Cutting After Starling Strength

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello. I recently finished Starting Strength. I misunderstood the program and ate 6000 calories a day for too long. I am 5ft 11in and I weight 243lbs. I have a 45in waist.
Here are my finishing numbers
Squat: 325lbs
Deadlift: 350lbs
bench: 200lbs
press: 135lbs
power clean: 135lbs(didnt add clean until later because of form issues)

I am torn between cutting down and doing the bridge program. I am an Orthodox Christian and we are doing or lenten fast until May 2nd. I cant eat dairy, eggs, fish, meat, or oil until may 2nd. I am getting most of my protein right now from pea protein powder and shrimp(not considered fish by the Orthodox). I am worried that if I try to cut right now i wont be able to get enough protein. At the same time im pretty chubby and i dont how detrimental it would be to stay at this body fat percentage while i do the bridge program. Any thoughts?

also if i cut should i keep the programming structure of starting strength or should i switch to another programming structure?

thank you for your time

2

I think it is highly unlikely that you consumed 6,000 kCal/day, but yea, you shouldn’t have gained weight during that (or any other) program.

I would do The Bridge or our Beginner Program on a calorie deficit until your waist is 37" or less.

You can probably get more than enough protein through vegan sources for the time being. I would not delay weight loss for fear of losing muscle.

3

Thanks so much for the reply.

When I do the bridge program should i do a larger or smaller deficit? The calorie calculators say 3000ish to lose 1lb/wk and 2200 to lose 2lb/wk.

Thanks again

4

also after i am done cutting should i redo the bridge on a bulk?

5

I would aim to lose ~2.5% BW per month or so. If you had good results with The Bridge, you could run it again, but it’s really just designed to “bridge” you to the next program.