Aiming for a slim, muscular body

[spotkey]

I'm 18 years old, 5'9 and weigh approximately 140 lbs which I think is average for my height. But here's the thing. I consider myself "fat". Not fat in the sense that I am oversized and humungous, but a really high body fat percentage. I'd say around 20-22%. Keep in mind that I weigh around 135-140lbs. I don't consider myself to have a fast metabolism because all I eat is stored as fat and shown throughout my body. But I never gain weight no matter what/how much I eat. I don't consider myself active enough for the calories to burn off that I don't gain weight. I've never seen my weight go past 142 lbs ever, and I eat a lot.

Now, I have never routinely gone to the gym or followed a workout plan because I never had the time, money, or proper planning. However, I've finally got a fixed schedule, a job, and a car, so I can easily throw the gym into my routine. But here's the thing. I don't want to get ripped and big. I don't want that V shaped body. I'm more interested in the swimmer's/runner's body. But I don't know how to go about this. My ideal weight that I'd want is 150-160 lbs, but I'd want my body fat to drop to at least 10%, the lower the better. I've heard that to lower your body fat, you must do cardio. The thing is that I'm not overweight or anything. If I do cardio, I don't want myself dropping down to 120-130 lbs and only get my body fat down to like 15-16%. I'm not even sure what I'd have to do. If I just go to the gym and lift and not do any cardio, I don't know if that will give me the body type that I want. As I've said, I want to maintain my body weight between 150-160 lbs. I still want to be able to wear a small without it being tight to my skin, and I want to wear a 30 waist like usual. Basically, how do I have to plan my workout so that I can drop 10% body fat while maintaining the same weight. I'm guessing that itself isn't possible and that I'd either have to gain a lot of weight and then cut. The problem is it's impossible for me to gain weight, especially past 150 lbs. But I don't think I have a fast metabolism because I don't go to the bathroom 2-3 times a day, I go maybe once a day or every other day. I don't have abs or anything, everything is stored as fat. So yeah, I have the man boobs, the belly, the love handles, etc. But I still only weigh 136 lbs the last time I checked. I'll upload some pictures of myself later, but this is the type of body I'm looking to get:

http: //i.imgur.com/72edM.jpg

[Sorun]

This you OP?

[sza]

My suggestion is to cut to 125 to 130lbs then clean bulk to 145 to 150lbs for that type of body.

[Homanator]

I didn't even read the post... as soon as I saw the title I assumed, "ah ****, skinny ripped myspace here we come".

[Rileet]

My suggestion is to cut to 125 to 130lbs then clean bulk to 145 to 150lbs for that type of body.

i disagree
if you try to cut now, with little to no muscle of any kind, you will look goofy as all hell
i'd use your weight now, eat clean. just do push ups, maybe some light weight OHP, some chins.. and you'll have that body in a few months

[spotkey]

Yeah Sorun, something like that. Slightly skinnier than that, though with the same amount of fat.

[Ensix]

I weight as much as you and I'm pretty skinny.

[JeromeWeinberg]

My suggestion is to cut to 125 to 130lbs then clean bulk to 145 to 150lbs for that type of body.

No wonder you look like this


Disregard this post. Just bulk for a long ass time and then cut. You don't want to be 5'9", 145 lbs. Put on some serious mass. I'd say bulk for a solid 10 months and then cut from there.

[tmd17]

Hey bro! To be honest if you wanna drop your body fat, your going to end up losing some weight. But the good news is your body will start to build muscle when you train and that in turn will help increase your weight. So there will probably be a loss of 5lbs or so a month into training, but that will drop your body fat significantly. My advice would be to do cardio 3x a week, with a 3 or 4 day workout split. The cardio is going to help burn off all the fat that you have, and the weight training will help tone and build muscle.

[Sorun]

Yeah Sorun, something like that. Slightly skinnier than that, though with the same amount of fat.

Well its going to be a hard decision for you... You could clean bulk and gain some muscle then cut or vice versa.

If you cut now and your abs are underdeveloped you will look like a *******. Well your going to look like a skinny ******* even if you have abs lol but if thats the type of body you want go for it.

[spotkey]

The thing is I can't bulk. I've tried 3000-4000 calorie diets throughout the day and I still don't gain any weight. All that happens is everything I eat is stored as fat and I just look even worse as my body starts looking curved in all the wrong places. If I purely lift, I'm not sure how that would look to be and if I do cardio only, I'm sure to drop to under 130 lbs without any muscle whatsoever. It's hard to decide what to do.

[Rileet]

The thing is I can't bulk. I've tried 3000-4000 calorie diets throughout the day and I still don't gain any weight. All that happens is everything I eat is stored as fat and I just look even worse as my body starts looking curved in all the wrong places. If I purely lift, I'm not sure how that would look to be and if I do cardio only, I'm sure to drop to under 130 lbs without any muscle whatsoever. It's hard to decide what to do.

you can bulk.. just make sure you're getting a good meal after you're workout
everyone can gain mass duder..