my question is why the hell are you cutting when you are 5'10 and 145 lbs? on top of that hiit program and running you are wondering why you are losing weight and not getting stronger? here ya go i have finally learned where my maintenance is (4kcals or so). my job consists of walking prolly 17m/day at a med. pace. i do zero cardio and am on the HST program of 5's currently. here's the part you are waiting to hear, my stats: 5"11, 162lbs, 8or9%bf. currently eating 4600cals/day and leading a pretty lazy lifestyle. its tough for an ecto to gain, im guessing you'll need to be around the 4k range to bulk.