One of the smallest male frames in the world

[BlackDragonWave]

Hi all, I have been reading a lot about working out and nutrition on here for the past year, so I figure it's finally time to introduce myself, hiii everyone! I have already taken advice from a number of the forums here, so thanks to all of you for answering questions and giving advice to people, that's benefited me as well.

Here's my story:

For my height, I have the smallest frame of anyone I know. I am 5'8" and when I graduated high school, I weighed around 105 lbs (completely srs), and had never lifted a dumb bell in my life . Also, I wasn't even 'skinny ripped'/ecto, I actually had what looked like a decent size gut for my tiny frame and around 9" arms. I am Indian, so the combination of genetics and a bad diet (the typical Indian diet is all carbs/fat and almost no protein LOL) was undoubtedly the cause. I started lifting in college, but I went on a dirty bulk (I literally ate everything in sight) and although I did become significantly stronger, I also got even fatter. I added about 40 lbs in 1.5 years, I am sure most of that was fat though, I was probably eating only 50-60 grams of protein a day - _ -. When I started out, benching just a 45 lb Olympic bar was too heavy for me to rep, so I benched with the 30 lb setting on a bench machine to work my way up to repping the bar and then adding weight to it (I wish I was joking here - _ -). At the end of that super dirty bulk in college, I was the heaviest I have ever been (about 152 lbs), and my 1 RM on bench went from not being able to do the bar, to 195. I don't remember my other lifting stats, it's been 10 years since then. Anyway, I gained a ton of fat from that 'bulk'. I stopped eating a ton of food and ended getting into during endurance stuff like hiking and kayaking for a few years as a hobby (a dumb choice for bodybuilding I know). I let myself go in grad school and when I got out and had my 'first real job', and at the age of 30 (10 years after I had done any serious weight lifting), I weighed 149 lbs, but was even FATTER than at the end of my dirty bulk in undergrad (no doubt because I was similar in weight but had lost muscle from not weight lifting for several years).

In the late fall of 2019 I had a 33.5 inch waist (which for my frame made me look pretty fat without a shirt on). I remember seeing myself in the mirror one day and thinking to myself 'enough, it's time for a change'. I decided to go on a cut by doing 2 rounds of p90x at home while in a 500 calorie deficit. Ofc, this was far from the optimal way to work on my body, but after not lifting in many years, just doing at home work outs was a big change for me (because of the pandemic that ended up working to my advantage). Like so many guys, I really wanted to see my abs, which had never been visible before. I kept trimming and trimming, and I finally got visible abs. They weren't nearly as nice as most of the avis on here, but it felt like a huge accomplishment for me, especially given I don't personally know any other Indians who are lean (our genetics must be the worst for bodybuilding). As many of you already know, people tend to underestimate their bf% and I certainly did. In hind sight, it should have been obvious that I would have to get very low in weight since I knew I had very little muscle mass from not lifting in a loong time. I had a set of blurry abs, at a whopping weight of 114 lbs and a 25.5 " waist (completely srs). This is what I mean by having the puniest frame for a guy, I had a 25.5 " waist (ridiculous), and it still seemed like a had a little fat to lose, since my abs were blurry and I could feel a very slight layer of fat still covering them.

That was about 6 months ago. Since achieving that goal, I transitioned to doing a lean bulk, trying to put on 1/2 lb a week. After 27 weeks, I ended up gaining 17 lbs (so I gained a bit more fat than I wanted), and am now 131 lbs. I don't have abs anymore, but I am alright with that, I know I can get them again when I want to. I'll post pictures at the bottom, I am wondering what you guys think my bodyfat percentages are before and after. I would guess I am 12% before and 16% after, but it could definitely be more for both cases. I know from having to go down to 114 lbs that I greatly underestimated the amount of fat I carried a year ago.

Here are some stats from my 6 month bulk:
Starting weight: 114 lbs; ending weight: 131 lbs
Starting waist: 25.5" ; ending waist: 28.75"
Starting bicep: 11.5" ; ending bicep: 12.5" (flexed at peak, but cold, no pump)
Starting 1 RM bench: 155 lbs; ending 1 RM bench: 210 lbs
Starting 1 RM deadlift: 190 lbs; ending 1 RM deadlift: 235
Starting 1 RM front squats: 160 lbs; ending 1 RM deadlifts: 220 lbs (I can't do normal squats due to a shoulder injury)

My lifts went up by a noticeable amount, but from the pictures, you can tell I gained quite a bit of fat as well. My goal is to be 140 lbs at 10% with 14ish " arms, I feel like given how tiny my frame is, that should look somewhat decent. I have a looong way to go. I am thinking about doing an 8ish week mini cut to shed some of the unwanted fat I gained and then continue lean bulking for the rest of 2021 (10ish months). Let me know what you guys think.

The pictures attached are in order of:

1. right after cut
2. 2 months into bulk
3. 4 moths into bulk
4. 6 months into bulk

Last question: am I in the intermediate lifting category, or still a beginner? I am still super weak compared to everyone on here clearly, but I also only weigh 131 lbs. I have read that the categories of beginner, intermediate, and advanced are determined by lifts as % of bodyweight. I hope I am still in the beginner category and I won't have to worry about plateauing for a while longer.