not to discredit your info my man, but in my experience off cycle is where so many people here fall short, its really easy to lose what you have gained, trust me, been there done that. I will have to say for the most part growing on cycle is typically the easier part, just because of ones will to push harder knowing they have that extra test flowing thru them, but anyone who has been around this board for a while can vouche that most people don't know how to properly dedicate themselves to recovery, sure your appetite wont be as if you were dropping 600mgs 0f test and 300mgs of deca into your system, but none the less your body is still use to consuming a certain amount of carbs, proteins and calories so to drop your intake because your off cycle is like selling your car just because the battery dead, if you have to push yourself harder to intake your normal diet than so be it. I along with many others here may not always go by that falsify but none the less that is what it takes to hold on and grow. Now I can tell you that in the recovery stage of your mission to blow up or what ever your mission is here recovery is just what it is, time to slow down some, maybe take one more day off a week from the gym(not saying stop going, this is another reason people fall short), rest, work on getting the sleep you need. but don't think just because your off cycle you need to slow up on protein intake. your still wanting to grow right? that's why when you are planning your diet you need to plan a diet that is comfortable to you, if your a hard gainer and trying to bulk up, plan small meals spaced apart by a few hours, keep your meals on a time schedule so that your eating at the same time every day(or at least around the same times). that's way even when your off cycle you will still be getting your hunger urges. if your trying to lose weight and bulk up, know your limit and find foods that taste good to you, again eat on a time schedule, not necessarily every couple hours but if your serious about this you will know what is the best for your body. there are hundred of thousands of different healthy diet combinations so there is absolutely no reason why someone cant pick their healthy daily value that suites their wants. That's what this is right? A WANT, a want to better your body, better your strength, better your life? there is a shit ton of information on eroids on how to properly cycle, but im not so sure off cycle is really the the best term for recover, because recover is a part of every cycle, no matter if your running recovery with or without test every cycle ends with recovery. For instance I have a friend (I get jealous of every time I see him because he is just built for this shit) that is 26, has been thru about 6 dedicated cycle and every damn time he goes off cycle he send me daily text to let me know how much he feels like he's losing, how he just cant wait to get back on cycle and how he is going to really focus on his diet next cycle, he has gained 35 lbs since the 1st cycle and barely looks as if he lost anything every time I see him. This last cycle he ran he took my advice and stopped beating himself up over any losses and just stuck to his daily diet. He was 150lbs coming into this and diameter around his bi-ceps was 14 1/2" with 9% body fat, he is now 185lbs, his arms have grown 4 inches and his body fat is down to 7% . He has traps now like a fucking gorilla all because of dedication. Most people don't realize the amount of time that really goes into all of this, when it comes to AAS, all success comes from a great plan. BTW im not knocking what your saying by any means because for the most part you are right, its just that there are an ass load of newbs here and more to come that will read these threads and see that "off cycle" appears to be the part where you don't have push as hard when in some aspects your off cycle is the part of your cycle you push the hardest. ;-)

Fuck my grocery bill alone is $600/ month

I bulk buy my chicken but it still costs a fortune. Gear is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to cost. Proper pct, ai and like you said food are the killers. They are also the most important. Unless we are talking about primo and hgh?

"Make sure you got the funds to pound out that food. That shit isn't cheap." Shiiiiieeeee Mickey Dees dollar menu bitchezzzzzzzz!!!