Continue to cut? or start clean bulk or recomp?

[xheinousx]

I posted my 2 month progress about a week ago and now that im closing in on the 3 month mark I decided to weigh in 2 days early and take a morning photo of my 3 month progress now. Being home for a entire month from college has been a little hard keeping thing on track (still workout everyweek and eat right) but with my mother cokking the meals I would eat very small portions. It's not that my mother is a unhealthy cook it's the fact the things she makes tend to be carb heavy and not focus so much on protein.

Anyways! Through this month I've managed to drop another 4 pounds, which I feel is acceptable...but I'm running into some problems. I'm finally down to my "target" weight 155lbs (down from 182 in October). Coming from 182lbs at ~30% BF I didn't carry much LBM and I was hoping I had enough for when I cut to 155 I would look decent. This is not the case though. I'm still very "soft" have a tad little bit of stomach fat to get rid of, and my chest is starting to finally come through and form into pecs. This is great and all but I don't really want to loose much more weight. cutting is starting to become progressivly harder in terms of lifting. Over the past 2 weeks I've noticed a fairly large decrease in strength in the weight room. So I feel that it may be time for a recomp of some sort. That way I can finally put on some lean mass and then cut again revealing more muscle instead of being skinny fat (which looks just as bad as being fat imo :P)

My problem is I have no farking clue what a recomp exactly is. I read about recomp logs and what not for hours lastnight and nobody could seem to give a decent response. So here are my pictures (Starting, December 2nd, Today In that order) let me know what you think my next steps need to be, and a possible BF% estimate would be great.







I need some suggestions on what my next steps should be. I'm afraid if I cut another 10 pounds or so im going to seriously hurt my strength gains in the gym and not look much different from what I do now. I'm really just trying not to spin my wheels here.

Any help would be great thanks!

[midcoastking33]

Bulk

[NCepeeist]

Bulk it up bro. But thats if you dont mind a bit of fat with some muscle.

[MAX.MAREK]

thats alot of mouthwash....2 big bottles haha

..bulk.

[xheinousx]

That's kind of what I thought. Alot of guys over at fat loosing section said to cut another 10 pounds but I simply felt that was taking steps back because I dont think it would change much.

Also. Why the fark do you look skinnier in the morning when you wake up compaired to say mid day? Pisses me off :P

Also any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[midcoastking33]

That's kind of what I thought. Alot of guys over at fat loosing section said to cut another 10 pounds but I simply felt that was taking steps back because I dont think it would change much.

Also. Why the fark do you look skinnier in the morning when you wake up compaired to say mid day? Pisses me off :P

Also any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Fasted in the morning, less water retention usually. You can cut 10 lbs if you want but it sounded like you were starting to hit a wall. Better to taper the calories in slowly and gradually work up to your bulking macros

[psychodiver9]

+1 for bulk. Nice progress

[Joseph1990]

I'm going to have to disagree with the crowd on this one. I would most definitely continue cutting. You have made some very noticeable progress but your BF is still 25%~. I wouldn't want to start bulking with that much BF.

Just be sure not to rush things and cut to quickly from this point on.

[psychodiver9]

Yes but he has very little lbm to cut too. I am succcesfully bulking having started at a higher bf than normally suggested

[Joseph1990]

Yes but he has very little lbm to cut too. I am succcesfully bulking having started at a higher bf than normally suggested

Regardless of what he does he will be moving in the right direction. No right or wrong here he was only asking for opinions. I myself wouldn't be comfortable with that much belly fat only to knowingly add more on a bulk. To each their own.

OP whatever you choose stick to it.

[xheinousx]

Thanks for the input guys.

[serenity45]

Im going to say continue to cut, maybe like 10 pounds or so. I was in your situation when I was 19. 185 lbs and I cut all the way down to 145, could see my abs for the first time in my life. when i was 145 i was about 8% bf. even tho i didnt have much muscle, I felt way better about myself. I think if you get to where you can start to see your abs, then it would be a better idea to transition into a bulk. thats just my opinion, to each their own.

[TD87]

Regardless of what he does he will be moving in the right direction. No right or wrong here he was only asking for opinions. I myself wouldn't be comfortable with that much belly fat only to knowingly add more on a bulk. To each their own.

OP whatever you choose stick to it.

I would agree with the above statement and continue to cut. Just from this point on I wouldn't restrict my calories as drastic, just enough to continue to slowly lean out, but not so much that you feel tired in the gym. Also as stated before, whatever you choose will work just stick with it, its all in what your gunna be comfortable with in this current period of training.

[gymjunki3]

id keep cutting.

[bazingaaa]

Nice guess @ the guy who has estimated BF to 25%
Unfortunately this is complete bull****.
Anyway its up to you, if you feel comfortable with your body at the moment , go for a slow! bulk. If not, keep cutting

[justanothagirl]

I'd keep cutting just a little bit.

[ajay12]

That's kind of what I thought. Alot of guys over at fat loosing section said to cut another 10 pounds but I simply felt that was taking steps back because I dont think it would change much.

Also. Why the fark do you look skinnier in the morning when you wake up compaired to say mid day? Pisses me off :P

Also any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

If you loose another 10lbs, you're probably going to gain that back on when you bulk anyway so it's going to be a cyclical process if you take that route. Bulk until you see a good amount of definition even with that fat and then you'll be cumming in your pants when you cut.

[spicyprice]

Congrats on work so far!

Im another vote for bulk. Slowly increase cals and monitor fat gains. And enjoy the extra energy in the gym!!