I was once at 200lb and bf of 30%. Eight weeks ago I was at 150 with bf of 13%. So, I lost 42.5lbs of fat and 7.5lbs of lean body mass. Now I’ve lost a few more pounds, but it was mostly LBM. My waist has been at 34" since I weighed 155. I’m 5’9". 28 years old.
My question is this:
I’ve read here on Tnation that you should be at 10% bf before you try to add muscle, or it will be hard to minimize fat gain-among other reasons. (This has been the case for me).
So, does there come a point where you should go on a mass gain diet anyway? (Like I said do I weigh too little to keep losing fat?) I really want to be down to 10%BF first, but I’m not sure if I can since I don’t weigh very much for my height. My eventual goal once I got down to 10%BF was to put on 20-30 pounds of muscle.
I realized after about a year of really wanting to be lean that I didn’t have the muscle mass necessary. Since then, I decided that I would officially say, “fuck abs” until I was able to lift heavier shit.
I’m say that you’ll have to make the decision. But if you’ve been at it for a while, it can’t hurt to up the calories a bit and see what you can do. Just don’t go to crazy. Gradually increase over a few weeks until you find a good maintenance level, then go from there.
I got down to about 185 on 6’2" and it was probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
I’d say you are close enough to 10%, even if you are not I’d try to gain some muscle and get up to like 185 before cutting again. I’m only 18 so I don’t know maybe it’s just easier for me to gain without gaining as much fat
I was in a similar situation in regards to bf(32%), and I think that reaching 10%bf or lower is much tougher for us FFB’s(former fat boys). I myself had to stop at 16% at 180lbs because I couldn’t drop anymore, anyways the best course of action has already been mentioned(stop and gain weight!). All you have to do is gain a solid 20-40lbs of muscle and the rest of that fat will shed off easy.