Transforming Over the Last Year

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I guess you can say I’m one of the few people that made a promise to himself to make a change last january and stuck to it. I’ve lost over 50 pounds (hopefully most being fat) going from pushing the 220 area to 165-170 as of now. Its been quite the rollercoaster learning all this new info about nutrition and relearning to lift weights after over a year off after highschool. (started out with one of those starvation diets before learning the ropes even).

Please refer to the pics in my profile for my physique. Unfortunatly I do not have pics of my former self available to share. Anyways to my question:

Like I said its been a long road getting to where I am now. My long term goal is to be 180 pounds at 8% body fat. Would you say I am lean enough to switch from fat loss to muscle growth and be able to stay around this lean if done properly?

2

I looked at your photos and it doesn’t look like you have a lot of body fat. You should start eating more calories and putting on muscle mass el pronto.

Just don’t go overboard with the calories…

3

[quote]mthomps wrote:
<<< My long term goal is to be 180 pounds at 8% body fat. Would you say I am lean enough to switch from fat loss to muscle growth and be able to stay around this lean if done properly?[/quote]

Why the goal of 180? I’m seriously curious.

4

What do you mean why 180? I need a number to shoot for and I think 180 is a good weight to be at my height…

I used to be athletic and big. Then just big and fat. Now I’m much leaner but small. I want to be big AND look good now. Thats why I’m shooting for 180 pounds.

The purpose of this thread is to get others opinions as wether or not I’m ready, as my own percieved appearance may be off.

5

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Why the goal of 180? I’m seriously curious.[/quote]

It’s not necessarily a final goal, you know. Whenever I hit my goals I make new ones, and I’m pretty sure the OP will do the same.

6

I read in an article here that you will never be satisfied when you reach a goal. That there will always be something you will want to better.

It’s deffinetly true :slight_smile:

7

I’d say it’s time to transition of fat loss, and move into a caloric surplus.

8

Without a doubt, 100%, you should add mass. You are very lean.

I recommend finding out your BMR to get a starting point, then up the cals by 250-300 or so. Be methodical; if you gain 1-2lb a week on this, keep the cals the same. If you gain more than 2, decrease cals a bit. If you gain less than 1 increase slightly.

I’d also recommend green tea. I’ve been taking this daily and I think it definitely helps with preventing excess fat gain. I take 6 green tea extract pills per day as well as several glasses of the tea itself. Plus i’m pretty convinced that it has helped my immune system and helped prevent any colds.

Also some cardio, not too much obviously. I do a lot of pre-breakfast very light intensity cardio (fast walk), long duration (45min or so) 3x/week on my off days.

Good luck