First cutting cycle after a few years off

[WannaBeBIG]

@WannaBeBIG Keep it my man and finish this cycle strong! For me, I wouldn't smash that high of a dosage-I am firm believer that small dosage (increase over-time by small %) incorporated with proper nutrition and strict workout schedule,.is the key to maintain and retain those hard-earn gains.

In the advice I give others on PEDs I tend to steer people into your mindset and it’s one I’d like to say I adhere to but I’ve always been someone to take things to excess which in the past led to some significant muscle growth much of my size was lost over the past few years of inactivity.

Coming back on after not cycling for a few years gave me the idea I had to blast and knowing how far I wanted to take the deficit of calories I opted for slightly higher doses than I would typically run in the name of minimizing muscle loss.

I hear you and seeing that I’m 35 now I should give my Heath more of a priority when choosing dosages in the future. It’s a work in progress

 

[WannaBeBIG]

So my back was tremendously painful for several days and then a few days ago I woke up completely pain free. It was like someone flicked a pain lightswitch to 'off' while I was sleeping because I've been able to lift twice this week so far without issue.

With the back pain I had to take a break from the gym for a little over a week and halted my walks as well but didn't see a shift in weight loss during my downtime healing. I dug through some old stu mcgill literature I had from my last back injury so I had some exercise ideas if the pain continued to work around the injury but it looks like I won't need them. I'm however going to be putting more of an emphasis into maintaining neutral spine as I go about my day and the more torso work I do in the gym is really helping with that.

Diet slipped a couple times while I was in pain, I didn't want to move and even cooking hurt so I ordered food a couple times which still kept me in a caloric deficit but the macros were more carb heavy than I have been eating so for a couple days I was fuller and heavier due to water retention. I'm back to 217 as of this morning at 21% bodyfat so no big change there but with my newfound consistency going to the gym 2-3x a week I believe will start having the biggest impact on body composition. I do feel still like a fat fucking slob but am seeing slight changes so I'm just going to keep moving forward with keeping diet tight and increasing frequency of my weightroom time and being more consistent with the weight-vest walking now that the weather is improving despite the fact it's been snowing all day here!

To some it may seem unintelligent to have calories so low but it must be understood that for over a year I was hardly eating one meal a day and in the worst days of the depression I would sometimes go days without anything at all. So working from a standpoint of eating 2500 calories and setting a deficit from that number expecting a change wasn't realistic. I had to work from an already calorically depleted state and in a way build up to 1400 calories and work on exercising more. As I get more lean I'll slowly introduce calories back into the diet until I reach my expected maintenance amount but I need to be smart about this so I don't create any metabolic syndrome.

I'm really just happy my spine doesn't hurt as much anymore. I was very concerned for several days thinking I did some serious damage to an old disk injury.

 

[EJ1739]

So my back was tremendously painful for several days and then a few days ago I woke up completely pain free. It was like someone flicked a pain lightswitch to 'off' while I was sleeping because I've been able to lift twice this week so far without issue.

With the back pain I had to take a break from the gym for a little over a week and halted my walks as well but didn't see a shift in weight loss during my downtime healing. I dug through some old stu mcgill literature I had from my last back injury so I had some exercise ideas if the pain continued to work around the injury but it looks like I won't need them. I'm however going to be putting more of an emphasis into maintaining neutral spine as I go about my day and the more torso work I do in the gym is really helping with that.

Diet slipped a couple times while I was in pain, I didn't want to move and even cooking hurt so I ordered food a couple times which still kept me in a caloric deficit but the macros were more carb heavy than I have been eating so for a couple days I was fuller and heavier due to water retention. I'm back to 217 as of this morning at 21% bodyfat so no big change there but with my newfound consistency going to the gym 2-3x a week I believe will start having the biggest impact on body composition. I do feel still like a fat fucking slob but am seeing slight changes so I'm just going to keep moving forward with keeping diet tight and increasing frequency of my weightroom time and being more consistent with the weight-vest walking now that the weather is improving despite the fact it's been snowing all day here!

To some it may seem unintelligent to have calories so low but it must be understood that for over a year I was hardly eating one meal a day and in the worst days of the depression I would sometimes go days without anything at all. So working from a standpoint of eating 2500 calories and setting a deficit from that number expecting a change wasn't realistic. I had to work from an already calorically depleted state and in a way build up to 1400 calories and work on exercising more. As I get more lean I'll slowly introduce calories back into the diet until I reach my expected maintenance amount but I need to be smart about this so I don't create any metabolic syndrome.

I'm really just happy my spine doesn't hurt as much anymore. I was very concerned for several days thinking I did some serious damage to an old disk injury.

Sorry to hear about your depression - it fucking sucks!

I have suffered with back pain for years. I’ll push and pull some big weights with no pain, but then holding my 1 year old daughter stood upright kills my lower back. I do a great exercise where you sit on the floor in a cross legged position, then grab one foot and pull it over the top of your other leg near your knee, so your ankle is just past your thigh (otherwise your ankle digs in like a mofo). Then simply, gently push your knee towards the floor of the leg that is raised up over your thigh and feel it stretch just above your glute. Hurts a bit, but does help relieve pain.

Also, I don’t know what the issue is with starting at a low calorie deficit. Most years, I go from about 3-4000 daily right down to 1800-2200 then in the last 4 weeks I go to 1500. I always maintain my size, I just get flat for the 2-3 months. I will have a two day refeed in between where I eat as much as I can to help reset my metabolism. Never had any issues and I get beach lean doing that, sometimes even between beach lean 6 weeks out of a competition lean. I weigh about 225 in the off-season and 185 at about 9% body fat 5”10
Oh and I do at least 1-2 hours of outside walking per day. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken!

 

[WannaBeBIG]

Sorry to hear about your depression - it fucking sucks!

I have suffered with back pain for years. I’ll push and pull some big weights with no pain, but then holding my 1 year old daughter stood upright kills my lower back. I do a great exercise where you sit on the floor in a cross legged position, then grab one foot and pull it over the top of your other leg near your knee, so your ankle is just past your thigh (otherwise your ankle digs in like a mofo). Then simply, gently push your knee towards the floor of the leg that is raised up over your thigh and feel it stretch just above your glute. Hurts a bit, but does help relieve pain.

Also, I don’t know what the issue is with starting at a low calorie deficit. Most years, I go from about 3-4000 daily right down to 1800-2200 then in the last 4 weeks I go to 1500. I always maintain my size, I just get flat for the 2-3 months. I will have a two day refeed in between where I eat as much as I can to help reset my metabolism. Never had any issues and I get beach lean doing that, sometimes even between beach lean 6 weeks out of a competition lean. I weigh about 225 in the off-season and 185 at about 9% body fat 5”10
Oh and I do at least 1-2 hours of outside walking per day. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken!

The issue in starting like I did at an already restricted calorie intake is that there isn’t more room where you can cut calories since you never really want to get below 1200 as a rule of thumb. I was already barely eating so I may not even be in a caloric deficit from what my body is accustomed to. That being said I’ve eaten strict and the same meals daily since January and have noticed steady changes to my stomach circumference but not a ton of weight lost probably due to my hormone load which has stayed the same for about two months now.

For me I know the key to more improvements is simply increasing energy expenditure by walking more and hitting the gym more often. I also need to keep up with drinking protein shakes because I haven’t been good at keeping my protein targets met regularly. From a dietary perspective keeping my calories low and macros split like I have them will provide suitable energy as long as my protein targets are met.

I can definitely relate to small things throwing your back off. Sometimes it’s a small thing like moving a garbage bag will cause pain for a couple days but I can lug tires on rims up flights of stairs without issue. I know it’s related to neuro demands on the muscles and expectations of heavier loads when paying attention which just means I need (we both need) to be more conscious of our movements in keeping a stable/neutral spine

My weight hasn’t fluctuated much in the past week but hovers around 215-220 depending on hydration and whether I’d taken a big shit first. I don’t expect to lose more with food intake alone without more exercise interventions and am thinking about adding in ECA stack since I have it on hand at home already and could use the energy boost lately. It’s been getting easier to leave the house to go to the gym and I’m moving down the road in a couple weeks so my 35min commute to the gym will be cut down to 7mins. I’m looking forward to the move but wish I could just rip off the bandaid and have the move be done already since I’m anxious as fuck

 

[WannaBeBIG]

Still having issues making it to the gym due to back pain but have been going pretty consistently twice a week. I’ve also begun walking my dog more instead of just letting him do his business in the backyard. This has led to shedding a few more pounds where this week I’m sitting at at 212 lbs. I haven’t checked my body fat % since my device is packed because I move in four days. Even with the move scheduled for the beginning of the week I have my workouts mapped out and with the much shorter commute to the gym I expect to have an easier time getting there.

Fat loss is slowing down a little since my back injury a month ago because moving hurts so I’ve been really limiting myself. As it begins to feel better I’ll feel more inclined to lift and move more. I’d like to get my bicycle out of the shed and take some trips downtown to some patios soon so I want my back to be 100% before that happens.

I still have only really been relying on my diet to drive the fat loss which is still working and I’ve been seeing changes especially around my stomach. Until that stalls I won’t be dropping any more calories since my restriction is already excessive and might start an eca stack like I had initially planned for much sooner. I’m still trying to be patient but I do want to see fat loss happen quicker now that I’m single again for the first time in years and want to get back to sport fucking

 

[EJ1739]

The issue in starting like I did at an already restricted calorie intake is that there isn’t more room where you can cut calories since you never really want to get below 1200 as a rule of thumb. I was already barely eating so I may not even be in a caloric deficit from what my body is accustomed to. That being said I’ve eaten strict and the same meals daily since January and have noticed steady changes to my stomach circumference but not a ton of weight lost probably due to my hormone load which has stayed the same for about two months now.

For me I know the key to more improvements is simply increasing energy expenditure by walking more and hitting the gym more often. I also need to keep up with drinking protein shakes because I haven’t been good at keeping my protein targets met regularly. From a dietary perspective keeping my calories low and macros split like I have them will provide suitable energy as long as my protein targets are met.

I can definitely relate to small things throwing your back off. Sometimes it’s a small thing like moving a garbage bag will cause pain for a couple days but I can lug tires on rims up flights of stairs without issue. I know it’s related to neuro demands on the muscles and expectations of heavier loads when paying attention which just means I need (we both need) to be more conscious of our movements in keeping a stable/neutral spine

My weight hasn’t fluctuated much in the past week but hovers around 215-220 depending on hydration and whether I’d taken a big shit first. I don’t expect to lose more with food intake alone without more exercise interventions and am thinking about adding in ECA stack since I have it on hand at home already and could use the energy boost lately. It’s been getting easier to leave the house to go to the gym and I’m moving down the road in a couple weeks so my 35min commute to the gym will be cut down to 7mins. I’m looking forward to the move but wish I could just rip off the bandaid and have the move be done already since I’m anxious as fuck

I would just focus on high light reps and keep your workouts short. When I train back I will never do a bent over row, unless there is a machine with the platform to lay the whole of my front body on, as I know this aggravates my back. Are you in the U.S or the U.K? As, surely you can get help for your back? In the UK we get everything we want/help for free, but I know in the U.S it is an entirely different story. The U.S medical system disgusts me!


Personally, buddy I would just take a week off and eat 2500-3500 calories for one week, maybe do some walking. This isn't going to hurt your progress a lot. You just maybe bloated. Then restart where you were.

One of the most powerful pieces of advice and tools that absolutely help me cutting or bulking, more so cutting. Is to just take a week off and do a small amount of cardio and just eat what I want to give my body a break and to reset my metabolism. This has always worked amazing for me.

Especially, if I have initially started my cut at a low calorie intake. That week off makes a huge difference, fill back out with loads of carbs etc, then go straight back into it at the same calories as you were before your week off.

This is all from my own experience. My baseline is probably 25-28% body fat, with no exercise or training and no gear. However, I do seem to be able to drop body fat very quickly. Even, from 28% body fat. I can get my abs visible in 2 weeks. I do have very deep cuts or insertions whatever they are called between my abs though.

Even at 1200 calories and have plateaued, you will still lose body fat as you probably know, it's just a lot slower and a lot of muscle will be eaten as well.


If you