Thread: Bulk and cut on the same diet?

interesting as i had the thoughts in my head, ie if i bulk and but on more muscle than fat i will get leaner,

not sure if its flawed though

Originally Posted by Gains

- Eventually this means that I'll have built enough muscle to put my daily calorie needs above my intake as my metabolism speeds up
- At that point I'll stop gaining lean mass but will start to slowly burn fat, the net result being that I end up keeping whatever lean mass gains I made but I lose the fat

As you say the lean muscle gains will gradually slow down and eventually stall because of the lack of surplus calories to feed growth.

However once you reach this point its likely that you will, for some time, stay in a point of homestosis where you don't gain muscle or lose fat. Not every having gained quite enough lean tissue to push you into a calorie deficit.

What would probably be more productive when you need to lose some fat is to switch the emphasis towards fat burning by reducing the calories slightly or incorporating more cardio to push you into a deficit.

Sound, so I keep going until I stop growing, then either increase calories to continue growing, or stick at the same amount but introduce cardio to create a deficit and hopefully lose fat.

It may well be what the majority of people do already, but all I ever read about is that "you must have a specific bulking diet" and "you must have a specific cutting diet".
If this works for me it'll save a lot of hassle as I like my current diet and have tweaked it so it's a good balance between ultra-clean, not very enjoyable and more enjoyable but with too much crap.
I also feel like sh1t on low-carb diets, with no energy and a short fuse.

Originally Posted by Gains

It may well be what the majority of people do already, but all I ever read about is that "you must have a specific bulking diet" and "you must have a specific cutting diet".

With zero fat gain you would in my opinion be compromising the potential muscle gains.

So if you are gaining mostly lean tissue with minimal fat gain (which is pretty much the ideal scenario for optimal muscle gains) the diet isn't far out.

Simply creating the deficit should give you the desired effect.