Bigorexia

[Fattofitukk]

Hi all,

I just wanted to see other people's view points, I'm 32 married no kids. I love lifting weights, real passion.

In my mind I feel like I should be around 141kg / 310lbs, when I was with my mrs before weight training I was 68kg / 149lbs. As I have got older and I have progressed with weights, concentrating on strength the more I want to get bigger.

At the moment I am 99kg / 218lbs, I don't feel small but I do feel like I could get alot bigger and I have a good potential and genetics to do this. My wife, however, has other plans and prefers me to go to 85kg / 187lbs. She also told me to stop the weights and creatine for a couple of months focus on weight loss and do cardio.

Do I just ignore my wife and get to what I want or do I just lose the weight and build back up, bodyfat is around 20%.

Thanks in advance

D

[SuffolkPunch]

Getting bigger than that will mostly come from fat (assuming you aren't on a raft of anabolics). Ironically, we tend to look less muscular when our BF% gets higher. Just have a larger silhouette

So she is right in a way, you would look better at 85kg.

But stopping lifting is not smart. If you set this as your goal you need to keep lifting and getting enough protein - but adjust your calorie intake down so you are in a deficit.

[EliKoehn]

As someone who can sympathize with this mentality, SuffolkPunch is still right.

However, there is something of a spectrum of physique desirability. Being 20-22% bodyfat and very muscular, you will look softer and lack hard definition, but you would also look massive and solid in a way that you wouldn't if you were truly lean and wearing clothes.

If being huge and strong is more desirable than looking shredded, I wouldn't worry too much about leaning up, but unless you're on the latter half of 6 feet tall, you won't get to over 300 without looking fat. ~235 @20% is both doable and very desirable IMO.

[Tommy W.]

If you have decent muscle and excess fat, the best way to look 10 lbs more muscular is to lose 10 lbs of fat

[Fattofitukk]

Getting bigger than that will mostly come from fat (assuming you aren't on a raft of anabolics). Ironically, we tend to look less muscular when our BF% gets higher. Just have a larger silhouette

So she is right in a way, you would look better at 85kg.

But stopping lifting is not smart. If you set this as your goal you need to keep lifting and getting enough protein - but adjust your calorie intake down so you are in a deficit.

Appreciate the help, would you keep creatine in the weightloss program?

[EiFit91]

Hi all,

I just wanted to see other people's view points, I'm 32 married no kids. I love lifting weights, real passion.

In my mind I feel like I should be around 141kg / 310lbs, when I was with my mrs before weight training I was 68kg / 149lbs. As I have got older and I have progressed with weights, concentrating on strength the more I want to get bigger.

At the moment I am 99kg / 218lbs, I don't feel small but I do feel like I could get alot bigger and I have a good potential and genetics to do this. My wife, however, has other plans and prefers me to go to 85kg / 187lbs. She also told me to stop the weights and creatine for a couple of months focus on weight loss and do cardio.

Do I just ignore my wife and get to what I want or do I just lose the weight and build back up, bodyfat is around 20%.

Thanks in advance

D

If you want to appear sexually attractive to women listen to your wife. If you rather want to look attractive to men a case could be made for bulking on.

Your bodyfat may be much higher than 20% and that is the reason why your wife started commenting.

[SuffolkPunch]

Appreciate the help, would you keep creatine in the weightloss program?

Yes, it's always useful to have creatine saturation in your muscles. Creatine is not a drug that has to be moderated / cycled, it's simply an organic compound that the body uses in energy metabolism.

[Tommy W.]

OP how tall are you

[Fattofitukk]

OP how tall are you

6ft

[EiFit91]

6ft

Most likely your body fat is closer to 25% than 20%. Pictures would help in making a more accurate guess.

[Tommy W.]

6ft

You have more fat than you think. You need to diet down. Keep up the training and creatine but drop your calories a good amount. Listen to your wife she's most likely your best and most honest critic.

[EliKoehn]

Take it for what you will for your own goals, but looking at your photos you do appear at least 25%. I would aim to slim down if I were you, at least for two or three months.

[TolerantLactose]

Going to have to side with your wife. There's virtually no way you can be 300lbs. and not be morbidly obese, even with "assistance".

[air2fakie]

If you plan on staying with her, do not ignore the wife.

[xsquid99]

Is your goal to look like a Sumo wrestler? Because this is exactly how you're going to look when you're 300 lbs.

[Fattofitukk]

Appreciate all the feedback, your right, mrs is the biggest and most honest critic I have, will lose the weight.

I am on alot of psych meds so they add weight but I will do a good mix of cardio and weight training + creatine as well as a diet in deficit to get down the weight.

Cheers folks, sometimes it's just good to get others opinions.

P.s. did a boditrax scan, 26% bf atm so much for BUPA assessment 20%.

[EiFit91]

Appreciate all the feedback, your right, mrs is the biggest and most honest critic I have, will lose the weight.

I am on alot of psych meds so they add weight but I will do a good mix of cardio and weight training + creatine as well as a diet in deficit to get down the weight.

Cheers folks, sometimes it's just good to get others opinions.

P.s. did a boditrax scan, 26% bf atm so much for BUPA assessment 20%.

Don’t trust those devices.

Your May 2020 picture looks like 30%+, I don’t know how you look now compared to then.

From some of your progress pics it looks like you did a «dreamer bulk», piling on a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Muscle is built slowly, and you will be surprised by how little muscle there actually is once you cut down.

[xsquid99]

Don’t trust those devices.

Your May 2020 picture looks like 30%+, I don’t know how you look now compared to then.

From some of your progress pics it looks like you did a «dreamer bulk», piling on a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Muscle is built slowly, and you will be surprised by how little muscle there actually is once you cut down.

For sure this... Well over 30% in your May 2020 photo.

[Fattofitukk]

Don’t trust those devices.

Your May 2020 picture looks like 30%+, I don’t know how you look now compared to then.

From some of your progress pics it looks like you did a «dreamer bulk», piling on a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Muscle is built slowly, and you will be surprised by how little muscle there actually is once you cut down.

Completely agree, May 2020 was probably the worst I have ever been, see food diet and psych bills + lockdown and being lazy.

I have attached (Not sure if this works) a picture of me from June 2021, this is a year of constant gym apart from UK lockdowns since June 2020.

I have uploaded the photo on my profile too.

[EiFit91]

Completely agree, May 2020 was probably the worst I have ever been, see food diet and psych bills + lockdown and being lazy.

I have attached (Not sure if this works) a picture of me from June 2021, this is a year of constant gym apart from UK lockdowns since June 2020.

I have uploaded the photo on my profile too.

Wow, that is a massive improvement in a year!

With clothes it is always hard to tell but I’d guess you are in the 25-30% range closer to 25% now. My basis for thinking that is that you seem to have a visible gut still and 25% is «belly territory» whereas most guys closer to 20% typically don’t have visible belly fat in clothes.

I’d guess you need to cut for 6 months, dropping about 40 pounds (doable in that time span if you do everything right).

[Fattofitukk]

Wow, that is a massive improvement in a year!

With clothes it is always hard to tell but I’d guess you are in the 25-30% range closer to 25% now. My basis for thinking that is that you seem to have a visible gut still and 25% is «belly territory» whereas most guys closer to 20% typically don’t have visible belly fat in clothes.

I’d guess you need to cut for 6 months, dropping about 40 pounds (doable in that time span if you do everything right).

Cheers mate!

I'll go for the cut, yay calorie deficit time......