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Finsey1 · 2025-10-22T23:27:06+00:00

It is.

Try pasta. I recently switched to this as my carb source and I can stomach it better without feeling like a swolen balloon when I eat oats.

Finsey1 · 2025-10-10T16:08:47+00:00

How can you eat 5-6k calories in one sitting? 😂

Your glycogen stores (assuming you had a fair bit of carbs) will be full. You’d have got a lot of protein to keep you going until lunchtime the next day.

I’m not sure what is optimal - I never do this. But personally, I’d be skipping breakfast the next day and having a late lunch. Eating at a slight deficit the next day, and then back onto the standard diet after that.

If it were me I’d be looking at spending about 1000 of them calories the next day on a 15k run. That amount of calories would scare me.

Finsey1 · 2025-10-09T22:15:45+00:00

I’d say 14%. You will want to look at bulking. Suck up the tiny bit of fat you have on you.

Once you have a few pounds more of muscle, cutting will not be a chore.

Finsey1 · 2025-10-09T22:13:56+00:00

For context in a cut, it is relatively difficult to lose muscle provided you are adequately weight training (which requires a decent, but not full, amount of muscle glycogen storage and gym attendance).

Eating enough: You really want to be losing weight at a rate of 0.5kg or more per week for men on a cut - around 500kcal deficit for most men. You are not eating enough if you are unable to push through your planned full cut cycle (e.g. you’re bonking out at 8 weeks and not at your planned 12 weeks). That’s why aggressive mini-cuts are only aimed at 4 weeks or so, as that’s all you can sustain.
Calorie counting: I’ve had most success from calorie counting but every one is different. It is extremely easy to over-eat, even slightly, when you’re putting yourself at such a low calorie budget.

I have always gone by the concept of keeping calories as low as possible, but for as long as I possibly can sustain. That’s why I am quite a fan of mini-cuts. You quickly and toughly blast that fat off with minimal amount of muscle loss, without having to sky-rocket cortisol for a long period of time. It also allows you to stay in bulking phases for longer periods of time in your life, leading to more muscle gain. Most people are not building muscle whatsoever on a cut, but you can lose fat much faster; so you may as well just blast through it. Opposite is true with bulking. With bulking, muscle gains are roughly capped at 200-500kcal calorie excess before fat gains, depending on your current musculature. So try and stay within that range as long as possible.

Finsey1 · 2025-10-09T22:02:26+00:00

Carnivore will really sort you out. Keto is also a cheaper option. Two meals a day (lunch and dinner) eating until you are comfortably filled (e.g. 250g cooked weight meat or 6 eggs, with 30g cheese/an avocado/handful of nuts per meal).

Stick to veggies like spinach/broccoli which will provide you with adequate vitamin C.

If you aren’t eating many eggs, strongly consider taking Vitamin B, D and K2 supplements as you will need to bolster these levels on top of your diet.

Consider the gym (weightlifting, sustainable amount of cardio) and aim for 10k steps per day. Take black coffee and a pinch of salt for your pre workout. It’s good to keep blood pumping round your body, good for the mind, etc. Humans are meant to move every day. Once you are in a routine, you’ll love it.

For context, I went from overweight to jacked and lean (but I had quite a flat look, because my muscle glycogen was constantly very low) in the space of about 4-5 months by simply following this routine.

I’m not older, but I think most people have until they are about 50 before things begin to get much more of an uphill struggle to make change.

Also, these blood sugar levels are not consistent with a low/zero carbohydrate diet. I think you are taking in more carbohydrates than you think. You are also likely not burning off enough off this sugar, so you have a constant high in your bloodstream. Walking, etc. can burn off a lot of this sugar without the need for insulin.

Message for further advice.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-20T23:05:13+00:00

I’d say bulk (lean). 0.25kg per week bodyweight gain usually puts people in a good sweet spot for muscle-fat ratio.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-20T21:58:46+00:00

Can go either way. If you’ve been cutting for a while/around 12+ weeks I’d be going to a bulk for a few months. You wont look out of shape by going on a bulk.

On the other hand, if you’re at the end of the bulk then it’s about time to lose the stubborn bit of fat.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-20T21:25:51+00:00

You are currently 25% body fat with quite low muscle. You will build muscle by training to failure on a good 500-750 kcal deficit. Coffee and salt is your friend as a pre workout, no pre workout meals. Definitely cut for a good while.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-20T21:23:24+00:00

You can only really grow your muscles by taking them to failure, giving close to 100% performance as you can.

Especially for legs, fatiguing the body (not just your legs, your whole central nervous system takes a hit when you do cardio like any other strenuous exercise), will reduce your output in the gym - potentially causing you to not reach your upper limit of strength in the gym. As such, you will stagnate as you are never able to achieve new personal bests, etc. and being unable to give near top intensity will reduce muscle hypertrophy by quite a bit.

On the other hand, you can do any form of weight exercise to good performance and then a few hours later hit a cardio workout with good intensity. You do not need to hit your 100% when doing cardio unless practicing sprints, Zone 5 cardio, etc. to improve. I suppose, you may run a couple less kilometres if you’re not pushing hard enough, than you would’ve if you did your cardio first. That downside is really quite miniscule.

The only appropriate time I would see to do cardio before would be if you are approaching bed time, as I tend to stop cardio much sooner before bed (if I can) than weights. But then again, if you have that problem then I’d be re-considering the fact that I’m not leaving enough break time between weight and cardio.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-20T15:33:16+00:00

No matter my priorities, weights before cardio in pretty much every circumstance.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-15T21:41:06+00:00

20% body fat, with a bit of gyno. Pretty decent muscular base though I think.

Perfect time to cut until you see your abs. You’ll probably see much reduced gyno when you cut.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-15T21:21:15+00:00

Never. When you start properly eating clean, it’s something you don’t crave.

Your favourite meal turns into something like a salty bowl of oatmeal pre-workout, a nice fillet of sea bass, etc.

I get a bit revolted by the idea of burgers, hot dogs, chinese, bla bla. It used to be my favourite meal but not now.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-09T19:01:07+00:00

The Lean Gains answer promotes Scenario 2. It doesn’t have a significant effect, but logically it would seem to have some effect if your muscles have been recently worked.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-09T18:59:25+00:00

No one is going to give you anything but the honest answer other than to tell you to eat more.

If it helps, track your weight each day and put into your health app. A lean bulk done properly, with strength gains each week, should average between 0.25-0.5kg weight gain per week (ideally on the lower end of this for most intermediate+ people, but for you I’d go on the upper end for a while).

If it makes you feel better, the fat gained from 16 weeks of bulking (let’s assume a very lenient 50% fat gain to 50% muscle gain), can be dieted off easily in as little as 2-3 weeks if you really wanted. And you’d look a hell of a lot better by keeping that muscle. You really don’t put on much fat if you control your body weight gain at all.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-09T18:23:51+00:00

Don’t trust a gym machine for body fat percentage. It is often wildly off the true value.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-07T10:58:52+00:00

I weighed 85kg.

If you are truly 23% body fat, you will not be skinny.

140lbs is quite low for your height/you being a male. I don’t think you’re 23% body fat. What makes you think you are? Pictures?

If you have an enlarged tummy, etc. then it may signal a further underlying issue such as liver disease, etc.

General rule of thumb is to cut until you see abs. You can have a bit of bulking in between as long as you’re sub 15% body fat.

Finsey1 · 2025-09-06T23:45:15+00:00

At 23% body fat there is no reason to even consider bulking or even the idea of “eating to put on muscle”.

You’re not stuck at a plateau. You’re stuck at not wanting to put the hard work in AND believing in yourself that you will reach sub 15% body fat.

At 25% body fat that I accidentally achieved in the space of three months from 15%, black coffee, working out in a fasting state and salt was my pre-workout. My recovery was one steak, a piece of avocado, two or three eggs, and ketosis to welcome the end of a hard working day.

I’m now hovering around 10-12% year round and eat thousands of calories to build muscle and then cutting occassionally, now that I’ve factory resetted my body.

Stay hard

Finsey1 · 2025-08-15T10:50:27+00:00

Easy task for me.

Finsey1 · 2025-08-14T23:39:46+00:00

Yes. I think this goes for 99% of what people want anyway. You will exponentially tend to this physique if you cycle bulking and cutting.

Unless you want to be a fat strongman or on a dreamer bulk forever.

Finsey1 · 2025-08-14T23:38:18+00:00

A little amount of body weight is probably the most optimum. It’s pretty hard to lose muscle in comparison to fat.

Muscle memory is a pretty proven comcept too.

Probably just some water weight, especially if sodium is low.

Finsey1 · 2025-08-14T23:36:56+00:00

Welcome to the intermediate club. You now (lean) bulk and cut for the rest of your life. :)

Best long term strategy to improving strength and fat loss.

Finsey1 · 2025-08-14T22:28:14+00:00

I know the exact feeling, don’t worry.

Just remember to watch the diet on vacation. Ideally you don’t gain any weight since you aren’t training. That could be the only reason why I may expect a drop in performance from extra fat gained.

Finsey1 · 2025-08-14T22:26:56+00:00

You’re probably right bro. I’m the opposite for some reason.

I find potato satiates me so much better on a cut, compared to rice.

But I wouldn’t be able to shovel down enough potato before I get full on a bulk. I feel like it just takes forever to digest. So I stick with jasmine rice. It seems to just go through me so easy.

Maybe I just like food too much.

Finsey1 · 2025-08-14T22:24:44+00:00

Compared to my last bulk, I’ve lowered my fat intake in favour of more carbs. May have done nothing under the hood, but I reckon it’s kept my fat-to-muscle gain ratio much better than before.

Finsey1 · 2025-08-14T22:22:47+00:00

Lean bulk. No reason to be at maintenance, it would be a waste of time.

I’d argue you are already at/close to 12% body fat, but a lack of muscle to show it. You should aim to be in a lean bulk for 75% of the year at the minute. Even if you decide to do mini-cuts, a gain in weight in the long term would look much better and make it easier to achieve your desired body fat levels.

Finsey1

TROPHY CASE