guidance needed please, depressed!

what's up guys..I've got a couple questions as I contemplate my future and goals. My stats are: 23 years old, 5'6" 180 lbs, single-digit bodyfat. I have 2 cycles under my belt. I spend a lot of time on this board and consider myself to be fairly educated.
My first cycle was 8 weeks test/dbol and I went from 165 up to 185 and ended up at 172 or so after pct and cutting naturally a little. I was excited for the gains, then disappointed after I lost all of it but 7 measly pounds..I went off-cycle for 15 weeks, then ran my second cycle which was 12 weeks test/deca/dbol..I went from 170 up to 202 and am now all the way down to 180 after PCT and cutting. Why am I making these substantial gains and only keeping a few pounds? Through 2 cycles I've only kept about 15 pounds, and this is depressing. My PCT is solid (I probably should have run HCG for my 12 week test/deca cycle, but I didnt). I am wondering if this is normal and I should only expect to keep a few pounds, or if i need to take a better look at what i'm doing and reevaluate. I am quite disappointed and I'm considering just continuing my training naturally as I ponder whether cycling is worth the time, commitment, and most of all, money. Which leads to my second question..
Can you train naturally and gain after cycling? I have heard that cycling will inhibit your future ability to gain naturally. Must I continue cycling regularly now in order to gain? I would love some opinions. Advice would be VERY much appreciated, thanks.

you can still gain fine naturally after running gear.. sure your not at your natural limit.
how was your diet during all this.. did you adjust diet as you progressed ect..

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Originally Posted by Mulciber

you can still gain fine naturally after running gear.. sure your not at your natural limit.
how was your diet during all this.. did you adjust diet as you progressed ect..

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I agree with this, by ajusting my diet acordingly i find i keep almost all my gains after a cycle.

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Originally Posted by MAD MATT

I agree with this, by ajusting my diet acordingly i find i keep almost all my gains after a cycle.

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That's cool man, how did you do it? More protein, or more carbs, more calories, fewer calories, or what? On cycle I ate absolutely as much as possible..pretty much a dirty bulk. No junk food like chips and candy, but greasy burgers, pizza, stuff like that..of course, that's in addition to the staples of a bodybuilding diet. I do know how to eat properly, I just added a whole lot more to it. I tried to keep my calories up during PCT, but I reduced them slightly. Then after PCT I started a cut and reduced my calories while upping my protein intake and reducing complex carbs.

When i was 150lbs i ate to sustain that weight ( at the time approx 2000calories pd). But now im 220lbs after 2 cycles and i consume about 3000calories pd. Keep your proteins high and eat clean. I could have good genes cus i should really be eating 4000calories pd.

Stop trying to cut right after your cycle. Next time continue to bulk naturally and you'll keep much more of your gains.

^^^ dont cut right after a cycle and pct. Do bulk, off(maintain) then do a cut cycle.

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Originally Posted by GPS226

That's cool man, how did you do it? More protein, or more carbs, more calories, fewer calories, or what? On cycle I ate absolutely as much as possible..pretty much a dirty bulk. No junk food like chips and candy, but greasy burgers, pizza, stuff like that..of course, that's in addition to the staples of a bodybuilding diet. I do know how to eat properly, I just added a whole lot more to it. I tried to keep my calories up during PCT, but I reduced them slightly. Then after PCT I started a cut and reduced my calories while upping my protein intake and reducing complex carbs.

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burgers and pizza? thats a messy diet.. lots of bad fats, simple carbs, wasted calories.

you should expect to lose some weight, especially with dbol, from water bloat, but not as much as you did. i would think its a bad diet mostly.

when you say you know how to eat right, what do you eat on a normal day? off cycle

After Pct you should have kept your cals high to ensure the fact that your gains are going to stay with you...

Try and read up on proper ways to train/eat during pct and post pct and I'm sure there is alot of information that you have yet to uncover

Diet Bro....you still gotta get at least 1-1/2 g's of protein (per lb body weight)...after cycle...the fact that you ate dirty ...didn't help....you probably put on lots of fat in the weigjht you gained...then dropped it when you cut. What you have left is just the muscle you gained...keeping 10 lbs of muscle post cycle ain't bad...if you really think about it. I recently cycled up to 222 lbs from 197 lbs...found I was uncomfortable at that weight...then cut down to 208. lbs....still 11 lbs of quality muscle gained.

i wouldnt feel depressed if i was you, second cycle started at 170, you touched 200lb, thats 30lb gain, dropped down to 180 after pct, so you kept under 50% of your gains, (well if you weighed in at 185lb that would be 50% of gains). i guess its not bad, i've not personally come across anyone i know of, thats keeps all there gains, they all aim to keep 50-60%, on here people probably say they keep all their gains, but i very much doubt it.

anyways next time leave the dbol out, thats just water weight, test e and deca will hold more than enough water as it is, keep your diet clean, have a high calories intake during pct, and after pct, and keep cutting to a minimum. you will easily keep 60% of your gains.