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Thread: Need help finishing a cut

  1. #1
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    Default Need help finishing a cut

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    Hi Robert, Im coming to the tail end of a long cut. Over 2-3 years I've been cutting from 374 to 176 at 5'6" and 42 yeas old. The goal was to lose 200 pounds, get down to a 32" waist and get abs for once in my life. I'm almost there, taped my belly at 32.75" (I really am big boned too). I can only see the outside lines of the ab lines and the very upper edge in good lighting. My Dr says that I've lost too much and that the abs would be visible already if not for loose skin. Last time I checked with the calipers I was apx 13.1%.fat, a few pounds ago. At this point I'm pretty much getting by on 1.5 liters of skim milk and 18 eggs a day plus vitamins and continue to lose smoothly although I'm really weak, feels like an effort to lift my as overhead and my lifts are at around 50% of my peak strength when I was squatting and deadlufting 600 plus, benching 400 plus and pressing in the upper 200s.

    My question is how would someone like me stop the cut, stabilize and start moving to maintain the fat loss while moving towards somewhat lean gains? Should I add say x amount of quality carbs/calories, monitor for a week or 2, and re-evaluate? I'm kind of in uncharted territory. This journey wasnt about looks per se, rather about turning my life around but I've always been more interested in what I can do as opposed to how I look so I feel kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do you have any advice on how to start making gains without swinging back into obesity, as I fear my body is itching to do.

    Really sorry for the wall of text, I'd appreciate any advice you might be able to give.

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jake Del View Post
    Hi Robert, Im coming to the tail end of a long cut. Over 2-3 years I've been cutting from 374 to 176 at 5'6" and 42 yeas old. The goal was to lose 200 pounds, get down to a 32" waist and get abs for once in my life. I'm almost there, taped my belly at 32.75" (I really am big boned too). I can only see the outside lines of the ab lines and the very upper edge in good lighting. My Dr says that I've lost too much and that the abs would be visible already if not for loose skin. Last time I checked with the calipers I was apx 13.1%.fat, a few pounds ago. At this point I'm pretty much getting by on 1.5 liters of skim milk and 18 eggs a day plus vitamins and continue to lose smoothly although I'm really weak, feels like an effort to lift my as overhead and my lifts are at around 50% of my peak strength when I was squatting and deadlufting 600 plus, benching 400 plus and pressing in the upper 200s.

    My question is how would someone like me stop the cut, stabilize and start moving to maintain the fat loss while moving towards somewhat lean gains? Should I add say x amount of quality carbs/calories, monitor for a week or 2, and re-evaluate? I'm kind of in uncharted territory. This journey wasnt about looks per se, rather about turning my life around but I've always been more interested in what I can do as opposed to how I look so I feel kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do you have any advice on how to start making gains without swinging back into obesity, as I fear my body is itching to do.

    Really sorry for the wall of text, I'd appreciate any advice you might be able to give.
    Thanks for posting buddy!

    First, congratulations on the epic weight loss journey. i'm sure that strength helped you keep a good chunk of your muscle mass on the way down. How much can you lift now just out of curioisity?

    So my main question is hav eyou been cutting continuously for that entire 12 years or have you had periods of weight maitenance sandwiched in there? Now if you want to get leaner than you are now, provided you still have fat to lose and it isn't loose skin, you'll simply have to take drastic measures such as cutting calories lower or doing high volume conditioning. Getting that "last bit" off is not a matter of health, its more of what i like to call "competitive dieting" for most. So you'll have to make a decision there.

    If you want to start moving the other way and get your performance metrics back into play I'd suggest focusing on putting weight on the bar and eat enough to facilitate that. If your lifts aren't going up, add more carbs and see where that takes you. Your lifting performance will dictate your gains in muscular body weight far more than the scale so pay attention to that metric the most, with the waist circumference second.

  3. #3
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    Thanks a lot man, I really apreciate your help. I'm currently squatting 265x5, benching 230x3, deadlofting 355x5 and pressing 120x5, pretty depressing numbers in light of the past. Cardin wise I try brisk walk a minimum of 8km a day, sometimes more than double that, and that seemed to really help with the last 60 pounds. I was thinking to start working some running in as I increase the calories to help keep the gains lean. It's really crazy, it used to be an effort to go across the street and now I'm covering all this distance, I can't express how great full I am at regaining my mobility.

    Carb wise I was thinking of using oats pretty and post workout and lots of veggies at dinner to cover all the micro nutrients (plus.I've actually developed a taste for them.)

    Its just a kind of scary, it's taken a single minded mindset to get here and it's hard to let that go but I'm trying to switch from it being about the goal of losing to being about what I can do performance wise, both strength wise and cardiovascular wise, which will hopefully help keep body composition going in a positive direction. I know the long term challenge in these situations is not slipping back.

    Oh and that was a typo in my other post, was supposed to say it feels hard lifting my ARMS overhead lol.

  4. #4
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    Sorry I forgot to say yeah I've been cutting pretty much non stop for the last 3 years or so, with the odd cheat meal on holidays but progressively more strict as each new sticking point came.

  5. #5
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    Wow! Just wow! Congratulations JakeDel. That's amazing.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jake Del View Post
    Thanks a lot man, I really apreciate your help. I'm currently squatting 265x5, benching 230x3, deadlofting 355x5 and pressing 120x5, pretty depressing numbers in light of the past. Cardin wise I try brisk walk a minimum of 8km a day, sometimes more than double that, and that seemed to really help with the last 60 pounds. I was thinking to start working some running in as I increase the calories to help keep the gains lean. It's really crazy, it used to be an effort to go across the street and now I'm covering all this distance, I can't express how great full I am at regaining my mobility.

    Carb wise I was thinking of using oats pretty and post workout and lots of veggies at dinner to cover all the micro nutrients (plus.I've actually developed a taste for them.)

    Its just a kind of scary, it's taken a single minded mindset to get here and it's hard to let that go but I'm trying to switch from it being about the goal of losing to being about what I can do performance wise, both strength wise and cardiovascular wise, which will hopefully help keep body composition going in a positive direction. I know the long term challenge in these situations is not slipping back.

    Oh and that was a typo in my other post, was supposed to say it feels hard lifting my ARMS overhead lol.
    Awesome man. I'd say your body probably needs a break from long-term calorie restriction. Probably best you focus on getting some of that strength back and focus on making lifts. Oats are good pre, but you will want something a bit more concentrated in sugar intra or post workout. The veggies sound good but don't be afraid of fruits and whole grains too :-).

    Quote Originally Posted by Jake Del View Post
    Sorry I forgot to say yeah I've been cutting pretty much non stop for the last 3 years or so, with the odd cheat meal on holidays but progressively more strict as each new sticking point came.
    What was your training like on this cut?

  7. #7
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    Man, this is a great story. If you don't mind what was your strategy for losing that much weight? Cardio and huge caloric deficit? I'm sort of in the position you were in when you started, in my 330's and just finishing NLP and wanting to drop weight without giving up all my new found strength, but the idea of dropping 120 lbs is daunting to say the least.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Robert Santana View Post
    Awesome man. I'd say your body probably needs a break from long-term calorie restriction. Probably best you focus on getting some of that strength back and focus on making lifts. Oats are good pre, but you will want something a bit more concentrated in sugar intra or post workout. The veggies sound good but don't be afraid of fruits and whole grains too :-).

    That's great to hear! I love fruit lol, it would be great to work some back in during the post workout. I try to keep things as spartan as possible because it was a big thing for me to break the association between food and pleasure/stress relief. I did this by long stretch of just getting by on protein shakes 4x day. It wasnt the healthiest but it did help break that association and help me to see food intake as fuel. That said I'm glad I've weaned off them but I still try to avoid making things too tasty.



    What was your training like on this cut?
    Most of my training history was built around Bill Starr style programming, especially in my stronger days. Through the cut, as I got weaker and weaker, I started using the training as calorie burning/stress relief, alternating upper and lower 2xday 6x week at times. Even though I was getting weaker I figured I had to give my body a reason to see muscle tissue as something that it should hold on to, and I was never a big cardio guy because of the bodyweight. These days I've cut back on all that, usually doing whole body 3 or 4 days a week to put more emphasis on making the walking progressive. Between the weights and the walking, many days I'm physically active 6-8 hours a day. I sounds a little nuts but I think I retained some muscle all things considered, pecs and traps seem decent. Shoulders disappeared though lol. Legs shriveled up too but seem to be improving lately.

    I'm not sure how to adjust my training as I come off the cut though. Part of me wants to go back to the Starr 4 Day heavy, light, medium, medium setup or run a ss lp, the other thinking is that may even try a strength focused bro split to try to fill in some of this loose skin, it really, really bugs me. I'm hoping time will help but I was heavy my whole life.

  9. #9
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    Thanks Farsighted! Not that amazing though, just figured I had to clean up the mess I'd myself to fall into.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jake Del View Post
    Most of my training history was built around Bill Starr style programming, especially in my stronger days. Through the cut, as I got weaker and weaker, I started using the training as calorie burning/stress relief, alternating upper and lower 2xday 6x week at times. Even though I was getting weaker I figured I had to give my body a reason to see muscle tissue as something that it should hold on to, and I was never a big cardio guy because of the bodyweight. These days I've cut back on all that, usually doing whole body 3 or 4 days a week to put more emphasis on making the walking progressive. Between the weights and the walking, many days I'm physically active 6-8 hours a day. I sounds a little nuts but I think I retained some muscle all things considered, pecs and traps seem decent. Shoulders disappeared though lol. Legs shriveled up too but seem to be improving lately.

    I'm not sure how to adjust my training as I come off the cut though. Part of me wants to go back to the Starr 4 Day heavy, light, medium, medium setup or run a ss lp, the other thinking is that may even try a strength focused bro split to try to fill in some of this loose skin, it really, really bugs me. I'm hoping time will help but I was heavy my whole life.
    Focus on getting strong at the 4 main lifts and the lost muscle will likely be regained. I’d say run the SSNLP minus the resets, then segueway into Starr. You’ll be surprised how well this works ;-)

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