Like other countless boring threads out there about cutting, this is gonna add one to that list. Sorry!!
Some background information:
First off, I’m a beginner.
Like majority of newbies I mucked around the gym for a while when I first started doing bro-splits and messing with machines trying to get things working. This was about August last year, and I finally decided that this year, I would find a good program to use. I found and stuck to All Pro’s beginner routine for the long run. I’ve completed about 4 cycles and nearing the end of the fifth (approx. 6 months). Got some great gains (although noob gains) and have increased my lifts.
(e.g. 40kg when first started out to 85kg now)
So summer is around the corner down South (Aus) and from the surplus that I’ve been consuming, I will admit I’ve gained some unwanted fat around my gut. So, considering that I’ve only FINALLY stuck to one solid program for only 6 months, should I start cutting? or just screw it and continue gaining mass on the surplus?
Right now: Around 144 pounds (I know, pretty light, maybe I should increase my calories, my bulking diet is not perfect ) at around 5ft7-8
My general recommendation for a beginner lifter would be to “bulk” – without getting totally sloppy, some effort to control fat gain – for at least a year, maybe 2 or 3, getting as strong as possible and increasing total volume/work capacity in the gym over many months. Then recomp or cut down to a relatively lean state and reverse diet / clean bulk again.
At 144 lbs 5’7, you are probably still very much on the skinny side. So unless your goal is just to look decently fit, i.e. like an Abercrombie model or whatever, or to be ripped for the summer regardless of long term muscle gain, I would keep eating.