Currently, I am 128 lbs with age 24 and height 5 feet 3 inches (161 cm), I workout 5 to 6 times a week. consuming about 1500 calories from healthy sources. Chicken, wheat, lintels, poultry, milk.
I started lifting in December 2020, and in a year I approximately lost 25 lbs.
My goal is to look good (to have an aesthetic body)
I have these questions.
I’m not an expert in gauging BF % but I’d surmise it’s going to be difficult to predict it due to the photo quality. I suspect you probably know that it is high however.
You’re not anywhere near advanced enough to be worrying about body part development, you need to be focusing on whole body improvement for some time before you know what body parts need more work than others.
My suggestion to you would be to eat at maintenance calories whilst ensuring your protein intake is high (in your case I’d put it at over 1 gram per lb of bodyweight) and look to recomp which given your relative training inexperience should be a realistic prospect.
I’m not trying to be hurtful here but it doesn’t even look like you’ve ever been in a gym. At 128 lbs and your level of bodyfat, you’re carrying very little muscle. You need to lose at least 20 pounds of fat, that will likely put you under a 100 pounds. Even at your height that is very small.
Something is wrong here. If you’re training and eating like you state, then it should be having some effect on your body and it is not. I think you need to re-evaluate your whole program.
Have you ever had a baseline hormone panel? You may be low in testosterone and high in estrogen which could explain the fat distribution.
You are still a rank beginner. Use the info on this site/run through proven programs and as a young guy you will lean out and put on muscle at the same time.
Read 10 articles by Dan John and start off with a program like this…
if want more time in the gym do cardio/metabolic work on days off
Have you seen a hormone replacement doctor? I think that is your first step. Without the proper hormone ratios, you’re not going to respond like other men.
I’m not trying to be combative here, but I don’t think replacement therapy should be anyone’s first step.
We have SO many people coming on here who give a vague description of their diet and training, and after some prodding it seems to always come to light that they’re eating crap and doing borderline useless training.
I’m not trying to say there aren’t people who will, no matter what, need hormone replacement, but they should have to go through a vigorous self-assessment beforehand.
From my perspective there are 2 things going on. One, the OP is either lying about his diet and training or, two he is hormonally deficient. Now I don’t believe he’s lying and, based on what he told us about his training and diet, he should be seeing some changes in his body composition. He is not. Therefore, I think its safe to assume he is is not working with an optimal hormone level.
This brings up another issue that is prevalent on this forum, when someone isnt getting the results, they hoped for typically we all jump on and say he is doing something wrong. Either he is eating too much, not eating enough, not training enough, not doing enough cardio, etc. Given the proper stimulus, the body should be responding to training. I just know from personal experience, I did not get the results I wanted until I got my hormones lined up. This includes thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, etc. Plus, the OP did admit that he suffered from low testosterone.
I appreciate this.
I know that I am training effectively and my diet is pretty decent too. I am eating less because I have witnessed reduction in my waist line. Moreover, people around me comment that I have lost weight.
One thing I want to add is that during this journey, I never trained my abs because of thought that there is no meaning to train abs when they are covered with fat.
What would you suggest me for now?
should I go for a hormonal check-up so that I can know what the underlying issue is?
I think that getting a baseline hormone panel is a good idea. Make sure to include total testosterone, free testosterone, estradiol, prolactin, TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), etc.
Not if his hormones are fucked up. Why do people continue to assume he doing something wrong? Getting so called “normal” results implies he has normal hormone ratios. He won’t know this without blood work.
I can only speak for myself, but I see far more people who fail to put effort in at the gym or at the dinner table than people who are hormonally doomed and in need of drugs to correct.
I think one of the things working against him is also his height. Shorter people tend to show extra fat much more than someone 6’.
Never hurts to get the hormones checked though!
