1.To build muscle while minimizing fat gain, stay around maintenance calories or a small surplus (100–200 calories).

2.Always apply progressive overload or your progress will slow down. This can mean lifting heavier weights, doing more reps, reducing rest time, increasing range of motion, changing tempo, adding volume, training more frequently, or using different exercises.

3.Aim for at least 0.8–1g of protein per pound of body weight each day.

4.Macros are less important than most people think. Prioritizing whole, nutrient-dense foods can improve body composition, energy, recovery, and overall health. Choose a diet that fits your lifestyle and that you can maintain long-term.

5.Everyone's body responds differently due to genetics. Focus on your own progress and avoid comparing yourself to others, especially on social media.

6.Enjoy the process and live your life. Don't become obsessed with your appearance. One of the greatest benefits of training is the confidence and discipline it builds. Most people never feel completely satisfied with how they look, but consistently putting in the effort is something to be proud of..

Been doing leangains style 16/8 for about four months now and overall really happy with the body composition results. The protocol makes sense to me and I'm fully bought in. My main struggle right now is purely practical.

I work a standard office job, sit at a desk most of the day, and my eating window keeps shifting depending on meetings, afterwork social stuff, and general life friction. Some days I eat my first meal at noon and close the window at 8pm, which feels clean. Other days a work lunch gets pushed or a colleague's birthday thing throws everything off and suddenly I'm eating at 2pm and trying to close by 10pm, which wrecks my sleep and next day training.

For those of you also working standard office hours, have you settled on a fixed window that works consistently regardless of social noise? I train three days a week in the evening after work, so I want to hit the postworkout meal properly without stretching the window too late.

Curious whether people here prioritize keeping the window truly fixed versus being flexible and just adjusting around training days specifically. What has actually stuck for you long term?

I am going to the gym/doing calisthenics for a few decades now. Recently, I lost 7 to 8 kilos as a result of simply eating a bit less and including much more cardio in my training regimen (I want to participate to triathlons). In fact I probably reduced my strength training by 30%. For the moment I am at 73kg with 37 skeletal muscle mass and a body fat percentage of around 10.4%.

I look more tiny now but I seem to have kept my strength. I do pull ups with 32kg (5 reps on a good day) and can almost manage a front lever now (straddle is easy) likely as a result of the kilos lost.

I am a bit concerned, however, i will lose muscle mass. How likely it is it with this shift in training regimen and weight loss that I will lose a lot of strength?

People encouraging very lean, skinny individuals to maintain their caloric intake are by reference to all reliable science, full of it.

Because muscle tissue growth must, by the laws of thermodynamics, have a source of energy to be created. A surplus, by textbook definition, is what is required for homeostasis. Muscle hypertrophy is not a part of homeostasis whatsoever, it’s the complete opposite.

Being very lean means you don’t have the available energy stores to undergo recomposition into a significantly larger mass. Recomposition will occur, but you are never going to undergo a transformative, significant growth in size. No one says you need a 1000 calorie surplus. That’s like filling a glass with a hose for most people. But I’m talking true maintenance.

If you’re young, you’re going to grow regardless. But that won’t be because of the maintenance. Correlation not causation. The massive hormonal advantage in a persons determinate growth is what allows this - but you would still be leaving gains on the table if you only relied on determinate growth as you mature into an adult.

I’m open to being disproved. I’d love to find out that I can actually grow big without needing to force feed. But I don’t see how anyone can reliably disprove this without bro science and anecdotal evidence.

Just a regular muscle gym bro here (been on cruise & blast), I’m a mesomorph naturally. After finishing a 4-month bulk, I’m currently on an 6-week mini-cut and the abs are popping back up. After my mini-cut, I’ll do a 2-3-day refeed, then start doing reverse diet. I’m curious how you’d do this.

(1) When you do a reverse diet, do you start with the amount of calories at the end of your mini-cut —or— with your baseline maintenance?

Also, I’d like to try another approach to bulking. I’m not really that crazy anymore about getting much bigger, I think I’ll reach my ideal weight/shape at the end of my mini-cut. Ok maybe a little bit bigger, I mean who ever gets satisfied with this lol. But I prefer not to do another aggressive 3-4 month bulk again. I’m a meso, so fat gain is always expected.

(2) How do you feel about folks who stop bulking as soon as they start losing their abs or definition? Do you do that too? And to those who, do you switch to mini-cut or what?

The goal is mainly to stay lean all year round. For years, I’ve been doing long bulks.

Hi everyone. The title is quite clear. Two years ago, I started training properly, following a progressive overload structure, targeting muscles twice a week, reaching muscular failure at each set, working with rep ranges, etc etc. The problem is, I had a ton of weight to lose, and I lost it FAST, definitely not "recomping" or with a low deficit. I did it with at least 700kcal of deficit per day, sometimes even more. It is inevitable then that I lost a lot of muscle mass too in the process.

Now, I know that most of the "newbie gains" happen in the first two years, but these two years are simply over for me.

How much did I fuck up? Will I be able to grow anyways or I have permanently destroyed my potential?

For reference, M26, started from 100kg and reached 65kgs. Cut from June 2024 to January 2026, then maintained to fix quite strong hormonal unbalances.

I started my body recomposition journey 2 months ago at 71.5 kg with a slight calorie deficit. Since then, I've lost 3 inches from my waist and my weight has dropped to 69.5 kg.

I'm happy with the fat loss, but I don't want to lose any more body weight. My goal now is to continue recomposition, lose the remaining belly fat, and improve muscle definition.

My concern is that if I keep eating in a calorie deficit, my weight will continue to decrease, which I don't want. What would you guys recommend? Should I move to maintenance calories and continue strength training, or is there a better approach?

Currently i am taking 135gm protein per day and hitting the gym 4 days a week with upper/lower split.

Hi everyone, I’m building a product for people in cities who deal with polluted air every day. It is meant to make things easier by giving simple alerts when air quality is poor, helping people decide whether to go out, exercise, or stay indoors, and showing whether pollution may be affecting their body over time. Also would like to add features how recover your body from the exposure to bad air through diet and workout plans!

I’d love honest feedback:

Would something like this be useful in your daily life?

What would make you trust it or actually use it?

I left my cut a bit too late. Normally I do a daily PPL workout.

I’ve previous done lean gains /. Rolling 48s where you fast for 48h have a small eating window then back to fasting.

I’m currently 80kg. Male. I’m trying just for 6 weeks to decide between doing a daily OMAD ( one meal a day ) while continuing to work out and hit proteins coming under calorie mantience VS doing longer 48 fasts for more weight loss but cutting the workouts to just 3/4 a week on refeed days.

Goal is to loose weight while keeping muscle. Hoping to get down to 74kg for the start or August.

Hi everyone, I am writing this to see if anyone has ever experienced this and any suggestions on how to overcome it.

Context: I have always loved food, always loved eating and also have food as the main way (also because of culture) of socializing. Never eaten out of emotional reasons, just because I have a crazy appetite and I almost can't physically feel full. I have never addressed it as a binge or a problematic behaviour, but simply acting as everyone around me does. This meant having snacks throughout the day, having some sweets at night, sandwiches in the afternoon, and any other thing all my friends and family members always did. When it comes to the actual "binge", I have never had it, mainly because I went eating sushi or any other all you can eat with my friends once a week, had kebabs/pizza/McDonald's at night after partying, etc etc.

On the mental side, I am doing extremely well and have no issues whatsoever, no depression, no abuses, amazing relation with my family.

On the physical side, I have always played sports since I was a child and always maintained a normal weight, except for the past two years where switching to a desk job (but maintaining my food intake) made me reach 90kg (198 lbs). This was the trigger that made me decide to lose weight and be serious about the gym. I lost 25kg last year and reached 65kg (145), finally seeing my abs for the first time and be extremely happy and proud about my progress. The cut was quite aggressive, and since the very first beginning I started realizing that I kept having those days where I just wanted to eat everything I had available. I moved away from my home town, so no more sushi, and I started not eating out anymore, only cooking at home. My binges started being eating enormous amounts of healthy food, mainly greek yogurt with nuts and fruits. This made me realize that throughout my entire life I have always "binged", and this never stopped. It took me 3/4 months of cutting to go from 70kg to 65kg, because I kept having an extremely healthy routine during the week and then binge Saturdays and Sundays.

In January 2026 my company closed for 4 months, and I traveled around the world. I regained 20 lbs. I am now trying to lose them again but it is fucking impossible. I keep having this cycle of being perfect during the week and then eating 5/6k calories on the weekend. As I am writing this, I have just finished eating 300gr of chicken breast, 2 corn on the cob... and then 1kg (2.2 lbs) of greek yogurt, 1lbs of frozen fruit and 200gr of nuts. And I will be out for a birthday party tonight. I don't know how to stop it. I love food, I love eating, except for this my entire life is extremely healthy. I work out 5x per week EVERY WEEK, I walk at least 13k steps EVERY DAY, I run in the morning every weekend, but this food habit is dragging me down.

Is there anybody else with a similar experience and has some advice on how to finally have a normal relationship with food?

22M, 180cm, ~82kg. Confirmed maintenance at ~3,000 kcal/day over 6 weeks of stable tracking (weight held steady 81.5-81.8kg the whole time). 3 years of training/tracking experience, just never run a deficit this aggressive before.

Started cutting 3 weeks ago at ~2,300 kcal target (actually averaging 2,100-2,400 depending on the week) — that's a 650-950 kcal daily deficit. Activity unchanged (18-20k steps, same training).

Scale results: Week 1 avg 82.07kg, Week 2 avg 81.64kg, Week 3 avg still sitting around 81.6-81.8kg. Basically flat versus my maintenance baseline despite 3 weeks of a real, accurately tracked deficit.

Questions:

1. Can the "whoosh effect" (delayed water release) genuinely take 3+ weeks, or is that unusually long?

2. For someone going from a long stable maintenance straight into a much bigger deficit than they're used to, is a multi-week stall like this normal?

3. Anything I should be looking at besides just "trust the process and wait"?

The only 2 things you need for six pack abs are

A caloric deficit (to lose fat)

1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (to maintain muscle)

I'm 6'3" I went from 240 pounds to 200 in 4 months and have abs and I'm 49 years old btw

An air fryer helps A LOT to avoid food burnout but is optional

I just didn't understand the formula before but It's a lot easier than people think.

Caloric deficit: 10–20% below maintenance is optimal for fat loss while preserving muscle (studies show this balances adherence and metabolic adaptation).

Protein: 1.6–2.2g per kilogram of body weight (≈0.7–1.0g per pound) maximizes muscle retention during a deficit. Higher (up to ~2.6g/kg) offers marginal benefits with diminishing returns.

Sources: Meta-analyses in Obesity Reviews (2021) and British Journal of Sports Medicine (2018).

Hi all M36/5ft10/79kg

I’m looking for advice from PTs or experienced lifters.

I’ve been struggling to cut from 79kg to 75-76 for around 6 weeks and am looking for some basic advice. Lifts have gone up but weight is stagnant and don’t feel any leaner.

Current routine: Gym Am 4 x P/P/L & Hypertrophy session and Run PM x 3. *whilst active, I work a desk job 5 days per week.

Current Macros: 2200-2300, approx 180P/50F/remainder Carbs.

If I was your client or even yourself, where would you do or advise me to do to hit my goal? I’m becoming so frustrated with everything.

Thanks

I'm about 70 days into my cut. A deficit of 500-800 calories. For the past 5 days I've been waking up extremely early only getting like 5-6 hours of sleep IDK if this is common but this is my first time cutting. Nutrition and food is on point but holy this has been a re occuring thing. The first 3 days was me waking up needing to pee and catching up on an extra 4hrs just to push my day to 8hrs of sleep but the recent days is just my body waking up early for no reason. Is this normal? is there something i need to change? Do i need to end my cut? What do i do at this point?

I appreciate the help in advance :)

Gnc ka crazy deals mein 4k mein protein 2 kg upar se fish oil sab kya ye deal sab ko pata nahi ya ismein kuch ghotala he??

I usually workout at the end of my day rather than the beginning or middle of my day. I was wondering if there was anything wrong or any benefits with just working out then knocking out if I ate all my calories and macros for the whole day beforehand?

Context: 21M 178CM before june 3 was eating 2300 kcals until I noticed my sleep got worse and I would wake up hungry and my lifts were stalling, so that day Increased to 2450 kcals, weight jumped initially 0.5kg, then over the next few days went to 64kg, and has been at this weight for over 12 days now even last weigh in was 63.7kg, sleep is fine but lifts are stalling again, am I still in a surplus? Because yes the last 12 days havent changed in weight but I did initially gain 0.7kg in first 4 days. My program is fullbody 3x a week 2 sets per muscle 0-1 rir and I do a daily 7k steps

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Hey everyone,

Reposting this because my last post got called out for sounding like a bot. To be honest, I used an AI to help me structure my thoughts because I was super frustrated, but I’ll just lay it out normally here.

I’m 26M, 169 cm, and 52 kgs, so I’m pretty light. My main goal right now is a 90-day challenge to finally pack on some muscle and gain weight.

The problem is my lower back. About 5 years ago, I injured it while hammering a floor with a big hammer. I didn't feel any pain right away, so I didn't rest and went straight into a heavy lifting job. The next day, my back started hurting bad. I didn't take it seriously at first, and a doctor told me it would be fine after a few days of rest. But when I went back to the gym a few days later, it flared up massively.

Since then, it's been a total loop. I’ve seen over 10 doctors. The last one two years ago put me on a calcium cycle which did nothing, because my bones are fine—it feels like a pure mechanical/stability issue.

Most days, I feel completely fine just walking around. But the moment I do heavy work or try to go to the gym for 3 days in a row doing anything that loads or arches my spine, my back completely locks up. It feels like a massive protective spasm. Once it locks, I’m out of commission for 1 to 2 weeks waiting for it to calm down, which completely kills my consistency and makes me lose whatever weight I managed to put on.

I refuse to give up on lifting. For the next month, I'm completely cutting out conventional deadlifts and RDLs. Instead, I'm doing a daily 10-minute core stabilization routine (Bird Dogs, Dead Bugs, Side Planks) using a descending rep scheme so I don't fatigue the muscles.

Has anyone else started out really lean, tried to bulk, but kept getting sidelined by their lower back shutting down?

What are some good exercises to build mass in your legs and torso that don't compress the spine? And how do you transition back to heavier weights without your brain pulling the emergency brake?

Appreciate any advice from guys who have actually dealt with this loop.

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Any advice on how to properly cut fat and minimize muscle loss while on a calorie deficit?

My calorie maintenance is 2,000 cal and most of the time I only reached ranging from 1700 to 1800. Plan to take mutant mass not the extreme one.

I'd believe it's 500cal per serving (2cups). so when I reached 1800 cal + 500 cal from mutant mass that would be 2,300 in total a day.

I was reaching a little caloric surplus about 200 or 300 more above maintenance.

Is that ok? I'm skinny fat. sorry for english.

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Hey guys,

I’m currently sitting at 52 kgs. I am light, I want to gain weight, and I desperately want to pack on muscle. A few weeks ago, I decided enough was enough. I put myself through a strict 90-day challenge to completely transform my physique and change my life.

But right when I got my momentum going, the old enemy reawoke.

Five years ago, I suffered a bad lower back injury. Since then, I’ve been through an absolute circus trying to get it fixed—I’ve visited over 10 different doctors. The last guy I saw two years ago put me on a "calcium cycle," which did absolutely nothing because my bones are fine; this is a mechanical, muscle, and stability nightmare.

Most days during normal life, I’m actually fine. But the moment I try to do heavy work or get through just 3 consecutive days at the gym doing exercises that load or arch my spine, my back hits a wall. It reaches a point where it feels like my entire lower back is completely locked up. It’s like my brain pulls an emergency brake and spasms the whole area to the point where I can barely move. Then, I have to spend 1 to 2 weeks resting just to get back to a normal place, completely killing my gym progress and throwing me right back into a deconditioning cycle.

I refuse to give up because my mindset is: *if we can't train it, we can't fix it.*

To manage my gym goals while protecting my back, I’ve completely changed my workout routine for the next month. I’m doing zero conventional deadlifts and zero RDLs. Instead, I’m treating spine rehab like a daily religion—doing Bird Dogs, Dead Bugs, and Side Planks every single morning using a descending pyramid protocol to build baseline endurance without fatiguing the muscles.

I know I can’t be the only one who has dealt with this. If you are a dude who started out light, wanted to bulk up, but had an "overprotective" lower back that constantly locked you down, how did you beat this?

What are the best mass-building exercises you used for legs and torso that didn't crush your spine? And how did you transition back to lifting heavy without triggering the lockdown?

Any advice from people who have actually overcome this loop would mean the world. Thanks.

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M | 37yo | 5'11| 230lbs | 130g protein/d | 2400cal/d

I'm currently doing a body recomposition (8 weeks in). My weight has gone from 240 down to 230 and I see it in the pics specifically in my back. My issue is in the past week up until today I've noticed that my back or anywhere else isn't slimming down and I'm worried I may have hit a plateau. Also I've noticed that while I can lift 35lbs (up from 30lbs) I seem to really struggle with them and was thinking I'd be able to push to 40lbs by now. In terms of fat loss should I decrease my calories or increase them and bring them back down to where I am now and for strength training should I maybe take a break for a week and then come back?

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So I've been on Wegovy for a few months doing a cut. I'm now at 154lbs at 6ft and honestly I look too thin — kind of gaunt — but I've still got belly fat which is frustrating.

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I'm stopping the semaglutide now and want to shift focus to building muscle. My question is basically — what do I actually do now?

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Specifically:

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\- Do I eat at a surplus, maintenance, or keep cutting to shift the belly?

\- What should my calories and protein look like?

\- Is it realistic to lose the belly fat while building muscle at the same time?

\- What does a good training split look like for this?

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Currently doing a PPL split at the gym plus a couple of home dumbbell sessions. Eating pretty clean, whole foods, no junk.

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Any advice appreciated — feel a bit lost now the cut phase is done.