I'm naturally and endo/mesomorph.