Skinny fat dilemma. Cut or bulk?

[zki123]

Hey guys so I've been skinny fat pretty much all my life. I started weight training in August until about December, then I switched to calisthenics as i wanted to train with my friends it's also more appealing to me as I want the athletic build/lean look.

I'm 25
5'10
145lbs- 66kg currently.
15% BF - navy method

I'd say since the start of the year I've been eating really clean and only around 1700 calories a day as I had some friends saying I need to lose my fat first before I bulk, don't worry about the scale it's just a number etc.

Apart from my arms gaining size, my mid section becoming more flat (due to probabaly not eating a lot) my lower belly has remained the same and never changed once..which tbh is and was the only reason I started training anyway.

Although my training has been inconsistent due to 2 jobs and uni I've been eating clean, but the progress isn't where I want it to be. So, sorry for the long post, but I thought the more info is better.

Bulk or cut? And any extra advice will be greatly appreciated thank you

h ttps://imgur.com/a/wZFNmT3 (current)

[SuffolkPunch]

Calisthenics doesn't give you a different look to training with free weights. It's all just resistance, you can accomplish the same with both but it's arguably easier to use free weights since they can be adjusted more easily.

Muscle gain is usually the better thing to do for "skinny fat" since dieting just results in a scarecrow look. You have to do both but muscle gain is the more difficult and lengthy part of the process so I would do that first. Unfortunately, most people don't listen to this advice and persist in getting smaller and weaker.

[hardyboysare]

Calisthenics doesn't give you a different look to training with free weights. It's all just resistance, you can accomplish the same with both but it's arguably easier to use free weights since they can be adjusted more easily.

Muscle gain is usually the better thing to do for "skinny fat" since dieting just results in a scarecrow look. You have to do both but muscle gain is the more difficult and lengthy part of the process so I would do that first. Unfortunately, most people don't listen to this advice and persist in getting smaller and weaker.

This should be made into a T-shirt although its not very catchy will need to think of a shorter one....

This is the advice you need OP.

[johndoethethird]

You don't look skinny fat to me. I think gaining some muscle with increasing your lifts will be more beneficial then going the skinny route (not much there to cut) and prolonging the process.

[zki123]

Thanks for the response guys. I've found a routine for calisthenics with good progression, so I'm going to stick with it and actually going to eat more from now on. I think I'm expecting change maybe too soon like you said. It's been 6 months so far, so I guess I expected more from my mid section, but I think this 6 months I've been going about it wrong.

I calculated my macros last night and came up with
C:390
F:68
P:145
CL - 2750

How do they look to you?

Also I seem to find it hard eating a lot of food? Yesterday I had oats, kiwi and a bowl of almonds, then pasta chicken and broccoli, then meatballs sweetpotatoe and mushrooms. This only amounted to 1,700CL and I was full...any helping with racking up the calories?

[SuffolkPunch]

You are choosing foods that have low calorie density. Those are the kind of things that people eat when they have the opposite problem - i.e. they don't feel full after eating a low calorie intake to lose fat.

Add oil to foods, chug milk, eat dried fruit or soft fruit like bananas. Eeven add some treat foods once you have enough protein and fruit and veg

[zki123]

Really? What would you categories me as? I just hate looking down and seeing my belly, also the sides too...

[zki123]

I find it very hard eating up to 360g of carbs a day...I should also be eating complex carbs over refined ones right?

My worry is that for the past 4 or 5 months I've been doing it wrong and if I'm honest it's quite disheartening because I just expected much much more. Especially my lower belly to go, but it's just remained the same.

The amount of videos I watch daily is insane, I'm always searching for "that fix".

[SuffolkPunch]

No, you don't have to eat only complex carbs.

There isn't a 'fix' - everyone looks for it and nobody finds anything except that you have to work hard and be patient.

I stand by my assessment that you should focus on gaining muscle. Experience tells me you will look better sooner this way. Don't fixate on your tiny belly.