Raising and lowering cals

[BigDyl]

I have seen this common trend on other forums:

Weeks 1-4: Raise calories slightly above maintenance (clean bulk)
Weeks 5-6: Lower calories slightly below maintenance (clean cut)

The idea here is that your metabolism is so revved from the higher cals, that the drop in cals for two weeks would transition nicely because your metabolism is higher and can deal with it.


What do you think of this theory?

I've also heard 2 week bulk, 1 week cut.

It reminds me of HIIT cardio, where you raise your intensity and lower which tricks your body into speeding up your metabolism.

It seems to me like it would be more effective than eating maintenance everyday.

 

[Jodi]

What is the intended goal first of all?

I've done this to maintain weight before and recomp but not for fat loss or bulking.

 

[drew_c]

Zig zagging your calories is useful for fat loss too. I've never done it for weeks at a time though. I would just add roughly an extra meals worth of calories, once or twice during the week.

In other words if your average meal is 450 calories and you eat 2,700 calories a day, a couple times a week you would eat 3,150 by adding a bit to each meal. Making sure you are getting clean calories and not just adding junk to the side

 

[BigDyl]

Holy god I'm a noob. I put this in the wrong forum.


The point of the diet is to gain muscle, and shed fat or the little fat you gained when you gained some LBM.

 

[Jodi]

I'll put it in D&N.

If that's your goal, then I think it's a good idea. You should do 2-3 weeks bulk then 1 week cut. If you are bulking you want your body anabolic and cutting is not anabolic so the less cut time the better.

 

[P-funk]

i like that lay out. 4 weeks up 2 weeks down.

 

[workouttt]

what is the point of bulking and cutting?

 

[wrbk319]

To bulk, is to gain muscle mass. However, on a bulk, most people store some body fat. Usually the cleaner the bulk, the less body fat is stored. After bulking, people want to shed off the fat and keeping the muscle mass they have obtained.