Should You Cut or Bulk First? A Decision Guide With the Maths

Should you cut or bulk first?

Whether you should cut or bulk first depends on how much fat you carry and how long you have lifted. If your waist is at or above the Indian cut-off for abdominal obesity, cut first; if you are lean and new to training, bulk first. Everyone in between has a third choice, eating at maintenance while lifting, which suits beginners well.

The waist numbers are the firm part. Indian consensus guidelines, summarised by Misra and Shrivastava in a 2013 review in Nutrients, set abdominal obesity for Asian Indians at a waist of 90 cm or more for men and 80 cm or more for women, and overweight from a BMI of 23, lower than the international 25. Most people cannot measure body fat accurately at home, so measure your waist at the navel first and check your BMI with the BMI calculator. The body-fat bands in the table below are coaching rules of thumb, not figures from a study.

Training age matters too: the 2019 off-season review by Iraki and colleagues suggests larger surpluses may be more beneficial for novice lifters, while advanced lifters might do better with a conservative one to limit unnecessary fat gain.

Who should check with a doctor before cutting or bulking?

That last point is not a formality: the 2014 contest-preparation review by Helms and colleagues warns of an increased risk of eating and body image disorders in physique sport. The protein ranges here come from position stands written for healthy, exercising adults; see our medical disclaimer.

How fast should you lose weight on a cut?

Aim to lose about 0.5 to 1% of your body weight a week. That is the rate the 2014 Helms review recommends to maximise muscle retention, and it adds that diets longer than two to four months at that rate may be better for keeping lean mass than shorter or more aggressive ones.

The clearest trial is Garthe and colleagues (2011). Twenty-four elite athletes who lifted four times a week were randomised to a slow or a fast weight loss. The slow group cut energy intake by about 19% and lost 0.7% of body weight a week over about 8.5 weeks; the fast group cut about 30% and lost 1.0% a week over about 5.3 weeks. Lean mass rose by 2.1% in the slow group and did not change in the fast group. The authors suggest athletes who want to gain lean mass and strength while losing weight aim for 0.7% a week.

A 2022 meta-analysis by Murphy and Koehler found that an energy deficit impaired lean mass gains from resistance training but not strength gains, and that a deficit of about 500 kcal a day prevented lean mass gains. Lifters who want to keep muscle while losing weight should avoid deficits larger than that; set yours with the calorie deficit calculator. For protein, the ISSN position stand (Jäger et al., 2017) says 1.4 to 2.0 g per kg a day suits most exercising people, and 2.3 to 3.1 g per kg may be needed to keep lean mass in trained lifters during a deficit. The Helms review gives that higher range per kg of lean body mass, as the examples below use it.

How many calories should you eat on a lean bulk?

Eat about 10 to 20% above your maintenance calories and aim to gain 0.25 to 0.5% of body weight a week, the targets the 2019 Iraki review sets for novice and intermediate lifters, with protein at 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg a day. Advanced lifters should stay at the lower end. Find your maintenance with the TDEE calculator first. Indian vegetarians can build the surplus from the 7-day chart in our Indian vegetarian diet for muscle gain.

Bigger surpluses mostly add fat. In a 2023 trial, Helms and colleagues put trained lifters on maintenance, a 5% surplus or a 15% surplus for eight weeks of training three days a week. They concluded that faster rates of weight gain, and by proxy larger surpluses, primarily increase fat gain rather than strength or muscle thickness, though the 15% group did gain more on the bench press. A 2013 trial in elite athletes by Garthe and colleagues found the same pattern over 8 to 12 weeks: the group following a meal plan, eating about 3,585 kcal a day, gained 3.9% body weight against 1.5% in the group eating freely, and increased fat mass by 15% against 3%, but lean mass gains did not differ.

Cut and bulk maths for a 70 kg man

Take a 70 kg man at an estimated 22% body fat with a maintenance of 2,600 kcal. Both figures are assumptions for the example; the rates come from the sources above and the arithmetic is ours.

He is in the high band, so he cuts first. If his lean mass holds at about 54.6 kg, reaching about 15% body fat means weighing about 64.2 kg: roughly 5.8 kg to lose, or about 13 to 17 weeks at that rate, assuming most of the loss is fat.

Cut and bulk maths for a 58 kg woman

Now a 58 kg woman at an estimated 32% body fat with an assumed maintenance of 1,900 kcal. The same percentages give smaller numbers: a 20% surplus is only about 380 kcal a day for her, so portions have to be measured.

Her estimated body fat puts her in the cut-first band. Holding about 39.4 kg of lean mass, reaching about 27% body fat means a body weight of about 54 kg, so about 4 kg to lose: roughly 11 to 14 weeks at that rate, by our arithmetic. The protein intake calculator gives you your own range if you weigh more or less than these examples.

How long should a cut or a bulk last?

A cut lasts as long as it takes to reach your target at 0.5 to 1% a week, which in both worked examples above comes to about two to four months. The 2014 Helms review says leaner people should diet for shorter periods than those with more body fat, and that the leaner you get, the greater the risk of losing muscle, so the last few kilograms are the slowest and least worth rushing.

A bulk has no fixed length in the research; the trials above ran for 8 to 12 weeks. A coaching rule of thumb is four to six months, stopping when your waist has grown about 3 to 4 cm or you reach the top of the middle band. At 0.25 to 0.5% a week, a 70 kg man gains about 2.8 to 5.6 kg in 16 weeks by our arithmetic, not all of it muscle. Our guide on how long it takes to see results from the gym explains how much of that is realistic muscle for a beginner.

Bulk or cut if you are skinny fat?

If you are skinny fat, meaning a normal BMI with little muscle and a soft waist, start with neither a hard cut nor a big bulk. A cut leaves you smaller and still soft; a big bulk adds fat to a frame without much muscle. Recomp instead: eat at maintenance or a small deficit, keep protein in the ISSN range, and lift progressively three or four days a week.

Muscle gain in a moderate deficit does happen: the slow group of elite athletes in the Garthe 2011 trial ate about 19% less and still gained lean mass. Our guide to body recomposition sets out the protein, calories and 16-week plan in full. Once your waist is comfortably under the cut-off and your lifts have stopped climbing at maintenance, move to a lean bulk.

How do you know when to switch from a cut to a bulk?

1. 1

   Check the target, not the calendar

   Switch when your waist or body-fat estimate reaches the goal you set at the start, not after a set number of weeks.

2. 2

   Spend two to four weeks at maintenance

   Raise calories to your new maintenance and hold your weight steady for a few weeks before adding a surplus. This is a coaching habit rather than a research finding; it lets you see your true maintenance at the new weight.

3. 3

   Add the surplus in one step

   Move to about 10% above the new maintenance, or 5 to 10% if you have lifted for several years, as the Iraki review advises for advanced lifters.

4. 4

   Review every two weeks

   If the weekly average is rising faster than 0.5% a week, trim 100 to 200 kcal. If it has not moved in two weeks, add the same amount. Keep the lifting plan progressing throughout.

5. 5

   End the bulk at your upper limit

   When your waist has grown about 3 to 4 cm or you reach the top of the middle band, hold at maintenance again, then cut or keep recomposing.

What are the most common cut and bulk mistakes?

• The dirty bulk. Eating everything in sight does not build muscle faster. In both the Garthe 2013 and Helms 2023 trials, the bigger surplus added fat without clearly adding more muscle.
• Cutting too fast. A deficit above 500 kcal a day can stop muscle gain, and the fast group in Garthe 2011 kept no extra lean mass. Slow down if your lifts are falling.
• Too little protein. At 1.6 to 2.2 g per kg, a 70 kg man needs 112 to 154 g a day, which takes planning on a cereal-heavy plate. Put dal, curd, paneer, eggs, chicken or fish into every meal; our guide to protein in Indian food lists the amounts.
• No training plan. A surplus without progressive lifting is just weight gain. If you are starting out, follow a gym workout plan for beginners alongside the food plan.

Where does a coach fit in a cut or a bulk?

MakeMyFitness is live one-to-one coaching on video across India, at ₹799 a session at your gym or ₹899 at home, and it suits someone who wants a coach to choose the phase, set the calories and keep the lifting progressing through a cut or a bulk. Our lead coach, Kumar Abhishek, holds a Diploma in Personal Training and is a Human Performance Nutritionist, both from K11 School of Fitness Sciences.

Our coaches are fitness coaches, not doctors, dietitians or physiotherapists. They can work with the plan your doctor or dietitian gives you, but they don't diagnose or treat anything. Rehab & Recovery is coaching after a clinician has cleared you to train. See what a first session looks like before you book.