Guys I'm in need of clarity. Lost some weight (185-175lbs), but my bf% is still the same (14-17%, depending on time of day, water, etc). I feel like I'm stuck in place. My goal is to get to 10% bf because I've never seen my abs. What the fuck? Do I just fuck working out and do cardio until I drop down? Do I stay at my current strength (weak af) and just hope I keep muscle while losing fat? I'm very diligent with counting macros, working out has been my problem. It's on and off
Tear me apart, how can I get down to 10%? I'm stuck.
Reevaluate your caloric intake. Keep your protein high and subtract 100 calories every 1-2 weeks until you start seeing results in the mirror. Alternatively, lean bulk (TDEE+250) with cardio and you'll see little fat loss, but also little muscle gain, a much slower path but safer for preserving muscle. No matter what, keep lifting as best you can, your goal right now is abs not 1RMs, don't half-ass either trying to do both at once if you're natty. If your workout is on/off, be more deligent and just do what you can to preserve your hard work.
Ayden Hill
What are you doing for strength training? Are you following old school body building routines or metabolic training? Are you changing up your routines often or sticking to the same exercises and just increasing weight and reps? Cardio is only part of the equation. The reason our bodies store fat like they do is that fat isn't just stored energy. Its stored resources that your body uses for different things. Your fat cells are made of three main parts: cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides. Cardio really only burns triglycerides leaving the other two alone if you're conditioned for cardio. You HAVE to get sore to burn the other 2/3rds of the fat cell. That's what fat is primarily used for: repair and recovery.
Grayson Smith
By the way I'm a training director who's managed over 500 different clients. You'll get a lot of bro science out there but ultimately it boils down to diversity in your training and nutrition. Our bodies are natural adaptors and we just have to create a lifestyle that keeps our bodies on their toes and needing to progress to keep up with us.
Zachary Young
If you're losing weight and your bf is staying the same it means you're losing muscle mass
Gabriel Mitchell
Dared to post current body so fuck you here it is, I know I'm fat The training I'm doing is a split between chest, Triceps abs (Mon&Thu), shoulder, legs, calves, (Tue&Fri), and Backs&Biceps (We'd&Sat) I've been slacking with workouts, but I'm 6'3, 175-180lbs, (1700cal, keto so 170g protein, 104g fat, 21g carbs)
Ok, DEFINATELY lean bulk and cardio, no wonder you aren't losing weight, you need more muscle to increase your TDEE so you burn more fat when you do cut. Bulk until 2020, then join the January cut with the rest of the world.
Sebastian Sanders
Ok wtf i posted my body here before and i look jut a bit better than that guy and im more skinnyfat but with high bf%. You guys told me to cut and avoid bulking.
Grayson Ward
You want to cut when you have 0 muscle mass? For what purpose?
Easton Cook
Imagine if that ice cream cone was your dick haha
Julian Hill
Dude, I'm going to to be very tough, but you need to hear this. You look like you've never been to the gym and the dictionary ideal picture of skinny-fat.
I want you to increase your protein intake a little more to 1:1 your body weight and eat some carbs, until your caloric intake equals your TDEE+250. If you are missing workouts, then you need to adjust your workout schedule and recovery time, so either do a 4-day Upper/Lower or a 3-day full-body like SS, SL, or Greyskull and put on some mass. If you lean bulk properly (not eating fast food or processed crap) you should only gain a little fat, but you will definitely have more muscle to work with when you return to cutting. I know it will be discouraging to see weight increase on the scale, but keep in mind it will be muscular gains you are achieving. Lift heavy, eat clean, and be patient.
I promise you that this how you will get to abs by summer next year. This path you're on of cutting at low muscle mass is clearly not working in your favor, so why not just switch to building lean muscle and come back to cutting in January?
Justin Nelson
Im i was advised to cut even if i have 0 muscle mass cause i have high bodyfat. Im confused why are u guys telling op to cut if he has a high bf?
Jason Reyes
There is a part of Jow Forums that will tell you to cut to 10% bf at all costs before you do anything. There's also a part that will tell you to avoid that. Jow Forums or any other forum will have different people with different ideas on how to look good.
Adrian Bennett
Than do that if you want to. You'll have less muscle in the end.
Colton Allen
Im not op! I posted my body here a month ago yall said i should cut cause i fat. Honestly im not since i was 148lbs and 5’7” that time but my bf is really high. So skinnyfat. Others even told me im just fat fat.
I did bulk for the first month and gained 8lbs. I did see sooome muscles but became fatter.
Aiden Perez
Yeah you posted the question in the summer. Summer is the time all nerds start losing weight hoping to get laid when college starts. You obviously got advice that was geared towards that because of the crowd that was in here.
Isaiah Anderson
Post body and let's get a comparison going. If you have higher muscle mass than OP then cutting might be what you need to do.
Brody Allen
Skinnyfat really is a curse cause theres no optimal way. You could either cut or bulk but fuck i hate deciding. I found this former skinnyfat guy on leddit and he told me to cut cause thats what he did. I feel like its a good idea to take advice from actual skinnyfat guys. Did u guys start like me too?
I posted pic related. I bulked til aug 4 which in photo doesnt see much difference but irl i see slight changes.
After aug 4 i started cutting and now im 138lbs again. My gut got a biiit smaller. Ill post a pic
You can skip this first paragraph if you don't want a back story. Been 195 @ 5'10 for most of HS. Yeah the first thing I did was cut in the summer of senior year. Went from 195 to 180. After that gained some weight in college and lost some but ended up at 170. Looked skinny as fuck though and I just didn't feel like myself when I was that tiny. Bulked to 230. Everyone called me a fat fuck and bullied me. One time my rugby coach gave me a ride to practice on the first day back when he saw my bulk and the first thing he said was that I look fat as fuck. My sister and dad made fun of me every day. I didn't care because I was lifting hard and my numbers going up boosted my self esteem. Ended up cutting from 240 to 230 and now around 220. I actually look big now and people tell me I look like I'm in great shape.
If I had to do it over I wouldn't cut or bulk. I'd just fucking lift. Telling a newbie to cut or bulk is the dumbest advice people here give. Your main focus should be finding a lifting program and sticking with it not cutting your way down to 10% bf or going from 130 to 190. The first year I wrestled my coach told me that he never made any of us cut weight because he wanted us to be in love with the sport without worrying about diets and shit. Just lift and get your protein in.
Ryan Nguyen
Yeah, I'd probably say eat at maintenance and focus on lifting heavier, maybe at most a lean bulk.
Alexander Hall
Meant for ,
Liam Lopez
THanks for sharing your story m8
But idk you might have looked a bit better than when i started so for some people its obvious that they need to cut or bulk when they start. Or at least do it not as drastic.
Like now im cutting and i dont do it too much. Like i dont starve myself. When i started 3 months ago i did enjoy lifting and i still do. I never missed a day at the gym.
All i want is the best way and i hate wasting time. I know its not a race i dont expect to have a decent body til a year. But i just want everything to be done right
Caleb Wright
Did you start like me too? I appreciate your advice but i wanna take advice from people who started like me too.
I do wanna eat at mAintenance now since i already cut a bit of a fat now. I dont even want abs but i just want to have a normal gut
Adam Howard
Op here, So is it better for someone in my situation to cut down to 10%bf (skellymode) then bulk up, or (being 14-17% bf) put on muscle and THEN cut down? What's your personal opinion? Be honest
It's not just about how much you eat, and how much you work out. It's about WHAT you eat. Eat more whole foods. Everything comes second to what you constantly put into your body.
Joshua Bailey
I did, but I overshot it with dirty bulking and went to bloatmaxx-mode before cutting down and got to a normal weight. Definately got muscle mass and out of skinn-fat mode so my general advice to skinny-fats has been lean-bulking and heavy lifting.
Lean bulk, eat good whole food/minimal processing, keep your protein high and eat your damn carbs, do your cardio, and cut once you hit 20% body fat or at the end of the year, since the holidays are pointless to cut during.
Jack Howard
Cut past the skinnyfat until you're actually thin, then bulk. You have no muscle to lose so there is no real downside to cutting. Then never go too far from your ideal bf%. At worst, if you cut now you'll end up normie tier acceptable thin. You're just gonna get fat if you bulk now and end up with having to do an extra long cut after with more muscle loss and possibly stretch marks and if you don't follow through after your bulk you'll end up even more fat and more miserable. Don't bulk unless you know yourself well enough to know that you'll carry it all the way to the end (hint: you don't).
Nathaniel Williams
You have abs wtf is problem
Joseph Johnson
Two months
Aiden Cook
Focus on lifting and eating good(not getting a certain amount of calories in but eating good foods)
Daniel Hughes
That's because you'll look better at 5,7 no bf no muscle vs the literal Skeleton 6,3 low body fat no muscle
Luke Edwards
Or just start working out and look more muscular.
Parker Reed
YEah but wouldnt you be even fatter if you bulk with a high bf?
Do ureally need to eat more to have myscles? Wont lifting do shit while on a cut?
Grayson Cooper
btw nobody told you for some reason but you're not 14-17% bf, more like 25.
Hudson Young
Jeez you look like absolute shit. id Cut a bit while lifting weights. Drop like 5-10 lbs and see where you stand in two months. You will still make gains since you have zero muscle. Then start bulking and build some muscle on your new skelly frame.
Rock Lee is the only great character out of that show
Evan King
Take some anavar. Keep protein at 1.5g/lb. Keep lifting.
Otherwise you'll lose progressively more muscle mass as your bodyfat declines. To the point your bodyfat % will remain the same while losing more and more muscle.
Jonathan Murphy
>keto When will you fucking reddit pussies GO BACK? Imagine being a dyel and doing KETO. Retard.
Colton Flores
I was skinnyfat most of my life, cut up until 13% than did a mistake of dirtybulking, cutting again to 10% and then doing a slow/clean bulk I’d advise you to do the same but I’m still a dyel, pics for reference, 3 months apart
Hahahah, thats fucking 20% bf at the very least, also wide hips, so I suggest you put on some actual muscle first before going down to 10% cause you'd be going for an Adonis belt, only to end up with an Adonis fanny pack lmao.
This fight made me drop shitpooden. They could've swapped their matchups strategically and capitalized on eachothers weaknesses. BUTTTT NOOOOOO >we just have to try harder lmao
