Diet & Fat LossEating

Tip: When You Should and Shouldn't Bulk or Cut

Here's a handy set of guidelines to help lifters find the balance between too dang skinny and too dang fat.

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Eat in Accordance with your Current Cody Comp

"Should I bulk or cut?" Beginners ask this question more than any other on the net.

Here's the answer: You shouldn't be "bulking" until you're below 10% body fat. Period. And at no point should you ever get above 15%.

In fact, 15% is pushing it. And I don't care how much muscle you're packing, if you look like you'd bleed chocolate pudding if you suffered a gaping wound then you're just a fatty. Adipose is both estrogenic and pro-inflammatory. Both work against you for building muscle.

If you're so skinny you could dress for Halloween as a thermometer, then carbs and five to six meals a day should become your best friend.

The Basics

  • Regardless of your current state of body comp, eat whole and mostly unprocessed foods 90% of the time. Chicken, tuna, fish, jasmine rice, eggs, egg whites, sweet potatoes, avocado, and all the vegetables you can handle should make up the bulk of your diet.
  • Get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. That's total bodyweight. Quit complicating this.
  • Factor in your starting point for daily caloric intake at bodyweight x 15. Adjust up or down from there by 300 calories a day depending on what the scale and your physique is telling you each week.
  • Set a caloric "floor" for fat loss at bodyweight x 10.
  • Set a caloric "ceiling" for mass gain at bodyweight x 20.
  • Carb and fat intake are the two macros to be manipulated at those caloric values. Adjust them accordingly. This isn't hard.

Training and nutrition create a synergistic paradigm. They both help you reach your goals. But if you want your own championship-looking physique then create championship-looking meals. Five Guys and Chipotle do not qualify.