Am I skinny fat? Been lifting for a year, which way to go now?

rodrigueskevin

I'm 5'6''. Been lifting consistently for a year now. I went on a bulk from 123lbs to 135lbs for 8 months. Now I have cut in the last 100 days to 118lbs.

Here are some pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/JOX6e#0

Am I skinny fat? This is the leanest I have been in my life.

The problem is I still see quite a bit of fat on my waist (even have love handles). If I continue to cut I will get even more leaner which I don't think is healthy as I am already way below the expected weight for my height.

Another problem to cut is I am approaching my breaking point in how much I can lower my food intake.

So should I again go on a one year lean bulk and build more muscle and then cut or should I keep cutting till I drop to lower levels of body fat?

justcat206

What are your goals? To gain strength? To lose the love handles? If you're afraid of being too thin right now, perhaps it's better to set non-appearance based goals (i.e. deadlift x amount or run x fast) and focus on that instead of how you look for a bit and see how things change.

rodrigueskevin

justcat206 wrote: »

What are your goals? To gain strength? To lose the love handles? If you're afraid of being too thin right now, perhaps it's better to set non-appearance based goals (i.e. deadlift x amount or run x fast) and focus on that instead of how you look for a bit and see how things change.

I want to gain strength but I don't like to have fat on my stomach. I had tried to focus on strength and bulk for 8-9 months but I gained more fat around my stomach. So i went on a cut. The idea was to get lean enough and then start a long clean bulk.

rosebette

If you're just coming off Thanksgiving, you could just have a little post holiday bloat. In my opinion, 118 lb. is very light for a male of your height. It's a BMI of around 19, and even a woman that height and weight would be fairly thin. I'm only 5'1.5" and around 118 myself, but I carry some muscle as well as female body fat. At 118, I would think you've lost a lot of muscle. I'm not a body builder, so I'm not familiar with the science of "cut and bulk", but I didn't think cutting involved going to extremely low body weights, just increasing lean mass.

rodrigueskevin

rosebette wrote: »

If you're just coming off Thanksgiving, you could just have a little post holiday bloat. In my opinion, 118 lb. is very light for a male of your height. It's a BMI of around 19, and even a woman that height and weight would be fairly thin. I'm only 5'1.5" and around 118 myself, but I carry some muscle as well as female body fat. At 118, I would think you've lost a lot of muscle. I'm not a body builder, so I'm not familiar with the science of "cut and bulk", but I didn't think cutting involved going to extremely low body weights, just increasing lean mass.

Thanks. No. I've been quite strict with my food. I agree 118 lbs is very light. It's not my long term goal. My final goal would be to hit 150lbs muscular in a few years. I don't think I have lost a lot of muscle because my strength is almost the same before I went on a cut. Cutting basically means dropping body fat and reaching around 10-12% body fat levels before you can go on a bulk. Many fitness experts don't recommend a bulk unless you are 10-12% body fat. That's the reason I went on this cut as I have lots of body fat if you check my pictures.

Liftng4Lis

Time to bulk again.

rodrigueskevin

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Time to bulk again.

Thanks

vismal

rodrigueskevin wrote: »

I'm 5'6''. Been lifting consistently for a year now. I went on a bulk from 123lbs to 135lbs for 8 months. Now I have cut in the last 100 days to 118lbs.

Here are some pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/JOX6e#0

Am I skinny fat? This is the leanest I have been in my life.

The problem is I still see quite a bit of fat on my waist (even have love handles). If I continue to cut I will get even more leaner which I don't think is healthy as I am already way below the expected weight for my height.

Another problem to cut is I am approaching my breaking point in how much I can lower my food intake.

So should I again go on a one year lean bulk and build more muscle and then cut or should I keep cutting till I drop to lower levels of body fat?

You don't look skinny fat. Skinny fat guys don't really have any muscle to speak of. You look like a guy who has been lifting for about a year. Keep doing the bulk cut cycles and you'll continue improving your physique. It can take years to really look good lean. At this point I would bulk for several months and maybe start a cut in time to get lean again for summer.

julzwild

When I think of skinny fat, you're not it. You look lean- not skinny.

Nicola0000

Have you had your body fat measured? Most gyms will do this. Not 100% accurate, but it will give you a gauge each month on whats going on

rodrigueskevin

vismal wrote: »

rodrigueskevin wrote: »

I'm 5'6''. Been lifting consistently for a year now. I went on a bulk from 123lbs to 135lbs for 8 months. Now I have cut in the last 100 days to 118lbs.

Here are some pictures:
http://imgur.com/a/JOX6e#0

Am I skinny fat? This is the leanest I have been in my life.

The problem is I still see quite a bit of fat on my waist (even have love handles). If I continue to cut I will get even more leaner which I don't think is healthy as I am already way below the expected weight for my height.

Another problem to cut is I am approaching my breaking point in how much I can lower my food intake.

So should I again go on a one year lean bulk and build more muscle and then cut or should I keep cutting till I drop to lower levels of body fat?

You don't look skinny fat. Skinny fat guys don't really have any muscle to speak of. You look like a guy who has been lifting for about a year. Keep doing the bulk cut cycles and you'll continue improving your physique. It can take years to really look good lean. At this point I would bulk for several months and maybe start a cut in time to get lean again for summer.

Thanks. I'm definitely going on a long bulk. Just wanted to know if I should cut a few more pounds before I start as a few fitness guys mentioned that one should not bulk unless one is really lean with visible abs which I am not.

rodrigueskevin

Nicola0000 wrote: »

Have you had your body fat measured? Most gyms will do this. Not 100% accurate, but it will give you a gauge each month on whats going on

Unfortunately, the gym I go to is my office gym where there are no trainers who will measure body fat.

rodrigueskevin

julzwild wrote: »

When I think of skinny fat, you're not it. You look lean- not skinny.

Thanks.