the Paradox of Cutting Steroids

[omoplata]

Here is something interesting that I have observed. Please tell me if my observation is right and if so, why that is the case...
(and don't slaughter me here if this makes no sense; i never used these compounds and I am making just an observation based on logs)

People seem to love those steroids that burn some fat -such as trenbolone, anavar and ph/ps such as superdrol- while they are eating maintenance calories or slightly bulking. A lot of guys will say: "I was eating a lot on my test+tren cycle but instead of putting on fat, I actually leaned out some and put on muscle". The same is true for things like superdrol or Test+Anavar cycles... not always and not for everyone, but this is a common comment.

Now, interestingly, these same steroids do not seem to be capable of burning much additional fat, while the user is in a caloric deficit. Very few people say "I went on a cut with tren and I burned much more fat than I would have otherwise". Same true for superdrol or anavar... I am just making a general observation; not so much a scientific comment really.

First, is this generally the case or am I mistaken?

Secondly, is there any reason these drugs should be capable of burning fat while eating near maintenance calories or a caloric surplus, but not very good at burning additional fat when there is already a caloric deficit?

 

[e6er]

I'm going to say those compounds generally have less water retention

 

[tomt01]

I pretty much use the same things in a bulk phase as i do in a fat loss, so i dont know. I think it has more to do with diet and nitrogen retention than what does what. water can be fixed with AI's.

 

[Ehren]

Now, interestingly, these same steroids do not seem to be capable of burning much additional fat, while the user is in a caloric deficit.

To the point above, that right there is the pain-in-the-ass of fat loss, IMO When calories are too low, either with drugs or not, you stop burning fat and may even gain some. When the deficit is too large for too long, fat loss stops. I'd guess this is why a lot of people use "carb cycling" nowadays, (because it works). Otherwise, we'd all just take "cutting drugs" and starve ourselves to 5%. (Which would be great and much easier to manipulate than diet is).

 

[oldfella]

The truth is............

Diet is the key to cutting or bulking. You can get shredded on deca and test or tren and test or any other combo you choose. If your diet is tuned for the goal you want then yes it will give you the desired result.

AAS= positive nitrogen balance= less catabolism while dieting. If you are on the negative side of nitrogen balance then you will be burning muscle. To prevent this you need higher than usual amounts of protein. Put aas into the mix and this makes it much easier to maintain positive nitrogen balance while still on a lower calorie diet. Which gear you use makes no difference to your end result. Your diet will dictate this in the end. As for bloating......well if you tend to bloat then something is not right in your diet or water. Something is out of balance with electrolytes if it is water retention. Too much sodium, not enough potassium, not enough water, magnesium.....etc. This is the reason you will bloat. If from food then chances are your liver may not be functioning optimally for the amount of food you are eating or you are simply eating too much food. Again AAS is not always the culprit, it comes back to diet. And yes diet includes water!!!

 

[Chipper Jones78]

The truth is............

Diet is the key to cutting or bulking. You can get shredded on deca and test or tren and test or any other combo you choose. If your diet is tuned for the goal you want then yes it will give you the desired result.

AAS= positive nitrogen balance= less catabolism while dieting. If you are on the negative side of nitrogen balance then you will be burning muscle. To prevent this you need higher than usual amounts of protein. Put aas into the mix and this makes it much easier to maintain positive nitrogen balance while still on a lower calorie diet. Which gear you use makes no difference to your end result. Your diet will dictate this in the end. As for bloating......well if you tend to bloat then something is not right in your diet or water. Something is out of balance with electrolytes if it is water retention. Too much sodium, not enough potassium, not enough water, magnesium.....etc. This is the reason you will bloat. If from food then chances are your liver may not be functioning optimally for the amount of food you are eating or you are simply eating too much food. Again AAS is not always the culprit, it comes back to diet. And yes diet includes water!!!

Pretty dam good response to your question.

Chip

 

[omoplata]

The truth is............
Which gear you use makes no difference to your end result.

Is that really the case???
I am not arguing, just a little surprised by this answer, that's all.

 

[tomt01]

yeah what old fella said is on the money. but i do think certain drugs do bring some water storage with them. AD-50 def added some water to me..

 

[BrianEE93]

I thought you got a metabolism increase from AAS?

 

[FRKNHUGE]

a buddy of mine won the mr pgh a couple years ago and his precontest included 2 ad50s a day up to the show date
his diet was on point, and i cant really attribute this to anything else but that different compounds do diff things to diff people
not too scientific but reality
frk

 

[oldfella]

Is that really the case???
I am not arguing, just a little surprised by this answer, that's all.

The science of anabolics is pretty simple. The mechanism of diet is not. AAS were designed for treatment of certain growth disorders. The fact remains that AAS are not responsible for muscle growth. Diet and training are. AAS only allow our bodies to recover and repair much faster than normal. Add the extra nitrogen retention and protein synthesis and your body is now primed for growth, if and only if you feed it right and train for the same. What compound you use has little bearing on that. Place your body in an anabolic state........feed that state..........train in that state............and become the biggest MOFO in that state!!

I do not see this as arguing but simply dispelling the myths around cutting and bulking compounds. And yes, everyone of us will react slightly different to different compounds, but adjust your diet and training and you will see the difference. YES diet includes water!!! LOL