First Real Cut Log

[Civdiv]

Over the last few weeks my progress had slowed some and I've noticed a significant drop in gym performance. Muscles are way flatter and almost no pump regardless of workout intensity. I started digging in to others cut logs on here and noticed most guys far leaner than I am are eating way more and still making progress. As the title of this log says, this is my first real cut. I've dieted before but never did a serious cut. I'm probably about 15% BF or so now and I think I need to pay more attention to macros and feeding properly instead of just focusing on deficit and hitting protein. Since going hard into this cut in March I've averaged about 1800 calories a day and 225-250g protein. That left my carbs pretty low. Maybe 50-85g a day.

I started a new meal plan a couple days ago focused on fueling myself better at this body fat. I'm now aiming for 2700 calories a day. Macros at 225C 225P 95F. I'm not too worried yet about modifying it based on workout days. It's easier right now to just keep to the new plan every day and get used to the new macros. The weekly average should be okay for me right now. I'm using chatgpt pretty heavily for this as I'm gaining experience with when to eat carbs VS fats and protein around workouts and time of day.

2 days in and already I feel way more energetic, muscle fullness and vascularity is starting to return, and my endurance in the gym is way better. It's a huge mental hurdle eating so much more after being pretty proud of the discipline it took to keep the calories so low. Especially since I dropped 40lbs since March without losing muscle. Obviously I need a new strategy now. It just feels like I'm backing off on the discipline. I'll see how things go over the next couple weeks but this seems to line up more with the macros I read in other logs from people with a lot more experience.

 

[Ateam2023]

Over the last few weeks my progress had slowed some and I've noticed a significant drop in gym performance. Muscles are way flatter and almost no pump regardless of workout intensity. I started digging in to others cut logs on here and noticed most guys far leaner than I am are eating way more and still making progress. As the title of this log says, this is my first real cut. I've dieted before but never did a serious cut. I'm probably about 15% BF or so now and I think I need to pay more attention to macros and feeding properly instead of just focusing on deficit and hitting protein. Since going hard into this cut in March I've averaged about 1800 calories a day and 225-250g protein. That left my carbs pretty low. Maybe 50-85g a day.

I started a new meal plan a couple days ago focused on fueling myself better at this body fat. I'm now aiming for 2700 calories a day. Macros at 225C 225P 95F. I'm not too worried yet about modifying it based on workout days. It's easier right now to just keep to the new plan every day and get used to the new macros. The weekly average should be okay for me right now. I'm using chatgpt pretty heavily for this as I'm gaining experience with when to eat carbs VS fats and protein around workouts and time of day.

2 days in and already I feel way more energetic, muscle fullness and vascularity is starting to return, and my endurance in the gym is way better. It's a huge mental hurdle eating so much more after being pretty proud of the discipline it took to keep the calories so low. Especially since I dropped 40lbs since March without losing muscle. Obviously I need a new strategy now. It just feels like I'm backing off on the discipline. I'll see how things go over the next couple weeks but this seems to line up more with the macros I read in other logs from people with a lot more experience.

i was in a defecit for 2 years, dropped from 25% to 10% bf without glp1 use, just diet, cardio, test c , hgh, and only a 200 mg weekly average on the test c , so a trt+ regimen, But surprisingly i wasn't as flat as you would expect, but as i have since added carbs back in at @200 g daily, i realized how flatish i was,, lol carbs make you feel so much better, now i just have to maintain and adjust accordingly,, i have been carb cycling and adding carbs@pre and post workout, ,

 

[Civdiv]

i was in a defecit for 2 years, dropped from 25% to 10% bf without glp1 use, just diet, cardio, test c , hgh, and only a 200 mg weekly average on the test c , so a trt+ regimen, But surprisingly i wasn't as flat as you would expect, but as i have since added carbs back in at @200 g daily, i realized how flatish i was,, lol carbs make you feel so much better, now i just have to maintain and adjust accordingly,, i have been carb cycling and adding carbs@pre and post workout, ,

I definitely feel better with some carbs now. Trying to time them around workouts. Fast acting dextrose in my pre-workout and adding in oats with my breakfast after fasted cardio. I'm hoping I'm still in a 500 or so deficit if everything is calculated right. We'll see in a couple weeks what the scale says. I'd really like to see below 12% with a stretch goal of 10%.

 

[Civdiv]

Progress update:
Test/primo 400/200
GH 5iu
Dropped Tirz to 5mg
Still taking a stack of anti-aging focused peptides

Weigh in at 213lbs. Inbody scan has me at 11.7% which is obviously underestimated. Chatgpt had me closer to 12.5-13%. I'm the same on the scale this week as I was last week but I'm noticeably leaner in the mirror. I've got more abs coming through and definitely more vascular. I'm actually pretty happy with the weigh-in since I'm sure there was water weight coming back after upping carbs.

I'm one week into the new diet with higher calories, specifically carbs. I feel way more energetic and a lot of my flatness in my muscles is filling back in. It really feels like I'm cheating. I went from around 1700 calories to around 2400-2700 so it's a ton more food. My macros have been pretty solid for the last week and the mirror definitely shows progress. I'll give it a couple weeks and see how the progress goes with it. I'm hoping to drop another 10lbs or so and then go to maintenance for a couple months.

 

[Ateam2023]

Progress update:
Test/primo 400/200
GH 5iu
Dropped Tirz to 5mg
Still taking a stack of anti-aging focused peptides

Weigh in at 213lbs. Inbody scan has me at 11.7% which is obviously underestimated. Chatgpt had me closer to 12.5-13%. I'm the same on the scale this week as I was last week but I'm noticeably leaner in the mirror. I've got more abs coming through and definitely more vascular. I'm actually pretty happy with the weigh-in since I'm sure there was water weight coming back after upping carbs.

I'm one week into the new diet with higher calories, specifically carbs. I feel way more energetic and a lot of my flatness in my muscles is filling back in. It really feels like I'm cheating. I went from around 1700 calories to around 2400-2700 so it's a ton more food. My macros have been pretty solid for the last week and the mirror definitely shows progress. I'll give it a couple weeks and see how the progress goes with it. I'm hoping to drop another 10lbs or so and then go to maintenance for a couple months.

In that 2400-2700 calories, how many g of carbs are you eating?

 

[Civdiv]

I'm at 210g protein, 55g fat and 365g carbs on my more active days. That's 45 minutes of fasted cardio and lifting for about an hour later in the day. I'm 210p,60f and 300 on the weekends when I'm just lifting for 2 hours. Sundays I rest and I'm closer 2400 calories.

I'm not the best with macros so I bit the bullet when I recognized I needed help and downloaded that RP Diet app. That's where I'm getting my numbers. Does that look okay for macros?

 

[Ateam2023]

I'm at 210g protein, 55g fat and 365g carbs on my more active days. That's 45 minutes of fasted cardio and lifting for about an hour later in the day. I'm 210p,60f and 300 on the weekends when I'm just lifting for 2 hours. Sundays I rest and I'm closer 2400 calories.

I'm not the best with macros so I bit the bullet when I recognized I needed help and downloaded that RP Diet app. That's where I'm getting my numbers. Does that look okay for macros?

What is an"in body scan"? Is it where you hold some sensors and take your socks off at the gym and it measures body composition, supposedly ?

 

[Civdiv]

What is an"in body scan"? Is it where you hold some sensors and take your socks off at the gym and it measures body composition, supposedly ?

Yeah. Off by up to 3-5 percent but using it to try to at least trend progress. Drink a big glass of water and you can move it a percent pretty easily. I try to do it fasted first thing before cardio to hopefully make sure I'm not losing significant muscle with the fat.

 

[Civdiv]

Progress for the last couple weeks had been slow. I knew adding back in carbs and a significant amount of calories would probably stall me for a couple weeks while glycogen tops off. It just makes it a little harder to keep trucking on without the motivation of seeing results. The scale just started moving again today, and there's a definite improvement in how lean I look from 2 weeks ago. Hopefully over the next couple weeks progress noticeably picks up. If not I'll just adjust macros. I have way more lose skin around my waist now. Looks pretty bad depending how I'm standing. That's going to be the down side. Only good thing is that I'm planning a bulk around October or November and maintaining around 15% bf after that. Should fill me out enough to just look a little rough VS melted garbage bag.

As I said previously, I'm also taking this time to learn more about how my body responds to different doses. I've been at 400 test/200 primo for about 5 weeks now. I noticed over the last week or so that I'm feeling emotionally flat with a big drop in libido. I was pretty sure my E2 was getting just a little over suppressed from the primo. I tried a small dose of tne to test it and about 5 hours later or so I was back feeling good. I think the burst I got from aromitizing the tne was perfect. My next labs aren't until August 1st and I was hoping to see where I was at but don't want to wait that long feeling like this. Since I'm positive it's a low E2 thing I'm going to drop my dose to 400/150 and see how that goes. I may up the test a little on my next two pins just to get a little extra aromitizing to keep my mood in check while the primo clears down to the lower level.

Not a huge deal but feels reassuring to be able to confidently identify issues and adjust. That's what I wanted to get out of this.

Progress pics at about 2lbs lower than a couple weeks ago. I'll post progress pics again in a couple weeks to confirm that I'm still leaning out.

Thanks again for all the support and feedback here. Still feels pretty good knowing how far I've come and I'm still on track for my goals. Including a pic from about 8 months ago. Had already dropped 40lbs at that point and was feeling pretty good. Had no idea how much farther I'd get.

 

[Civdiv]

Been a while since I updated but I'm still grinding. Got down to about 194lbs. At the time I was running macros around 210p/55f/80-100C depending on lifting or cardio day. Was getting pretty low energy after 3 weeks of that harder drop, which was probably close to 1000 calorie deficit. Was dragging in the gym. Just nothing there. Dropped fat pretty well though. Added back in about 100 carbs to around 175g/day. Should be about a 600 calorie deficit. I'm still super flat and can't even get a pump mid set. I guess that's part of it though. Filled out about 4lbs of glycogen though and feel a little better. Sitting at 197lbs now and dropping again hoping to drop about another 8-10 lbs. Going to cut another 6 weeks or so and call it.

The whole point of this was to strip off fat and get to a good place to start adding some mass. I'm down about 100lbs total and feel amazing. Once I'm done cutting I'll try to hold at maintenance calories for a couple months and try to bulk up some this winter. Looking forward to seeing where I finish up.

 

[Tdeck81]

Good work brother. Looks like you’ve made a ton of progress in a short span. I’ve been tempted to start a thread too, solely to keep myself accountable. Anyway keep up the good work

 

[Civdiv]

Thanks man. I really appreciate it. Been almost a year and a half total but last 6 months have been the hardest work. Hopefully get where I want to be in another 6 weeks or so.

I’ve been tempted to start a thread too, solely to keep myself accountable. Anyway keep up the good work

You should definitely start a thread. It's easy to forget how far you've come sometimes and it's nice looking back on the progress.

 

[Civdiv]

I'm in a spot where I'm not really sure where to go next. I got a dexa scan and came in at 8.1%bf.

I'm not happy with how I look but I'm not sure pushing lower bf is the answer. I've got a lot of stubborn lower back fat hanging on still, and I'd like my quads to look leaner. I'm also unhappy with my underdeveloped abs, chest and arms.

I could keep pushing the cut and try to lean out back fat and quads, or I could keep my current stack and up carbs to maintenance or just below and try to fill out my muscles some and see how I look. My longer term goal is getting to a good jump off point for a winter bulk after a post cut health phase.

I think I'd like to fill out some and see if I can hit more of a recomp VS hard cut phase for the next 6 to 8 weeks. I've been cutting for so damn long I barely know what to do with myself now.

I'm still learning how to balance macros so I'm definitely open to suggestions. Here's what I'm thinking for the next 8 weeks. This is with tdee at 2700 calories on a weekly average.

Mon-Wed
40 min fasted cardio. 45 minute lift later in the day.
Macros: 195p/50f/300c

Thur
45 minute lift
Macros: 195/50/275

Fri-Sat
1.5 hour lift
Macros: 195/50/325

Sun
Rest
195/50/225

Continue current stack:
250 test c
300 mast p
150 tren a
4iu gh
Planning on 6 week anavar after labs in 4 days

This ups carbs about 100 or so and hopefully gets me a little strength and drive back in the gym. I haven't had a real pump in months and my performance is slipping mentally and physically.

This is new territory for me but that's my first pass and a plan for the next 6-8 weeks. On a good note I feel pretty amazing about my progress for the last year and a half.

 

[Ateam2023]

I'm in a spot where I'm not really sure where to go next. I got a dexa scan and came in at 8.1%bf.
View attachment 346380
I'm not happy with how I look but I'm not sure pushing lower bf is the answer. I've got a lot of stubborn lower back fat hanging on still, and I'd like my quads to look leaner. I'm also unhappy with my underdeveloped abs, chest and arms.

I could keep pushing the cut and try to lean out back fat and quads, or I could keep my current stack and up carbs to maintenance or just below and try to fill out my muscles some and see how I look. My longer term goal is getting to a good jump off point for a winter bulk after a post cut health phase.

I think I'd like to fill out some and see if I can hit more of a recomp VS hard cut phase for the next 6 to 8 weeks. I've been cutting for so damn long I barely know what to do with myself now.

I'm still learning how to balance macros so I'm definitely open to suggestions. Here's what I'm thinking for the next 8 weeks. This is with tdee at 2700 calories on a weekly average.

Mon-Wed
40 min fasted cardio. 45 minute lift later in the day.
Macros: 195p/50f/300c

Thur
45 minute lift
Macros: 195/50/275

Fri-Sat
1.5 hour lift
Macros: 195/50/325

Sun
Rest
195/50/225

Continue current stack:
250 test c
300 mast p
150 tren a
4iu gh
Planning on 6 week anavar after labs in 4 days

This ups carbs about 100 or so and hopefully gets me a little strength and drive back in the gym. I haven't had a real pump in months and my performance is slipping mentally and physically.

This is new territory for me but that's my first pass and a plan for the next 6-8 weeks. On a good note I feel pretty amazing about my progress for the last year and a half.

well im not happy with the way i look either, its called "body dismorphic disorder", I get what you mean by looking at a low bf % from a dexa, and not really satisfied with the look, but not really wanting to push lower , its a real thing.
I see ALOT of women who use "fat dissolving" products that literally melt the fat, i have not really heard of many bb doing this , but then again there's probably a few things that are not said out in the open lol

 

[Civdiv]

well im not happy with the way i look either, its called "body dismorphic disorder", I get what you mean by looking at a low bf % from a dexa, and not really satisfied with the look, but not really wanting to push lower , its a real thing.

Thanks man. This is probably what I needed to hear. Considering where I started from I should be pretty happy but I'm still hungry for more improvement. I think keeping realistic expectations and being happy with current progress will keep me in the right mindset to go into this next phase and see if I can fill out a little. Realistically this is a 4 year plan and I'm just in a phase of it. I should probably also stop measuring myself to these 20 and 30 year olds.

 

[JG91]

You’re clearly pretty lean now. Even the pics before the dexa you were looking lean. I think loose skin is skewing your perspective.

You could definitely bulk from where you’re sitting. Might feel better with some pumps.

 

[Civdiv]

Thanks man. I'm finishing up the cut and going to a health phase for a couple months with a plan of going into a good 20 week bulk in January.

I'm taking the last 8 weeks of this cut to fill back out some while still in a slight deficit and that's helped. It's been a while since I could even get a good pump mid set I've been so flat. I added back carbs to about a 100-200 calorie deficit and running var the last 6 weeks before my transition to health/maintenance. I pulled bloods to see how far I've pushed myself over the last 5 months and I have room to keep going these last 6 weeks but wouldn't go much longer.

I'm one week into the final 6 and seeing a ton of vascularity showing up. Getting back a lot of strength and filling back out definitely helped with the mental slump I've been in too. I've been holding my scale weight and down about 1/4 inch on my waist. Obviously 1/4 inch could be measuring variance but with all the glycogen filling back in and holding within a lb or so of weight tells me that my calories are probably in a good spot for now.

I'm going to get a final dexa and see how the last 8 weeks of the cut worked out with bf/lean mass VS just adding back some water. I'll post up final pics when I'm done.

With more carbs coming in I switched from tirz to reta to help eat without being miserable. I went from 7.5-10mg tirz to 4mg reta. It's been rough. I don't get a lot of general hunger but once I start eating I only want more. My stomach will be full at my macros but my brain is dying for more. I'll give it a few more weeks of adjusting but may need to jump back to tirz while I'm in health/maintenance for the next couple of months.

It's been a long fucking road. I started in November of 2023 at almost 300lbs. Took 2024 to recomp down to around 250lbs and get some mass back to keep my metabolism up. Been in a pretty hard cut since March 2025. I feel pretty good about how I've gone through this and learned a lot. Going to really focus on maintaining my bf/lean mass for now. I'm really looking forward to seeing how I do for this next growth phase I'm planning in January 2026.

 

[Civdiv]

Haven't updated for a while but been working on refeeding and holding at maintenance now. The whole point of cutting, other than obvious health benefits,was to get lean enough to start putting on some mass. I'm planning on bulking up some starting the 1st week of January.

I've got another dexa scheduled this week to see how I'm holding. I'm hoping I'm not up much over 9% after refilling. My last one was 8.1%. With carbs back in I'm up around 10lbs. My waist measurements have stayed pretty steady so I'm hoping most of it is just glycogen refill. I look a little softer than at my lowest but muscles have filled in some and getting good pumps back. Loose skin is still an issue and obviously something I'll just have to learn to accept.

I dropped anavar at 6 weeks and labs look as expected. Nothing terrible but noticeable shifts. Honestly looking back now I'm not sure how much it was doing for me anyway on top of the test/mast/tren stack.

Next plan is to continue to hold my current weight/BF for 2 months and then start putting some lean weight on.

 

[Civdiv]

I guess I'll wait for my dexa scan tomorrow to figure out where I go from here. The whole point was get to a good jump off point to start adding some mass. Would be best health wise to drop to trt dose for 2 months and clean up before blasting this January, but I'm still not really satisfied with how I look yet and might put another month into trying to improve a little more first.

I'm better off waiting until I have more mass to worry about leaning out more but it's actually kind of hard to let it go after being 100% balls in since February.

FWIW my wife is in the same dilemma. She's been cutting with me and went too low. She's down 70lbs and pretty cut now. She ended up completely shutting down her hormones. Her last dexa was 15% and probably around 14% now. She's been trying to add food back too and get to a healthier BF but the body dismorphia gets real. Makes it hard to add back after working so damn hard. Even water weight coming back messes with your head a little.

 

[Civdiv]

Wife just had her dexa and was at 13.6% down from 15%. Still holding 104lbs lean mass. Chewed her ass and told her to go get a cheeseburger.

Mine is later today. I've been holding a shit ton of water as I've been adding back carbs so spent the last 36 hours drying out some before my scan this afternoon. Down from 212 to 204.5 in 2 days. Definitely was holding a lot of water. Looking forward to seeing results. Hopefully not up too much from last time.