Help me decide when to stop cutting...

[Kraken]

2lbs per week is normal; especially in a scenario where you were previously starving yourself. You are completely depleted of glycogen. Those 6lbs you gained is glycogen and water, and most of it will uptake to muscle or the liver.

Okay thank you. But I assume it should stabilize at some point soon?

 

[Send0]

Okay thank you. But I assume it should stabilize at some point soon?

No one can tell you when you will your weight will stabilize except for your own body. If it helps you gauge things in any kind of meaningful way... my girlfriend is 120lbs, her weight is stable, and she's eating closer to 2000 calories a day. In other words, you are underweight and 1800 calories is probably still undereating for you... yet you still gained 6lbs... that's how bad of a state you put your body in. This weight gain is healthy for you, and necessary.

Stop focusing on the weight gain man, it's a normal part of the process. Being worried like this is also what people with eating disorders go through.

Not to sound cliche, but trust the process.

 

[CJ]

Its just been 3 weeks, but a check in:




I'm doing my very best not to freak out! But, in the past three weeks the scale is up to ~146 from ~ 140. I presume part of it is the creatine promoting water retention. I'm hoping a pound or so so is actual muscle.

I have been eating ~1,800 or so calories each day with 150g of protein, more chicken, some fish and beef and whey based protein shakes after workout. Five g creatine daily.

My squat has gone from 115 pounds (started very light out of concerns of my back) to 205 (5 x 5), deadlift from 145 to 205 (1 x 5), bench from 95 to 125 (5 x 5), Overhead Press from 65 to 85 (5 x 5) and barbell row from 95 to 110 (5 x 5). Struggling with the OHP and barbell row, looks like I wrecked my upper body with that big calorie deficit.

So getting back to not freaking out, does 6 pound weight gain overall sound reasonable in this situation?

Yes, it's perfectly reasonable, and expected.

Your lifts/performance are going up, that's a good sign. And there's no fucking way in hell you're getting fat from 1800 Cals per day. You know what we call 1800 Cals? Dinner.

 

[Kraken]

Okay thanks again guys!

 

[Reader591]

Maybe I missed it, how tall are you?

Throw vanity aside for a moment here. Unless you’re 5 foot 140s and still having some fat on you means you’re way under weight from a lean mass point. Even at 5 foot it’s questionable.

Your focus needs to be purely health right now in my opinion. Good news is that means you need to focus on putting on some quality mass, eat a decent amount of healthy fats and carbs (real foods here) and for sure get that protein in at around 150-160 grams a day preferably from real food sources. If you can’t, then use shakes but try not to overly rely on them so you can feel the benifits of the nutrition in meats.

Also have to consider that you’re likely very depleted in a lot of vitamins and minerals and need to focus on trying to get in nutrient rich foods. You can test for this stuff too. I do, if you’re interested in the hippie dippie side of things PM me.

Looks like you lost a lot of weight and that’s great. You need to focus in the opposite direction for a time right now, be just as disciplined as you were loseing the weight to gain it. Don’t gain it by junking out on junk food. Get those calories up, get that strength up, get your stores of nutrients up. Spend a fair amount of time doing this, and eventually you’ll be in a great spot to trim up again if you choose. You aren’t going to gain a ton of fat if you do this right, and you’ll turn out looking much better.

Hats off to you though man. Good work and good luck. This part is just as important as your weight loss for someone like you.

 

[Reader591]

three weeks the scale is up to ~146 from ~ 140.

Yea. I can manipulate my weight in just days by about 12 lbs in water weight alone. I would not be worried about this. You need it.

 

[Send0]

Maybe I missed it, how tall are you?

Throw vanity aside for a moment here. Unless you’re 5 foot 140s and still having some fat on you means you’re way under weight from a lean mass point. Even at 5 foot it’s questionable.

Your focus needs to be purely health right now in my opinion. Good news is that means you need to focus on putting on some quality mass, eat a decent amount of healthy fats and carbs (real foods here) and for sure get that protein in at around 150-160 grams a day preferably from real food sources. If you can’t, then use shakes but try not to overly rely on them so you can feel the benifits of the nutrition in meats.

Also have to consider that you’re likely very depleted in a lot of vitamins and minerals and need to focus on trying to get in nutrient rich foods. You can test for this stuff too. I do, if you’re interested in the hippie dippie side of things PM me.

Looks like you lost a lot of weight and that’s great. You need to focus in the opposite direction for a time right now, be just as disciplined as you were loseing the weight to gain it. Don’t gain it by junking out on junk food. Get those calories up, get that strength up, get your stores of nutrients up. Spend a fair amount of time doing this, and eventually you’ll be in a great spot to trim up again if you choose. You aren’t going to gain a ton of fat if you do this right, and you’ll turn out looking much better.

Hats off to you though man. Good work and good luck. This part is just as important as your weight loss for someone like you.

I believe he said he's 5'6"?

edit: yep, he said he's 5'6". https://www.ugbodybuilding.com/threads/help-me-decide-when-to-stop-cutting.47911/#post-1019263

 

[Kraken]

Yes, I'm 5ft 6in tall. Doing my best to eat a lot of chicken, more red meat and get 150g of protein daily. Work got super buys so I have not been to the gym for 4 days, getting back there today. Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm still doing 1,800 calories per day (600 from protein) and yup, I'm still paranoid about getting more belly fat. But I'm sticking with it.

 

[Bro Bundy]

i usually stop when the abs are in then keep cardio while starting more cals

 

[Bro Bundy]

Yea. I can manipulate my weight in just days by about 12 lbs in water weight alone. I would not be worried about this. You need it.

old wrestling tricks

 

[Trenbolonely]

Congrats on your lifts going up so much.
At 146lbs the last thing you need to worry about is being too fat. Just try and adjust your mindset about weight gain while lifting and you will definitely arrive at a better body composition with food and time.

 

[Kraken]

i usually stop when the abs are in then keep cardio while starting more cals

Ah abs... If only! My weight seems to be holding steady at ~145 and while my waist has not gone up, it has not gone down either. That's okay, CJ was right, I'm not gaining fat at 1,800 cals per day.

I'm wondering if I increase cals if I'll build more muscle or just add some fat. The numbers are mostly still going up, although OHP and barbell rows remain the biggest challenges.

 

[Kraken]

Congrats on your lifts going up so much.
At 146lbs the last thing you need to worry about is being too fat. Just try and adjust your mindset about weight gain while lifting and you will definitely arrive at a better body composition with food and time.

Thanks!

 

[CJ]

Ah abs... If only! My weight seems to be holding steady at ~145 and while my waist has not gone up, it has not gone down either. That's okay, CJ was right, I'm not gaining fat at 1,800 cals per day.

I'm wondering if I increase cals if I'll build more muscle or just add some fat. The numbers are mostly still going up, although OHP and barbell rows remain the biggest challenges.

How long have you been at 1800 Cals? What has your weight been the last 4 weeks? How have your workouts been? What have you been eating for macros?

 

[Kraken]

How long have you been at 1800 Cals? What has your weight been the last 4 weeks? How have your workouts been? What have you been eating for macros?

Eating 1,800 calories starting last Jan 31. I also started creatine (5g) daily.

Since Feb 12, weight has been on average 145.2 with a high of 146.3 and a low of 143.4 (actually that low was this morning). I presume the fluxations are water, did I take a dump the prior day, whatever. I weigh first thing when I get up after using the bathroom.

Workouts have been generally good. Out of the 7 weeks so far (working out 3 x per week) I have missed my numbers on one or two exercises 4 workouts. Numbers for deads and squats are going up faster than OHP and barbell rows, and bench somewhere in between those.

Macros:
protein: 150g
carbs: 150g
fat: 67g

And for the most part I come close each day. Although last weekend I was traveling, ate badly in that I had less protein, drank some alcohol and shared a dessert with my girl. Thats unusual, but I'm far from perfect.

Generally though, I get at least the 150g of protein in.

 

[CJ]

Eating 1,800 calories starting last Jan 31. I also started creatine (5g) daily.

Since Feb 12, weight has been on average 145.2 with a high of 146.3 and a low of 143.4 (actually that low was this morning). I presume the fluxations are water, did I take a dump the prior day, whatever. I weigh first thing when I get up after using the bathroom.

Workouts have been generally good. Out of the 7 weeks so far (working out 3 x per week) I have missed my numbers on one or two exercises 4 workouts. Numbers for deads and squats are going up faster than OHP and barbell rows, and bench somewhere in between those.

Macros:
protein: 150g
carbs: 150g
fat: 67g

Bump your cals up to 2100, by adding 50g of Carbs and 25g of Protein. See what happens over the next 2-3 weeks.

And for the most part I come close each day. Although last weekend I was traveling, ate badly in that I had less protein, drank some alcohol and shared a dessert with my girl. Thats unusual, but I'm far from perfect.

No worries, that's life. Our bodies can shrug off a bad day here or there, it's when we string bad days and weeks together, that's when the bad things happen.

Generally though, I get at least the 150g of protein in.

Try to make it 175g

 

[Kraken]

Thanks CJ, I'll try this.

 

[Kraken]

So @CJ do you believe that my numbers should be going up more quickly? I'm still paranoid about adding fat, and still hoping to lose some. I'll take your advice, I'm just trying to understand why. Thank you!

 

[CJ]

So @CJ do you believe that my numbers should be going up more quickly?

I don't know what your numbers are, and I don't really care. The fact that they're going up while you're still only eating a woman's level of calories is good enough.

I'm still paranoid about adding fat, and still hoping to lose some. I'll take your advice, I'm just trying to understand why. Thank you!

You're paranoid because you were previously fat, and you don't want to get there again. That's understandable, but be realistic, you'll still only be at 2100 calories.

 

[TODAY]

So @CJ do you believe that my numbers should be going up more quickly? I'm still paranoid about adding fat, and still hoping to lose some. I'll take your advice, I'm just trying to understand why. Thank you!

No shade, but I think you've got some psychological issue to sort through. This level of neuroticism is what leads to eating disorders, anxiety, and a complete lack of gains.