Can you be "cutting" and not lose muscle?

Can you be "cutting" and not lose muscle?

  • yes

    Votes: 213 68.3%

  • no

    Votes: 99 31.7%
  • Total voters
    312
Faith said:
im 260 pounds of fat basicly.. ive never lifted seriously until i read just how easy it is going to be for me to lose weight and then add muscle.
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Lemee tell you, when you've managed to drop just 30 pounds, you will have such an advantage in lower body workouts. Just think, your calves and thighs have to manage that 260 pounds all day long every day. When its down to 230, they will be relaxing :)

I went from 245 in late January, to 205 now (and dropping). When I do standing calf raises, I have to get 175 pounds onto a barbell on my neck to even be able to feel the weight :squat: :cheers:

workin2005 said:
Here ya go! :thumbsup:
Performance Pudding:
Hope this helps! :woohoo:
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Dang, that pudding's nutritional profile looks perfect! I like the fact it comes in butterscotch, chocolate and vanilla are so overdone in shakes, etc. How does it taste? Its a little bit pricey for me to take a $30 leap for 12 servings before hearing more about it.
 
How can there be 44 people on this board who think you can't make recomposition gains?
 
For me since I am natural, at best I maintain, usually I'll lose a bit. It depends on your diet, gear, genetics, etc.
 
this poll is flawed.

any fat phuck can retain their muscle (and even build some) while cutting fat. it's not that hard for them.

if your are already really lean and holding a lot of muscle, it's VERY difficult (if not impossible) to drop body fat and retain all your muscle without drugs.
 
Shed flab show the ab.

workin2005 said:
Experiment with your carb intake as well. I find eating most of my daily carb intake prior to 5 pm works well...after that it's just protein and fat. I would also adjust your carb intake on non workout days...not your total calories mind you, just your total carbs. So you'll be replacing what you don't eat in carbs with protein and healthy fats.
Workin
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I started doing this and so far it works like a charm. I haven't changed my training at all with the exception of some very light cardio on my non lifting days.

My strength has climbed and the flab has started to come off. I can tell you that before I knew this trick I would ALWAYS lose strength and intensity when I would diet.
Not this time.

Thanks Workin' brilliant advice.
 
massarmor said:
Can you be "cutting" (as opposed to bulking), and not lose muscle?

or will you always lose at least a little muscle while you cut?

and if it is possible to cut and not lose muscle, how would you do it?
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cutting is about losing as fat and as least amount muscle possible.

now there are even cases where people get stronger in their cut.

its just diet and the way you exercise.
 
azr101 said:
I started doing this and so far it works like a charm. I haven't changed my training at all with the exception of some very light cardio on my non lifting days.

My strength has climbed and the flab has started to come off. I can tell you that before I knew this trick I would ALWAYS lose strength and intensity when I would diet.
Not this time.

Thanks Workin' brilliant advice.
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My pleasure. I'm glad it's working for you azr! Keep me informed on your progress! :thumbsup:

Workin
 
Hank Vangut said:
this poll is flawed.

any fat phuck can retain their muscle (and even build some) while cutting fat. it's not that hard for them.

if your are already really lean and holding a lot of muscle, it's VERY difficult (if not impossible) to drop body fat and retain all your muscle without drugs.
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Hank, come come now. Heavy people aren't all... what you said.

GHB is a great anti-catabolic agent while in a moderate caloric deficit. When the body is in such a deficit, one undergoes acidosis, in which ingested protein and protein from muscle tissue is oxidized and excreted. GHB has been shown to buffer this effect.

GHB is not a drug. It is a nutrient that is found in almost every tissue of the body. ;)
 
I know of famous authors claiming that not only that you should maintain muscle during the diet, you Shoul(not could)...yes, you should add it.

I think it's bs.

It's always good to hear someone actually make it happen but it depends on a lot of factors. I've seen it number of times, but it usually lasts short. With extended periods of time, it's probably impossible to add muscle while dieting.
 
is there a formula to calculate your body fat percentage or do you need a machine? right now i six four 240 and could definately use to loose some fat off my stomach and a little off my chest whats the best way to do that
 
I like high dose BCAAs (40-50g/day), Carbolin-19, which is Biotest's forskolin product, and high dose cod liver oil (40-50g/day). This along with a very low carb approach with carb loads.

Those three alone are great at preventing muscle catabolism when dieting. Being fat adapted on a low carb diet is also important.
 
I think it is entirely possible but the efforts to keep the muscle will delay fat loss somewhat. It could take 20 weeks to lose what you want while keeping the muscle, while on the other hand it could take 10 weeks if you just dieted normally. Then you can focus on building up again. My 2 cents on it anway.
 
so what is an example of a good diet to loose fat and retain muscle or gain it if possible? i try and watch my carbs and eat a lot of protien and just started a new diet which cosists of eating mostly meat and doing cardio atleast 3 or 4 times a week and was wondering if i can do anything more. i eat usually at least one steak, a couple sandwiches and a chicken salad once or twice everyday along with about 3 or 4 protien shakes what else can i do to get some abs?
 
Neil5585 said:
I like high dose BCAAs (40-50g/day), Carbolin-19, which is Biotest's forskolin product, and high dose cod liver oil (40-50g/day). This along with a very low carb approach with carb loads.

Those three alone are great at preventing muscle catabolism when dieting. Being fat adapted on a low carb diet is also important.
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whats are BCAA's and what do they do for you?
 
j bizzle said:
whats are BCAA's and what do they do for you?
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BCAA's are short for Branched Chain Amino Acids. Here is a link with good info. There are BCAA's present in most protein Powders, they are especially valuable during a diet to spare muscle loss.

Invalid Link Removed
 
i know this isnt completely on topic, but does anyone in here know where i could get a hydrostatic bodyfat test? where they dip you in water...
 
Adrenolin said:
i know this isnt completely on topic, but does anyone in here know where i could get a hydrostatic bodyfat test? where they dip you in water...
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You should google it or something. We do hydrostatic weighing at our College in the kines dept, but its primarily for athletes and student research, however, sometimes the fitness/health centers at particular colleges, mostly JC's, will offer free hydro weighing to the public either for experience for their students, staff, equipment testing, or whatever reason.

Or you can pay for it.
 
There are some great diets out there that would definitely allow for you to actually gain LBM while dieting. I usually see a gain of of 3-5lbs of LBM in my clients and that is when they bring there bf below 5%.
 
Neil5585 said:
I like high dose BCAAs (40-50g/day), Carbolin-19, which is Biotest's forskolin product, and high dose cod liver oil (40-50g/day). This along with a very low carb approach with carb loads.
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That much cod liver oil would cause a toxic buildup of vitamin A.
 
massarmor said:
what is a HST routine?

dlew308 - yes, but you have to be at the beginning stages of bodybuilding usually. If you're already really close to being cut and you have a lot of muscle, I think it's very difficult.

cardinal - what is a cyclical carb diet?
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H.S.T.= hypertrophy specific training. here's a link http:// hypertrophy-specific.com i going to be running this routine for the bulking season this fall, there's a couple of guys here that have had some success with it, if i remember correctly, good success. it's kind of a weird idea at first, but read up on it.
 
You can definitely cut while gaining muscle. A few years ago I went from 280 to 233 @ 13% BF... I actually gained muscle because I was coming off of a hiatus... and I did it naturally.. but I had a very clean diet (basically water, rice, tuna, and chicken), and did cardio 4-5 days a week for 45 minutes...

It sucked. The cashiers at Safeway would look at me funny when I'd walk out with three bags full of tuna... heh...:head:
 
trend747 said:
You can definitely cut while gaining muscle. A few years ago I went from 280 to 233 @ 13% BF... I actually gained muscle because I was coming off of a hiatus... and I did it naturally.. but I had a very clean diet (basically water, rice, tuna, and chicken), and did cardio 4-5 days a week for 45 minutes...

It sucked. The cashiers at Safeway would look at me funny when I'd walk out with three bags full of tuna... heh...:head:
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I had a similar instance.

Also, be careful with the mercury content in tuna.
 
I've heard of loading fish oil at 40g per day, but not cod liver oil - that does seem to be excessive VitA. And, even with the fish oil, that high of dosage is only done for a short period before reducing it to 10-15g per day.

As, cutting and gaining lbm, sure it's possible. High Prot, high fat, low carb or carb cycling (my preference) combined with high intensity in the gym usually ellicits a good recomp. Workouts I've had best results with in that regard are: Meltdown Training 2.0 and 10x3 for Fat loss, though I also did fairly well on a 4-day, Upper/lower 5x5 split.

BCAAs are also a big help, as mentioned above.
 
A couple ways

1) steroids
2) slow, slow diet
3) slow diet + lots of bcaas
4) all of the above
 
trend747 said:
Agreed... but I think what you hear about that is a little overstated... I personally believe that you have to eat a crapload to have any mercury issues...
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Oh for sure... Though I do know an old friend who was a hobbyist bodybuilder that would eat about 3-4 cans of tuna per day and got some kind of toxicity issue from the mercury. He was feeling chronic fatigue and the symptoms got worse and they tested for everything and finally they narrowed it down to that. I don't know EXACT details, but I'm sure that even 1-2 cans a day won't harm most people.
 
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