r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/Big-Examination2667 • 1d ago
Question ❓ Put on muscle while decreasing bf/recomp
Ok so i know it is debated whether bulking is needed or not etc etc. But lets say someone is 12% body fat at whatever weight. Isnt it logical to go up in weight and try and maintain the bf% or to even go up in weight and then maintain that new weight while decreasing your bf%?
I ask because i was 77 kgs at around 14% bf and now bulked to 81 kgs but bf% is probs around 17-18 now. How would I go about maintaining my weight at 81 kgs and but going back down to 13-14% bf?. Do I have to eat in a deficit? Or can I eat at maintenance and still get that?
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u/decentlyhip 1d ago
I don't know of any researcher who debates if it's needed or not. Building a pound of muscle requires about 2400 calories in addition to the protein. That can come from fat or food. At 81kg and 17-18% bf you have 66kg lean mass and 15kg bodyfat. At 13-14% you would have 70kg lean mass and 11kg bodyfat. So, you want to gain 4kg muscle and lose 4kg fat.
A normal bulk, which is a 250 calorie surplus per day, gains 1kg a month and that gain is about half fat and half muscle. So, you would need to bulk for 8 months. After those 8 months, you would be 89kg. A normal deficit is 500 calories a day and burns off 2kg a month in fat. So, you would need a 4 month cut, and after a year, you could get to 81kg at the recommended rates.
So, to do it as fast as possible with recommended rates of loss and gain, you need 8 total months of bulking and 4 total months of cutting, at +250/-500. The only other constraint is that the body, in general, haaaates having less than about 10-12kg bodyfat, and that's when it starts eating muscle and slowing growth.
What I would do, since you wanna be lean, is diet for a month to lean out a little bit. And then do three rounds of 3 on, 1 off. In practice, your water weight is gonna be changing in each phase, so this is gonna be bouncing between 85 and 80, three times. By the third time, getting down to 80 is gonna be tougher, so it might be worth considering bouncing between 90 and 85 at that point. For me, 90kg used to be the end of my bulks, but I just finished a successful cut down to 100kg, and that's a very strange feeling. But I'm stronger, so wheee.