in terms of maximum bbing potential and presenting the most shredded muscle on stage, yes you're right, you are going to find it far more difficult than someone using hormones.
however, what guys like you and adonis are doing is being minimalistic.
your body WILL add more muscle with more calories in a natural state, but there does come a point of diminishing returns and, yes, if you plan on presenting that extra muscle you will have to reduce calories.
when you start shedding body fat, depending on how you train, etc while you're doing it, you'll obviously start getting smaller and this can cause the insecure to panic and start feeding again ie perma bulkers. the food acts to gain weight and to fulfill their psychological need to feel full, especially if they started bbing in the first place because they were underweight.
however, the body's natural primary focus is maintaining body fat levels at a certain point. it still operates on the system of feast or famine. in other words, you're stuck in your cave while a hungry saber tooth tiger is sitting waiting outside for you and hunting and gathering is off the to do list today. what's your body going to do? preserve fat and burn up useless stuff for energy like that extra muscle you don't need for a typical day of hunting and gathering.
this is the critical opponent you have to overcome, your body's natural homeostatis. to get as big and ripped as possible you need to convince your body that you need that extra muscle to live.
the problem with simply losing weight until you get ripped without serious attention to preserving muscle is that your body will naturally shed muscle until you are at minimum levels. in other words you've gained nothing but a ripped up body, not dissimilar to a junky that takes a lot of speed and doesn't eat much. yes you will be very low body fat but you won't retain your potentially highest ratio of muscle mass.
