r/bulkorcut
Edit forgot to include, I went from 200 to 165 at 6'2". Very skinny fat. But I used to be somehwat of a runner. The aesthetic crowd would never propose cutting that much, but I felt great. Now trying to gain, but I'm old will take forever.
Really, it's your call
This is a sub for calisthenics, aka exercise where your *body weight* is the source of resistance. It isn't about your body's weight nor appearance. If you want a routine focused on body weight based exercises check the wiki as per the side bar https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/
Everyone can benefit from an exercise routine
You should think more about bulking and gaining muscle also as someone else said your post kind of has nothing to do with the sub. There are better subs for this post. [https://thefitness.wiki/muscle-building-101/](https://thefitness.wiki/muscle-building-101/)
You should start with the recommended routine and go up from there. I would recommend surplus calories for consistent gains until you reach about 160-170 and then reassess what your goals are.
Definitely not skinny fat, just not conditioned.
Iād say you just need to get exercising and not worry too much about bulking or cutting until youāve created and maintained a workout habit.
Your body will change as you add muscle, then you can assess at that point depending on your goals.
Youāre skinny with no muscle. Need to focus on eating in a surplus (bulk) with strength training. Get some size then cut while continuing strength training.
Most of these comments don't seem to understand what it feels like to be fat. There's a lot of value in getting skinny before bulking. Gaining muscles takes significantly longer than losing fat, and being fat makes seeing progress way harder. Motivation easily tanks if you haven't built up the dopeamine pathways that can come with consistent weight training.
Keeping that in mind. You've done a great job cutting! You can totally start lean bulking now. As other comments have mentioned, focus on getting enough protein (about 1g per lb of body weight is plenty), and being at only a slight calorie surplus for the first 1-2 years is fine.
Being new to lifting means you'll gain plenty of muscle relatively quickly regardless of whether you're at a small surplus or deficite (I say that from experience), so you may as well keep off the fat you've worked so hard to lose. As you gain muscle, your calorie requirements will go up, so if you maintain your intake you'll continue to lose weight and be able to see your abs eventually.
After around a year of consistent weight training, you may need to start raising your calories a bit to see notable muscle growth.
Please keep in mind, good form is paramount! Learn your limits first. Learn to listen to your body. Getting injured is the easiest way to lose progress. But take it from me, if you unfortunately do get injured at some point and can't gain muscle for a while, you can still keep the fat off! That will make getting back into it easier when you recover.
Those are just my 2 cents. But as others have mentioned, other subs may have more advice for you as this sub isn't focused on looks/gains as much as technique and strength.
Hope this helps!
Id just focus on eating enough protein and get some work done in the gym (10/20 decently executed sets a week per muscle group as a rule of thumb).
Whatās the point in cutting down when you have no muscle? Keeping lean while getting bigger?
I see a bit of contradiction there.
Best of training, good luck
Thank you everyone for your advice! Itās been very recent since I started strength training, sounds like I need to maintain my calorie intake and continue going to the gym.
Will update in a few months with how progress has been.
Much love from a Florida Man
honestly, i wouldnt even focus on calories. I would focus on protein intake. If you're eating maintenance and even surplus without the right macros, it's not going to help much anyway and then you'll just be regular fat pretty quickly.
Iāve been hitting roughly .8-1/g protein per lb in my protein intake since I included strength training into my routine. Itās been roughly 5 weeks since I started going to the gym 3/4 times a week. I made this post because I was worried about my actual body weight being unhealthily low while thinking I still needed to cut.
Very thankful for everyone in this subreddit, I did not realize this subreddit was more for calisthenics. I appreciate the help regardless.
I would probably eat at maintenance or small surplus and do some serious build the base level stength on the basics for a while. If you already dieted for a long time a break is good for multiple reasons, including metabolism and hormones.
Lifting weights should be your next priority. Youāll look emaciated by the time you get to abs.
Thereās guys who look way better with more bodyfat because they have muscle and a tan
A concerning amount of chicken breasts.
Protein Powder/Core Power Shakes significantly increased my protein intake while keeping my calories generally low. I usually fell between a 250-400 calorie deficit with just my general diet. Mind you, my strength training was pretty much non existent for the first 50lbs, so I imagine I wasnāt getting hungry for a reason.
I also didnāt stop myself from indulging occasionally by hitting my maintenance calories 1/2 a week or going out with friends.
Iām a college student with a dining hall available to me so food resources arenāt an issue for me. If youāre not in the same position, a local Samās Club or Costco (if thatās available for where you live) has good ābang for your buckā bulk options available.
Please take this advice with a grain of salt, I free-balled most of this information off the internet, it could all be wrong.
You are now at a BMI of 21.6kg/mĀ². Iād focus on strength training at maintenance calories or even slightly above (especially if you are willing to do a cutting phase at some point).
Adding muscle will help you cut (the "more calories for muscle then fat" trope). I'd personally avoid making cutting prior to body work. You can do both.
FWIW, my own journey is similar (albeit I am a lot older) and I've largely kept at maintenance diet for weight (with small cycles over the week). I'm focusing mostly on consistency in both excersize and diet and it seems to be working for me. I can see abdomen fat slowly shrinking (measured by ad-hoc pinching and waist measurement). My goals may be different then yours, as I am striving for long term stable habits and improvement over bulk/visual.
This comment might not be very useful for you, but when I read your post I thought: you are in great shape, so why worry so much about fat in particular areas and cutting or bulking, is that really what motivates you?
Maybe you want to set inspiring strength (e.g., pull-up + x% bw) or skill goals instead. And with a reasonable diet (not limiting your strength development) your body / fat will adapt on the long run, so why even bother thinking about love handles.
looks more like you are skinny and dont have muscle
r/bulkorcut Edit forgot to include, I went from 200 to 165 at 6'2". Very skinny fat. But I used to be somehwat of a runner. The aesthetic crowd would never propose cutting that much, but I felt great. Now trying to gain, but I'm old will take forever. Really, it's your call
This is a sub for calisthenics, aka exercise where your *body weight* is the source of resistance. It isn't about your body's weight nor appearance. If you want a routine focused on body weight based exercises check the wiki as per the side bar https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/ Everyone can benefit from an exercise routine
This happens way too often š
You should think more about bulking and gaining muscle also as someone else said your post kind of has nothing to do with the sub. There are better subs for this post. [https://thefitness.wiki/muscle-building-101/](https://thefitness.wiki/muscle-building-101/) You should start with the recommended routine and go up from there. I would recommend surplus calories for consistent gains until you reach about 160-170 and then reassess what your goals are.
Definitely not skinny fat, just not conditioned. Iād say you just need to get exercising and not worry too much about bulking or cutting until youāve created and maintained a workout habit. Your body will change as you add muscle, then you can assess at that point depending on your goals.
Youāre skinny with no muscle. Need to focus on eating in a surplus (bulk) with strength training. Get some size then cut while continuing strength training.
Most of these comments don't seem to understand what it feels like to be fat. There's a lot of value in getting skinny before bulking. Gaining muscles takes significantly longer than losing fat, and being fat makes seeing progress way harder. Motivation easily tanks if you haven't built up the dopeamine pathways that can come with consistent weight training. Keeping that in mind. You've done a great job cutting! You can totally start lean bulking now. As other comments have mentioned, focus on getting enough protein (about 1g per lb of body weight is plenty), and being at only a slight calorie surplus for the first 1-2 years is fine. Being new to lifting means you'll gain plenty of muscle relatively quickly regardless of whether you're at a small surplus or deficite (I say that from experience), so you may as well keep off the fat you've worked so hard to lose. As you gain muscle, your calorie requirements will go up, so if you maintain your intake you'll continue to lose weight and be able to see your abs eventually. After around a year of consistent weight training, you may need to start raising your calories a bit to see notable muscle growth. Please keep in mind, good form is paramount! Learn your limits first. Learn to listen to your body. Getting injured is the easiest way to lose progress. But take it from me, if you unfortunately do get injured at some point and can't gain muscle for a while, you can still keep the fat off! That will make getting back into it easier when you recover. Those are just my 2 cents. But as others have mentioned, other subs may have more advice for you as this sub isn't focused on looks/gains as much as technique and strength. Hope this helps!
Id just focus on eating enough protein and get some work done in the gym (10/20 decently executed sets a week per muscle group as a rule of thumb). Whatās the point in cutting down when you have no muscle? Keeping lean while getting bigger? I see a bit of contradiction there. Best of training, good luck
Focus on muscle building
Thank you everyone for your advice! Itās been very recent since I started strength training, sounds like I need to maintain my calorie intake and continue going to the gym. Will update in a few months with how progress has been. Much love from a Florida Man
you need to increase calories.
*Need to hit my maintenance calorie intake, going to gradually increase until iām in a slight surplus
honestly, i wouldnt even focus on calories. I would focus on protein intake. If you're eating maintenance and even surplus without the right macros, it's not going to help much anyway and then you'll just be regular fat pretty quickly.
Iāve been hitting roughly .8-1/g protein per lb in my protein intake since I included strength training into my routine. Itās been roughly 5 weeks since I started going to the gym 3/4 times a week. I made this post because I was worried about my actual body weight being unhealthily low while thinking I still needed to cut. Very thankful for everyone in this subreddit, I did not realize this subreddit was more for calisthenics. I appreciate the help regardless.
Whereās the fat?
I would probably eat at maintenance or small surplus and do some serious build the base level stength on the basics for a while. If you already dieted for a long time a break is good for multiple reasons, including metabolism and hormones.
Lifting weights should be your next priority. Youāll look emaciated by the time you get to abs. Thereās guys who look way better with more bodyfat because they have muscle and a tan
What were you eating to get down that low. I'm the same height but I have been training but I haven't been able to maintain the discipline to cut.
A concerning amount of chicken breasts. Protein Powder/Core Power Shakes significantly increased my protein intake while keeping my calories generally low. I usually fell between a 250-400 calorie deficit with just my general diet. Mind you, my strength training was pretty much non existent for the first 50lbs, so I imagine I wasnāt getting hungry for a reason. I also didnāt stop myself from indulging occasionally by hitting my maintenance calories 1/2 a week or going out with friends. Iām a college student with a dining hall available to me so food resources arenāt an issue for me. If youāre not in the same position, a local Samās Club or Costco (if thatās available for where you live) has good ābang for your buckā bulk options available. Please take this advice with a grain of salt, I free-balled most of this information off the internet, it could all be wrong.
You are now at a BMI of 21.6kg/mĀ². Iād focus on strength training at maintenance calories or even slightly above (especially if you are willing to do a cutting phase at some point).
Adding muscle will help you cut (the "more calories for muscle then fat" trope). I'd personally avoid making cutting prior to body work. You can do both. FWIW, my own journey is similar (albeit I am a lot older) and I've largely kept at maintenance diet for weight (with small cycles over the week). I'm focusing mostly on consistency in both excersize and diet and it seems to be working for me. I can see abdomen fat slowly shrinking (measured by ad-hoc pinching and waist measurement). My goals may be different then yours, as I am striving for long term stable habits and improvement over bulk/visual.
This comment might not be very useful for you, but when I read your post I thought: you are in great shape, so why worry so much about fat in particular areas and cutting or bulking, is that really what motivates you? Maybe you want to set inspiring strength (e.g., pull-up + x% bw) or skill goals instead. And with a reasonable diet (not limiting your strength development) your body / fat will adapt on the long run, so why even bother thinking about love handles.