Hahahaha…now, you see why I’ve never kept a journal? I’m the worst when it comes to things like updating.

I opted to begin cutting because I had reached a point in my body fat percentage where shedding fat and gain muscle simultaneously was no longer possible. This point is different in all of us. Hopefully, you can continue both for a very long time.

However, once a person hits this point, it’s very difficult to gain muscle while losing weight. It’s akin to the serving two masters. Currently, I’m at about 8% - 9% (give or take a small margin of error) body fat hoping to reach the 5% - 6% range. The only way to accomplish this is by alternating a weight gain and weight loss cycle.

This is what I do. A full cycle consists of weight gain for a period of 8 – 10 weeks. Generally, I try to gain about 5 - 6 pounds. And, I don’t mean water pounds, but actual honest to goodness weight. During this stage, I eat quite a few more carbs to increase calorie intake while lifting very intense weights. I also make an effort to curtail cardio to shorter and faster runs. During the 10 weeks, the 5 pounds or so of weight gain will usually consist of 3 lbs (if I’m lucky) muscle, and 2 lbs of fat. The ratio for me has been about 60/40 in favor of muscle. When my fat % was higher in the teens, this ratio was about 70/30.

The next period will be a full cutting phase. For obvious reasons, a no carb eating regimen is the favored here, given that it’s high in protein, fat, and without wasted calories. What I do here is target a slight calorie deficit, which for me is about 2,000 calories. I continue lifting weights, but increase the duration of my running to begin an aggressively weight loss stage. The hope here is to simply minimize muscle loss, while accelerating fat loss. Again, the ration is about 60/40 in favor of fat dissipation.

My goal is to repeat until my body fat % rests at 5% - 6%.

In my view, at a certain point when body fat % is low enough, this is the only way to further reduce body fat. Without cycling, the weight loss will eventually cannibalize enough muscle making decreasing body fat % all but impossible.

The new twist now is that I’ve opted not to “carb-up” during the weight gain phase. I’m curious to see how that will work. During this cycle, I had gone from 145 – 152. Now, I’m on the cutting to bring it down to 145lbs, then back up to 150lbs. Several months ago, my body fat was around 9% at 150 lbs. After the cutting and bulking stage back to 150 lbs, I’m hoping to see 7 % - 8%. I’ll post the results and make an effort to calculate the % difference when the cycle has completed and I have verified the results.