Who is on a cut?

[FredM]

Over a period of a little less than a year I have gone from ~200lb to 174lb. I starting eating only two meals/day, breakfast and dinner, approximately 12hr apart. My only goal is to get at least 150g protein; my carbs come out to 140g -190g/day.

Did you have the experience that the more weight you loss, the more you realize you had to keep losing to get lean?

I've done a few big cuts and I'm always amazed at how optimistic my initial projections are. I think your average SS graduate could probably get down to about 160 pounds at 15% BF. Yet they think they've "filled out" at 200 or whatever.

Yup. My post SS year was 210-180. When I started I thought I'd be able to cut to 175-180, bulk to 190 and look like Jordan or Austin. Instead, I was still 20% bf at 180 so decided I should gain first to 195 then cut again. This time I'd cut to 170 and bulk to 180 and still look reasonably jacked and lean. But I'm still 18% bf at 170. So now I'm super slowly gaining until 185 then cutting to 165 when I'll finally achieve final form. Trust me. This time I'll be ripped af at 165.

It's more than a little depressing that, at 5' 11", I'd need to be 155 to get under 15% bf. I don't think I have the willpower to make that happen. Comparing my body to post growth spurt HS (168 lbs) I'd guess I gained like 10 lbs of LBM after 4 years of lifting and bulking/cutting. Fortunately I've found other reasons to lift than looking good without my shirt or deadlifting 500 lbs -- cause otherwise I'd definitely quit this sh**.

Stopped at 181 instead cause I was just getting fat. 10 lbs seems to be the magical number no matter how fast I bulk -- more than that and it's just fat.

Week 4 and I'm back down to 174 already. I plugged in my goal to macrofactor then just stopped tracking because cutting is kind of a joke now. I just skip a meal. Sometimes I accidentally skip two because work gets in the way of the second meal timing. With coffee I'm barely, if ever "hungry."

Of course, if it's anything like last time I'll hit an abrupt wall at 170. But now I'll be mentally prepared this time to track everything and break through to 165 (that's what I'm telling myself). Probably getting below my post growth spurt weight at age 16 is way harder (losing baby fat). Something something fat cells something hormones something something.

[Wilhelm]

Well, cutting now.
See log for update.

tldr, covid and now back tweak.
Aiming for March 2023 State Championship meet rather than November's as yet unannounced meet.

So yeah, false alarm
I did drop 5lbs, but i'm going to go to high maintenance now.
15 calories per lb bw.
March is the n
ext meet now.
The winter meet got announced and is a month later than everyone was expecting.
I had mixed feelings about it even before covid and the back tweak.

Staying in the 100kg class for meets, but will stay around 95 to 96 kg max.
93.4 kg AM weight right now.

Kind of just reacted to the back tweak by wanting to overcorrect.
"Fuck it, i'll go to the -90s"
I'm back squatting pretty heavy again, and expect deadlift to be pretty much back to normal by next session.

[Hardartery]

Does it count if I SHOULD be on a cut? Cuz, I absolutely should be trying harder right nowto allow me some expansion room on my upcoming trip.

[Allentown]

Today is last day of 2022 cut. Waist down at least 2 inches, probably more like 3-5", no sign of abs whatsoever at 34".

[FredM]

Today is last day of 2022 cut. Waist down at least 2 inches, probably more like 3-5", no sign of abs whatsoever at 34".

Unfortunately you probably have 2-4 more inches and 20+ lbs before abs. Very few people have the genetics for abs at 200 lbs and your height without lots of drugs.

My waist was 34.5”’at your bw and I’m still a fat 170 lol. (31.5” waist). Doubt I’ll have abs before 160 lbs.

[EggMcMuffin]

Going off the rails of my cut. Stress eating is the worst habit I have developed as an adult. I put that I'm 165 on my renewed drivers license so now I *have* to unfatfuck myself, but that 8lbs seems impossible. Comparison is the thief of joy, but there is some middleschooler right now deadlifting 405 and starting their first software engineering internship. When I was in middle school, I was severely underweight and getting ignored by basically everyone. Not even getting shoved into lockers, just ignored.

I used to be thin. I used to be marginally less depressed and hopeless than I was now. I used to be Not Almost Thirty, and not reliant on histrionic outbursts of half ironic maudlin shitposting as a coping mechanism for my die roll of a below average existence. I am not the same as others.

Anyway with inflation I'm so broke I'm probably going to start missing meals anyway so lol

[Hardartery]

Today is last day of 2022 cut. Waist down at least 2 inches, probably more like 3-5", no sign of abs whatsoever at 34".

Unfortunately you probably have 2-4 more inches and 20+ lbs before abs. Very few people have the genetics for abs at 200 lbs and your height without lots of drugs.

My waist was 34.5”’at your bw and I’m still a fat 170 lol. (31.5” waist). Doubt I’ll have abs before 160 lbs.

I'm 6'-0, dead on. I got out of highschool weighing 165 lbs, with a sub 30" waist. I got down to 155 lbs the summer after graduating, and never had a true 6-pack. I was doing 200 situps and 200 leg lifts a night and jumping rope for 45 minutes on top of working for my dad doing masonry. Never got better than 4 really defined abs and the ghosts of the bottom 2. Then I got married and that was the last time I was anywhere near 200 lbs.

[FredM]

Today is last day of 2022 cut. Waist down at least 2 inches, probably more like 3-5", no sign of abs whatsoever at 34".

Unfortunately you probably have 2-4 more inches and 20+ lbs before abs. Very few people have the genetics for abs at 200 lbs and your height without lots of drugs.

My waist was 34.5”’at your bw and I’m still a fat 170 lol. (31.5” waist). Doubt I’ll have abs before 160 lbs.

I'm 6'-0, dead on. I got out of highschool weighing 165 lbs, with a sub 30" waist. I got down to 155 lbs the summer after graduating, and never had a true 6-pack. I was doing 200 situps and 200 leg lifts a night and jumping rope for 45 minutes on top of working for my dad doing masonry. Never got better than 4 really defined abs and the ghosts of the bottom 2. Then I got married and that was the last time I was anywhere near 200 lbs.

In fairness, given how strong you are now, I'd bet you've put on the mass to have abs at a much higher bw than 155 - but yeah, still doubt it's 200.

I'm jealous of guys like Alan Thrall who seem to lose fat from their stomachs at the same or even faster rate as fat from everywhere else. Like most men I've met, my middle section will be the last to go. So I'd have to legit get competition lean to have a six pack most likely. That's never going to happen married with 2 kids.

[Hardartery]

Today is last day of 2022 cut. Waist down at least 2 inches, probably more like 3-5", no sign of abs whatsoever at 34".

Unfortunately you probably have 2-4 more inches and 20+ lbs before abs. Very few people have the genetics for abs at 200 lbs and your height without lots of drugs.

My waist was 34.5”’at your bw and I’m still a fat 170 lol. (31.5” waist). Doubt I’ll have abs before 160 lbs.

I'm 6'-0, dead on. I got out of highschool weighing 165 lbs, with a sub 30" waist. I got down to 155 lbs the summer after graduating, and never had a true 6-pack. I was doing 200 situps and 200 leg lifts a night and jumping rope for 45 minutes on top of working for my dad doing masonry. Never got better than 4 really defined abs and the ghosts of the bottom 2. Then I got married and that was the last time I was anywhere near 200 lbs.

In fairness, given how strong you are now, I'd bet you've put on the mass to have abs at a much higher bw than 155 - but yeah, still doubt it's 200.

I'm jealous of guys like Alan Thrall who seem to lose fat from their stomachs at the same or even faster rate as fat from everywhere else. Like most men I've met, my middle section will be the last to go. So I'd have to legit get competition lean to have a six pack most likely. That's never going to happen married with 2 kids.

Indeed. I know that I am losing weight when I actually look fatter, because the gut looks worse initially as any fat comes off of everywhere else first. I know that if people start noticing that I lost weight, it's actually that I gained so the gut looks smaller. Middle age is wonderful, lol.

[FredM]

Going off the rails of my cut. Stress eating is the worst habit I have developed as an adult. I put that I'm 165 on my renewed drivers license so now I *have* to unfatfuck myself, but that 8lbs seems impossible. Comparison is the thief of joy, but there is some middleschooler right now deadlifting 405 and starting their first software engineering internship. When I was in middle school, I was severely underweight and getting ignored by basically everyone. Not even getting shoved into lockers, just ignored.

I used to be thin. I used to be marginally less depressed and hopeless than I was now. I used to be Not Almost Thirty, and not reliant on histrionic outbursts of half ironic maudlin shitposting as a coping mechanism for my die roll of a below average existence. I am not the same as others.

Anyway with inflation I'm so broke I'm probably going to start missing meals anyway so lol

People don't work anymore. Especially in larger organizations. I just quit my job over how fucking ridiculous it's gotten. We need a project manager (scrum master). A product owner. A business analyst. A business engineer. A data architect. An analytics manager. A program manager. All of these people work full time on my project and I'm allowed to have a dev team of 3 (plus one QA). Not a single one of them can build the software. None of them are technical enough to actually turn business needs into software requirements so I have to do that part too. The Scrum Master can't use ADO so I have to do his job. The program manager constantly miscommunicates the program to leadership so I have to run those presentations or bail her out every 4 minutes.

It took 3 weeks to get a dryer fixed because the local repairmen are that overbooked. If you can actually DO WORK you can do pretty well in this economy. 80% or more of people are dead weight. So stop bi***ing all the time and learn to do some type of work before you're 30. You'll do fine if you can manage that.

Bonus: losing weight will be a lot easier when your time is spent working instead of complaining on forums. I lose 2 lbs every week I go to an office more than twice cause I mostly forget to eat those days.

I've lost 30% of my squat and pull strength in the last year and spent 6 months with such a fucked up perception of back pain I was scared to pick up strollers. But I'm having the most fun I've ever had training because I'm squatting 3" deeper and I can asian squat while holding my baby boys without any discomfort (instead of rolling onto my toes to keep my back straight and praying I didn't pull it). Sometimes to succeed you've gotta redefine success, ya know?

[dw]

Non-fat yogurt mixed with whey...wow, how had I never tried this before? Tastes great and the macros are great and it's pretty cheap per calorie.

[Culican]

Non-fat yogurt mixed with whey...wow, how had I never tried this before? Tastes great and the macros are great and it's pretty cheap per calorie.

I've done that and it is great. Lately, I have been using plain non-fat Greek yogurt with some Splenda and vanilla extract, in the amount needed to bring my protein where I want it, after dinner as dessert.

[cgeorg]

Non-fat yogurt mixed with whey...wow, how had I never tried this before? Tastes great and the macros are great and it's pretty cheap per calorie.

Ah yes, brogurt

[augeleven]

Non-fat yogurt mixed with whey...wow, how had I never tried this before? Tastes great and the macros are great and it's pretty cheap per calorie.

This is the … way.
Also, need some carbs? Mix in some breakfast cereal. Normally I use cheerios or Rice Krispies, but October is Count Chockula month

[dw]

I just bought some blueberries and two vats of yogurt. Already have the whey.

I'm all-in guys.

[Allentown]

Non-fat yogurt mixed with whey...wow, how had I never tried this before? Tastes great and the macros are great and it's pretty cheap per calorie.

This is the … way.
Also, need some carbs? Mix in some breakfast cereal. Normally I use cheerios or Rice Krispies, but October is Count Chockula month

Need some fat? Peanut butter.
Need more protein and don't really want to use whey? PB powder.

For larger quantities, I really need some texture in my brogurt or I start gagging, so I usually add granola. Recently I've been using trail mix, because I have been adding calories recently and I've been bad about hitting my Rx'd fat intake.

[augeleven]

I’m with you on added texture, Granola and peanut butter are too spendy calorically for me. If blander breakfast cereal isn’t doing it, sometimes I’ll throw in some diced apple or grapes

[dw]

What do you guys think of the accuracy of this calculator?

https://dqydj.com/body-fat-estimate-calculator/

I'm moving toward using my waist size rather than bodyweight to judge bf%, both because I often don't have access to a scale and because my body weight seems to fluctuate a lot.

Not sure about this particular calculator though, usually the "DEXA" estimate seems a bit high and the "caliper" estimate seems quite a bit too low.

[JohnHelton]

What do you guys think of the accuracy of this calculator?

https://dqydj.com/body-fat-estimate-calculator/

I'm moving toward using my waist size rather than bodyweight to judge bf%, both because I often don't have access to a scale and because my body weight seems to fluctuate a lot.

Not sure about this particular calculator though, usually the "DEXA" estimate seems a bit high and the "caliper" estimate seems quite a bit too low.

Pretty terrible. Not nearly enough inputs. It is way off of my DEXA and caliper measurements. It at least needs to include body weight as well. If someone was 6'0" and 275 lbs with a 34" waist, it would give the same results as someone that is 6'0" and 165 lbs with a 34" waist.

This works better.
https://www.bizcalcs.com/body-fat-ymca/

You can smooth your weight fluctuations with TrendWeight.com

[augeleven]

Before MacroFactor I just had a spreadsheet where I input my weight (almost daily) and it gave me a rolling 7 day and 14 day average. That smoothed things out a bit, and was well within spreadsheet abilities.