How do you end your bulk ?

[malsI]

I plan to stop my bulk tomorrow.
I've once read something like it's better to take a break after the bulk, I don't know, it's too vague in my memory.

That's what I want to know.
I'm at 3700 calories a day right now. When I stop, how much should I eat ?
Do I need a little break ?
What are the steps to do ?!

Thanks dudes /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[gametime]

Gradually lower calories

[malsI]

250 calories every week ?

[X-Factor]

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250 calories every week ?

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Whatever works don't drop too much.

[AnT-]

Whatever you do, pig out big time first /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
If I were you I would take a break before cutting, let your body recover for a week.

[gametime]

[ QUOTE ]
250 calories every week ?

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That's fine...and increase/decrease as needed.

[LegendaryWatcher]

At the end of any cycle over 8 weeks in length I make sure that I first off take 1-2 weeks off. When I say off I mean completely away from any workouts what so ever.

During this time you can choose to eat where you left off, calorie wise, when you ended your bulk, or you can go ahead and decrease an initial 250-500 calories, depending on how your body anabolically responds to dips in caloric consumption.

Make sure to decrease your calories at the beginning of every third week by 250. I also like to introduce only one cardio session at a time as to not plateau prematurely. That means if I didn't do cardio on my bulk, which I never do, I would add one and and another when I feel the caloric drop is no longer effective. Then, on that third week decrease calories again and monitor your lbm. That way you can decide when to add more cardio as needed.

Good luck to you buddy and keep up the good work!

Also, don't forget the post cycle mega cheat meal!!

[malsI]

Great! Thanks alot for the infos LegendaryWatcher, and the others.

I reserved my mega cheat for the 31st /forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif
After that, I'll probably take a week off. Even if my bulk only lasted 6 weeks and 5 days.

[greg512]

i like to maintain for one week before switching between bulking and cutting.

[RGKfit]

I find a 3 step type process to be very effective, as to not "shock" the body, and proceed logically. If you choose to take a week off, this is fine, but eat maintenance if you do. This is your choice. This may or may not be counterproductive in this scenario I suggest, but I know this works.(the choice is yours either way.)

My first step would be to increase your workload....i.e...the fat loss workout on this site is ideal. Do not decrease your weights, but increase your work intensity, more supersets, drop sets, etc. The 13 week fat loss workout on this site is ideal for this. A workout like this will expend a large caloric load, while still keeping your diet at maintenance. Do not lower calories yet.

Now, next step is when this extra workload starts to dissapate, then let your diet go to work, and start intelligent calorie decreases as mentioned, 250 is a good number. Start upping your protein slowly, reducing carbs slightly, and adding EFA's. The 13 week diet for fat loss on this site is an excellent template to follow.

Now, thirdly, you cannot cut calories forever. this is where many make their mistake, this is the time to add in cardio as an extension of your diet. (doing cardio too soon will leave you nowhere to turn but cut more calories, which at some point will backfire on you). Good luck to you and hope this helps. Give yourself plenty of time, a 1 lb. per week loss is ideal for fat loss.

[Satch]

Great breakdown Ron!!

[malsI]

I couldnt ask for better. Thanks RGK

There's still one thing I'm confused with. I stopped my bulk at 3700 calories. My maximum maintaining rate was 3200 before bulking. Is it still the same number ? Or considering that I upped my calories from 3500 to 3700 because I wasn't gaining anymore, is 3500 my new max maintaining rate ?
So should I drop directly to 3200 ? or 3500 ? I'm not sure if I would still be bulking if I only drop to 3500. And I'm not sure if it would be good to drop from 3700 to 3200. That's a big margin.

[TheMac]

I have a question similar to this since my bulk already has a very high workload ( twice a day 3 times a week plus once a day 3 times a week ) how do i change to a cut since it is recommended not to use double splits on a cut (not to mention i won't have the time in the summer ). Currently eating 4.5k cals a day since i am at the gym twice a day during the week. Once i drop to once a day i would think i need to drop cals by a noticeable amount to not gain more weight than i was on my bulk.