Who does maintenance between cuts?

[Cellist]

I haven’t found a thread on this topic and it is where I currently find myself. I lost some weight over a couple months and now I am going to work at stability for a similar period before I return to deficit nutrition. Perhaps it’s not as glamorous as getting super lean on a cut or bulking, but now that I’ve looked into it, I’m excited by the idea of reaching a goal and actual long term success.

Who’s done this? Any advice?

[5hout]

I found this harder than bulking or cutting, and it usually turned into accidental bulk or accidental cut. The two things that I would recommend are:

1: No hypertrohpy workouts, either lift for maintenance or 1rm. You need some volume to keep your gains, but remember that since you won't be building muscle (or much muscle) you can use that extra time for cardio, joint health, 1rm work, learning/practicing other lifts (snatch, clean, jerk, ohp). If you're doing 3 day + OHP day MM (Sorry Hanley if this butchers your program) this basically cuts 1 entire day out, so you can redistribute the work across the days and still have time for more cardio/ohp/fun lifts.

2: I planned my eating/weigh-in schedule as Friday morning weigh in, Monday weigh-in, and then Mo/Tu/Th fast/intermittent fast/caloric restriction appropriate to what happened between Fri and Mo. You might not need a Monday weigh-in, but you do need to adapt your week-to-week eating to how 'bad' the weekend was for your weight. Of course in Rona times might not be as much of an issue. This way you don't oopsie into gaining 4 lbs because you do every 3rd week weigh-ins, you know (based on food records + weigh-in) how that weekend went and what corrective action you need that week to stay level. Essentially, a mini-mini-bulk/cut cycle based on my eating and social habits. Yours may differ

[Wilhelm]

I haven’t found a thread on this topic and it is where I currently find myself. I lost some weight over a couple months and now I am going to work at stability for a similar period before I return to deficit nutrition. Perhaps it’s not as glamorous as getting super lean on a cut or bulking, but now that I’ve looked into it, I’m excited by the idea of reaching a goal and actual long term success.

Who’s done this? Any advice?

There are some thoughts on maintenance training here -
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3785

I had my own feelings about the lack off effectiveness of bulking at my age.
Testiclaw pretty much unequivocally confirmed that view.

fwiw, i have been holding steady at 200lbs AM weight since mid summer, after gaining back from 180 after my 3.5 month pre/post surgery layoff.

I recently started the MM 3 week template squat portion, and it's a lot more volume than i had been doing.

I find my self ranging from 2,800 ish daily calories, to 3,200 and even 3,400 some days.
This while ranging from 199lbs to 201.
There are days when i can feel i can use more food.
I don't get hungry in the standard way since i've been LCHF for so long, but it's like i can feel my muscles wanting more some days.
I think there is room to effectively have a surplus for specific periods and still basically be at maintenance.
I weigh myself everyday, and track all calories all days.
Tracking is just a habit i developed in 2016 when i first started losing 50 lbs over 6 months.
I don't even think twice about it now.

I had already figured i was losing time by cutting and bulking compared to just training full volumes, and Testiclaw stated it in exactly that way.
"normalized over time"

I added a second day of weighted dips, and i can already see a difference in fullness for chest and shoulders.
So it's not like nothing is happening.


I'm just starting new 12 week mesos, and essentially a 9 month macro built from those.
Definitely looking to PR my deadlift after 2nd meso. Last heavy single of the first meso is scheduled to be 3lbs under current PR, but i may not test after the 1st meso.
I'm also now more focused on getting results from this squat plan after kind of purposely putting "numbers" to the back burner for that lift.
That stemmed from me just doing my own thing that wasn't getting me over the hump after getting back close to pre surgery levels.

I'll let you know how it goes, but i pretty much expect to follow the plan i have laid out, and to hit my loading targets.

Well see.

[michael]

I like keeping a small deficit, perma-cutting. I've lost about 20 pounds using ~100 kcal per day deficit. It doesn't feel any different than maintenance. It takes a long time, but the idea that a diet ends is a recipe for disaster anyway.

[Wayne]

I like keeping a small deficit, perma-cutting. I've lost about 20 pounds using ~100 kcal per day deficit. It doesn't feel any different than maintenance. It takes a long time, but the idea that a diet ends is a recipe for disaster anyway.

Same deal for me. Gently losing around 1lb a month. Hardly notice it and managed to drop my waist to drop to a new low.