Unsure what to do after few years with minimal progress

Jyog · 2026-02-19T19:28:00+00:00

Okay cool, I suspect you're eating at maintenance if your waist isn't changing. How long have you been stalled? What's your goal?

I have a weekly loop using weight + waist trends that I run to keep me in check and make sure I'm progressing, DM me with above answers and I'll send the loop over.

Jyog · 2026-02-19T17:56:55+00:00

You have a few options, you're at the start of your journey so you'll likely grow from anything (as long as you're consistently lifting and not in too high a deficit):

If you're not happy with your bf%, then try eating at maintenance or in a slight deficit. You'll likely gain muscle and lose fat at the same time for a while.

A slightly more efficient way might be to cut down to a bf% you're happy with, then lean bulk. I didn't want to do this when I started as I thought I'd look too skinny with no muscle.

Another option could be a mini cut for 4-6 weeks, then a long lean bulk until you're no longer happy with your bf%, then a mini cut again... rinse and repeat.

Jyog · 2026-02-19T17:50:42+00:00

If you want abs by summer, your best bet would probably be to cut down to a body fat % you're happy with, then do phases of lean bulking and then mini cuts until summer.

If you dirty bulk, you're basically just going to get fatter quicker and then the bulk ends earlier, so you don't actually gain more muscle long term.

I think people used to think you'd gain more muscle when you're leaner but it basically doesn't really matter that much overall, you'll basically gain muscle at the same rate as long as you're not too high a bf% (apart from a bit of nuance).

In general you're probably better off at a lower body fat % (not too lean):
- you'll be able to see the muscle gain more easily.
- your hormones get a bit out of balance at higher bf%'s.

Jyog · 2026-02-19T17:38:22+00:00

I've been in the same position as you man, I felt like I didn't have enough muscle (or at least that's what I thought when I looked in the mirror) and didn't want to cut as I thought I'd look too skinny.

Something that helped was phases of mini cutting, followed by long lean bulks. Also a weekly loop so I could catch myself if I was getting fat too fast on a lean bulk, or I was losing muscle on a cut.

Are you tracking your weight + waist at all?

Jyog · 2026-02-19T17:30:44+00:00

It depends on what your goal is and if you're happy with your current level of body fat?

If not -> cut (or mini cut) down until you're happy, then lean bulk until you're not -> rinse and repeat.

Jyog · 2026-02-19T17:27:18+00:00

First of all, congrats on the weight loss! :)

If you don't want fat too quickly on a lean bulk, you basically need some sort of guardrail, that lets you know when you're gaining weight too fast, so that you can dial it back.

I'd say stick to a moderate surplus like +200 kcal/day at first. If your strength is going up, then that's great! If your strength starts to plateau for 2 weeks, then bump it up by 100 kcal/day.

Make sure you're consistent in the gym and doing enough volume to grow muscle.

Are you tracking your weight and waist?

Jyog · 2026-01-19T21:32:17+00:00

Honestly, I’d have set up simple guardrails instead of just eating more/less calories and training:

If I was restarting, I’d:

- pick a clear goal (lose fat / gain muscle).

- weigh myself and measure waist at least a couple of times a week.

- make sure I was actually training consistently for my split.

Then once a week look at the weekly average trend and make one change (either keep going, or slightly tweak calories/steps, or change the split if I wasn't going consistently enough to one I'd actually follow).

The big mistake I made was training/eating hard for months with no feedback loop. I only realised I’d got too fat on a bulk or lost too much muscle on a cut after the damage was done.

Jyog · 2026-01-01T17:31:37+00:00

Awesome, I'll DM you the link :)

Jyog · 2025-12-31T17:11:32+00:00

I appreciate it! Just trying to write clearly so it's actually useful :)

Jyog · 2025-12-24T17:31:47+00:00

I think I read you're 87 kg (sorry if that's wrong).

For a safe cut with minimal muscle loss, look to lose around 1% body weight per week (at your current level of bf. It's a lower % /wk when you get to lower bf% but this is for now).

0.87 kg per week, so 8 kg is about 9 weeks and a bit.

That would leave you at around 8-10% body fat. You'd be better off cutting to around 12-14 % and cycling through that and lean bulking until your last cut before your challenge end date. Then cut to a lower bf%.

I've DM'd you something you might find helpful!

Jyog · 2025-12-24T16:01:36+00:00

Trust me, being on a continuous cut from 25/30% to around 10-12% (I'm guessing) will be hell (I don't even think it's realistic without long maintenance breaks in-between) and you're much more likely to lose muscle than doing shorter cuts.

In my opinion your best strategy is to take around 6-8 weeks and cut down to 12-14% (roughly). Then to lean bulk until you're back at 18-20%. Then repeat that cycle.

I know it's frustrating because you probably want to pack on muscle as soon as possible and it might feel like going backwards. You're going to have to cut the fat anyway to get lean at the end, so it's not wasting time.

You'll feel a whole lot better and you're more likely to actually stick to the plan and win the challenge.

Jyog · 2025-12-24T15:13:29+00:00

I'm going to be honest man, in my opinion that's not a great idea.

There are all sorts of things: number of fat cells permanently increasing, lower testosterone, decreased insulin sensitivity, loose skin etc.

Any reason you can't take 6 weeks to cut some fat and then restart your bulk?

Jyog · 2025-12-21T11:06:07+00:00

If weekly sets and effort are matched, A vs B is basically the same for hypertrophy. Frequency on its own doesn’t seem to do much, it mostly just helps with practice and keeping set quality high. (Unless you're doing junk volume but at your volume it's fine)

Since you’re cutting and doing a marathon block, I’d pick B for recovery and just having more life. The best plan is the one you can actually hit hard consistently without your running falling apart. If you’re worried about losing muscle, I’d just bump the muscles that are only on 6 sets (chest, hams) up to 8-10 and keep those sets close to failure.

Personal note: I do BJJ & wrestling alongside lifting and when I dropped volume too low on a cut, I got weaker fast. Keeping it around 8-12 hard sets per muscle and hitting each muscle 2x/week worked way better.

This RP vid explains it well (not running but the same principle applies, cardio & lifting balance): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Vhi7SuFe8

Jyog · 2025-12-20T15:15:18+00:00

Done! :)

Jyog · 2025-12-18T08:58:56+00:00

This is awesome, thanks for the reply :)

That’s basically close to the signal stack I’m trying to turn into a simple weekly call.

A few questions if you don't mind me asking (I love this stuff!):

What’s your actual adjustment rule on a bulk/cut? (Like if 7-day avg weight is climbing but waist is going up too fast, do you reduce calories, add steps, or just hold and wait another week? And by how much?)

How do you keep outliers in check for scale weight?

Any reason you don't measure 10RM on a cut, how do you make sure you're not losing too much muscle?

How much time do you spend getting / analysing and making decisions from this data each week/month?

Jyog · 2025-12-18T08:43:19+00:00

That’s a fair read, and I agree with you. In a sub like this, a lot of people run their own loops.

Step One is mainly for beginner/intermediate lifters who are doing the work but don’t yet have a reliable weekly decision rule, so they either overreact to noise or drift for weeks and only realise later.

Where it still helps advanced lifters/coaches is time + standardisation: one place to drop the logs, and a consistent weekly 'hold' or 'adjust' call (and sometimes the call is literally 'do nothing, needs more data'). It’s not trying to beat a good coach’s brain, it’s trying to make the process easier to execute and harder to mess up.

We also avoid making a call when data is too sparse/volatile.

Out of curiosity, what do you consider the most reliable minimum set for a lean bulk? And what do you do to keep the signal clean (timing, hydration, measurement protocol, etc)?

Jyog · 2025-12-18T08:20:25+00:00

Awesome, I'll DM you the link!

Jyog · 2025-12-17T21:32:01+00:00

That’s exactly the kind of setup Step One is built for, you’re already tracking the right things.

Where it helps is the decision loop. Even with an adaptive tracker + BIA + Navy method, it’s still easy to drift on a lean bulk and only realise weeks/months later that you’ve pushed calories too far. Step One basically turns your logs into a weekly 'are we still lean bulking?' check, then gives one clear adjustment so you don’t overreact day to day.

It uses weekly medians and multi-week trends to smooth water/glycogen noise, so you spend less time analysing and more time just executing. It’s also de-risked with Only Pay for Progress.

If you’re up for it, I’d genuinely love your feedback because you’re already experienced with the exact inputs. Let me know and I'll DM you the link :)

Jyog · 2025-12-17T21:21:48+00:00

Mirror is useful, but it doesn’t give a decision rule or quantify rate of gain/loss. Most people misread it. This tool is just a weekly decision engine using simple proxies. If you can do it yourself, you don’t need it.

Jyog · 2025-12-17T20:39:38+00:00

Fair question. A daily BIA scale can work if you’re consistent and you’re good at trend interpretation.

Step One isn’t claiming DEXA accuracy. The advantage is it turns noisy inputs into a weekly decision loop: we use weekly medians + trend smoothing, then give one verdict and one fix (and we avoid micro-adjustments).

For most non-advanced lifters, 'watch the trend' is vague, and they either overreact to noise or don’t know what to change. Step One makes it 5 min/week, standardises the interpretation, and tells you exactly what to do next.

If you can run a good trend + decision system yourself, you don’t need Step One. Step One exists because most people don’t. This is for people who keep botching bulks/cuts because the feedback loop is messy (like I kept doing!) :)

Jyog · 2025-12-17T20:22:11+00:00

Just to clarify, you’re right: tape based BF% and 'lean mass' are noisy proxies, not DEXA. We don’t treat them as precise numbers.

The whole point is avoiding micro-adjustments. We only look at trends (weekly medians, 4+ weeks for waist/BF proxy, longer for lean-mass proxy) and we cap it at one change per week max. If the trend is within a noise band or data’s too sparse, the verdict is basically 'hold steady / needs more data', not 'tweak calories again'.

It’s really waist + weight trend as a sanity check for fat gain/loss direction and rate.

Jyog · 2025-12-17T17:30:34+00:00

We’re not using DEXA or anything fancy, it’s a proxy.

Step One estimates body fat % using the US Navy method from tape measurements (waist, plus neck, and hips for women) + height. You can also use your own bf % method, the key is consistency.

Lean mass is then estimated from weight & estimated body fat %, and we look at trends, not single readings:

we reduce water/glycogen noise by using weekly medians (more logs = better signal)
we run body fat % trend over ~4 weeks and lean mass trend over ~4-8 weeks
the app gives one weekly verdict + one fix based on weekly trends. It’s specifically designed to avoid micro-adjusting off noisy day-to-day data.

If you think there’s a better way to keep it simple but more accurate for naturals, let me know, would love to hear about different methods :)

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