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When is the Best Time to Bulk and Cut?

During the year, it’s very easy to jump between both cycles of cutting (losing fat) and bulking(gaining weight with the goal of gaining muscle). If you ever went on a bulk or cut before, you most likely have run into an issue of when is the correct time to bulk and/or cut. You don’t want to bulk with already too much body fat. You would also want to cut weight most likely at a high enough body fat percentage that is just bordering becoming too much. 

When Should I Bulk?

The main issue when it comes to bulking is that you don’t want to gain too much fat. If you do have too much fat, that just means you’ll probably have to spend a longer cycle trying to cut the fat and can leave you in a calorie deficit for some time. 

So when is the best time? Usually, I prefer to bulk at anything less than 12% body fat. This ensures that I’m in a good range to start bulking and even with the added body fat that in ensured to come with bulking, you’ll still be at a decent range. 

For women, this would be equivalent to 20% body fat and then going up from there.

When Should I Cut?

Cutting is all about losing body fat. Personally, I like to cut around 16% body fat. I do think that’s a bit conservative in general and others may still be able to bulk for a longer period of time. 

For you, you may be able to go up to 20% body fat before you feel like you need to cut. However, I like to keep in mind that at some point, having too much body fat in general is not the best thing. So I usually have a cut-off of 16% but essentially I think 20% would be a maximum. So if you’re above 20% body fat, it may be a good idea to cut instead of bulk. 

For women, this would be equivalent to starting to cut at anything higher than 28% body fat.

When Should I Maintain?

So we can bulk and cut, but when do we just maintain the weight? Well this mainly depends on when you’re happy where you’re at. I also think it’s good to do maintenance after any bulking or cutting cycle. 

For instance, after a bulk and continuously gaining weight for a long time, I like to pause and just maintain that weight for about a month. From there, I’ll start to slowly cut the weight there. Same goes after a cut.

Besides that, if you’re happy where you’re at and with your body composition, you should maintain your weight then

Note on Cutting and Cutting for Women

If you’re cutting, I do warn on being too low of body fat in general. If you ever see bodybuilders, it’s easy to think because they’re so ripped they’re healthy. This isn’t the case though. Being at a low body fat in general isn’t good for your health and can cause issues down the line. Too low for men can be anything less than 6%.  For women, anything less than 12% can start causing issues. 

Cutting for women is different from men. First, men and womens body fat percentage differ to our bodies and how we hold and store fat. It’s important to note though, that when a woman drops too much body fat it can also cause Amenorrhea. This can occur once you’re below 12% body fat. Men also go through changes, but the changes women go through are a bit more severe. 

Final Thoughts

Cutting and bulking is the main cycles of life for us. I love to time my bulks around the Fall/Winter and cuts towards Spring/Summer. As you can imagine, I stay within the body fat ranges I mentioned above during those times. 

Most of this information is subjective as it depends on how you feel and what you want to do. However, I feel that when your body fat is greater then 20% or higher (for men) or 28% or higher (for women), it might be best to start cutting body fat. You can always cut weight, but sometimes too low can also be a dangerous thing. Be wary of the hazards it can bring upon to you if you cut too low.

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3 Reasons Why You Should Weigh Yourself in the Morning

Weighing yourself in the morning can be one of the most important aspects to consistently track your weight and keeping on target with your goals. I do it every morning and because of that, I am able to accurately keep track of my weight and adjust accordingly. Let’s go over some of the reasons though why you should start weighing yourself in the morning.

Most Accurate Time to Weigh Yourself

Assuming you’re sleeping at night and waking up in the morning, this will be the best time to weigh yourself. Why? The reason being is because your body will be at its most accurate weight. During the period of sleep and waking up, you’ve gone X amount of hours fasted. (X is the time you slept). When you’re fasting and on an empty stomach, is the best time to weigh yourself because intaking any food or water can easily start manipulating your weight. This can lead to confusion on whether you’re truly gaining or losing weight. Due to that, you won’t be able to make the correct adjustments to your calories and/or macros to adjust for your weight. 

No ‘Gotchas!’

There has been plenty of times I’ve used to weigh myself at random times and think ‘wow I gained like 6 pounds in a couple of days!’ or ‘I lost 3 pounds in a couple of days!’. This was due to the random times of weighing myself and getting different results due to food and water intake throughout the day. 

Weighing yourself in the morning leads to no gotchas about your weight. For example, if I weigh myself one morning and I’m 150lbs and I weigh myself the next day in the afternoon and I weigh 152.5, there is no way I gained 2.5lbs of fat in one day. I would have to adjust for the food I intake and the water I intake. This alone can cause too many issues. Weighing yourself in the morning though eliminates this issue. The only gotchas you would have to worry about is if you went out drinking the night before or had an extremely large dinner.

Consistency

What ties up the 2 points above is that weighing yourself in the morning keeps you and your weight consistent. When you’re consistent with weighing yourself, you will be able to get consistent feedback. You will know exactly if you gained extra weight or lost weight. Like I mentioned above, you may have to worry about the accuracy if you went out drinking or had an extremely large dinner, but you can weigh yourself the next morning and notice you will probably lose the extra water weight or bloat you had from the day before. The consistent behavior of weighing yourself in the morning will also lead to other consistent behaviors in your everyday life. 

When it comes to fitness and weight management one of the key aspects is consistency. If you’re not consistent with it, you won’t get the results you want. 

Final Thoughts

I’m a huge advocate for weighing yourself in the morning. One thing I always tell my clients is to weigh themselves every morning. If they start weighing themselves at different times, it’s hard to adjust and say if they’re accurately losing or gaining weight. Weighing yourself in the morning will keep you consistent and will lead you to consistent results. You will not only have your most accurate weight, but you will also be able to accurately tell how your progress is going and make the proper adjustments as needed. 

I always advocate for waking up early in the morning. Check out this article if you want to learn why you should wake up early in the morning.

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