should i be cutting?

kieranpalmer1995

I am 170lbs 5"10 about 18% body fat been working out since I was 140lbs I can see abs below my chest but that's it. I want to be 12% body fat I work out 5 days a week each body part been doing abs more for past 2 weeks.

DeguelloTex

If you're at 18%, probably so.

kieranpalmer1995

For how long to get to 12%? My diet is in check I feel

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ninerbuff

So are you trying to gain any more mass or are you just trying to look good for summer?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

vismal

The 18% body fat, how did you arrive at that number? Most ways of measuring body fat are extremely inaccurate. Unless you had a dexascan or a hydrostatic weighing, that number could be off by quite a bit. If you are going by a scale, or an electronic handheld device, the number has such a high margin of error that I'd consider it meaningless. Don't worry about the number anyways. The number itself is meaningless. You look how you look regardless of what the number says. It's hard to tell from your profile picture but it would look like you are certainly not overweight and that you might not have the lean mass necessary to be "abs lean". people can reach a point where losing more fat makes you look gaunt rather than "cut". You will ultimately have to be the one to make the judgement call. Without being able to actually see your physique and going just off of height and weight, 5'10, 170 could go either way.

misssmadalyn

You scared me, I thought you meant actually cutting yourself.. But wow! 18% body fat is good! I dont know how guys bodies are. Are you really suppose to get that low? Talking about the 12%

DeguelloTex

If your 18% number is correct, somewhere around 159 -- if you lost only fat, which isn't likely -- you'd be around 12% body fat.

At 5'10", 158 you'd be above the midpoint of the normal BMI range. (All disclaimers about BMI apply.)

Liftng4Lis

Looking at your picture, I would question the accuracy of that 18%.

Spyer116

It doesn't matter how long you've been working out since or how mnuch you focus your abs, unless you're bulking. Your body isn't going to be building and making muscle when its not getting excess calories. At maintenance it just repairs what you currently have. If you don't have plenty of rock hard ab muscle under the fat, then when you lose weight, you'll just look like a skinny boney guy. Not have a six pack.

Spyer116

And looking at your picture. It looks like you've never bulked when building muscle. So you really have minimal amount to begin with. Either slow bulk, and gain like 10-20 pounds of muscle over the next year, then cut to lose the excess fat to reveal abs, just be prepared if you cut now, you're going to look like a skinnier / boney guy.

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kieranpalmer1995

thanks guys I'll show you all my back? I haven't got one of my front. My profile is from last year sorry and my chest is 43"so I have put on abit of muscle. I don't think my body fat is that high but I have "love handles"

kieranpalmer1995

ninerbuff wrote: »

So are you trying to gain any more mass or are you just trying to look good for summer?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I want to Dr good when I look in the mirror I like my gains up to now but I feel like I have too much fat

kieranpalmer1995

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Looking at your picture, I would question the accuracy of that 18%.

Check it again and give me

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Sarauk2sf

I highly doubt that you are at 18% body fat.

What is your lifting routine like and how long have you been lifting for?

vismal

kieranpalmer1995 wrote: »

thanks guys I'll show you all my back? I haven't got one of my front. My profile is from last year sorry and my chest is 43"so I have put on abit of muscle. I don't think my body fat is that high but I have "love handles"

A picture of your back isn't very helpful when trying to determine if you are ready to get "abs lean". A picture of your front, where the abs are, would be much more helpful. Looking at the picture of your back, 18% body fat might be correct, again this is hard to tell and mostly meaningless. Also, judging only from the back picture as that's all I have to go by, I would say you do not have much lean mass. You will likely not look the way you want to at a low body fat percentage. What kind of training were you doing when you went from 140-170 lbs?

zoeysasha37

Spyer116 wrote: »

And looking at your picture. It looks like you've never bulked when building muscle. So you really have minimal amount to begin with. Either slow bulk, and gain like 10-20 pounds of muscle over the next year, then cut to lose the excess fat to reveal abs, just be prepared if you cut now, you're going to look like a skinnier / boney guy.

This. IMO, you'll just look skiny and boney. I would add some muscle mass for sure

DeguelloTex

If he's 18% and shouldn't cut, are y'all recommending a recomp or a bulk?

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kieranpalmer1995

My training from 140-170 was lifting weights

kieranpalmer1995

thorsmom01 wrote: »

Spyer116 wrote: »

And looking at your picture. It looks like you've never bulked when building muscle. So you really have minimal amount to begin with. Either slow bulk, and gain like 10-20 pounds of muscle over the next year, then cut to lose the excess fat to reveal abs, just be prepared if you cut now, you're going to look like a skinnier / boney guy.

This. IMO, you'll just look skiny and boney. I would add some muscle mass for sure

What is imo?

Allelito

kieranpalmer1995 wrote: »

thorsmom01 wrote: »

Spyer116 wrote: »

And looking at your picture. It looks like you've never bulked when building muscle. So you really have minimal amount to begin with. Either slow bulk, and gain like 10-20 pounds of muscle over the next year, then cut to lose the excess fat to reveal abs, just be prepared if you cut now, you're going to look like a skinnier / boney guy.

This. IMO, you'll just look skiny and boney. I would add some muscle mass for sure

What is imo?

"In my opinion"

Hornsby

Going off of your back picture and what you have said (since that's all I have to go off of), I would think a few months of eating at maintenance and lifting heavy would do some good for you.

kieranpalmer1995

Thanks for the support guys! I bought mutant masS been taking it for 3 days now I will be posting front and back pictures soon so all you can give me more support if you want to help me on my track

Hornsby wrote: »

Going off of your back picture and what you have said (since that's all I have to go off of), I would think a few months of eating at maintenance and lifting heavy would do some good for you.

geotrice

maddywarden wrote: »

You scared me, I thought you meant actually cutting yourself.. But wow! 18% body fat is good! I dont know how guys bodies are. Are you really suppose to get that low? Talking about the 12%

I know exactly what you're talking about.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10146306/does-the-term-cutting-bother-you

SergeantSausage

vismal wrote: »

The 18% body fat, how did you arrive at that number? Most ways of measuring body fat are extremely inaccurate. Unless you had a dexascan or a hydrostatic weighing, that number could be off by quite a bit. If you are going by a scale, or an electronic handheld device, the number has such a high margin of error that I'd consider it meaningless. Don't worry about the number anyways. The number itself is meaningless. You look how you look regardless of what the number says. It's hard to tell from your profile picture but it would look like you are certainly not overweight and that you might not have the lean mass necessary to be "abs lean". people can reach a point where losing more fat makes you look gaunt rather than "cut". You will ultimately have to be the one to make the judgement call. Without being able to actually see your physique and going just off of height and weight, 5'10, 170 could go either way.

I dunno.

I'm pretty "abs lean" AND somewhat "gaunt" at the same time ... but it's what I need to perform best at my running, right - we all have our own goals. I can't bulk or my running times suffer for every extra pound I'm toting around. Pounds times miles.

Pounds times miles.

Full Disclosure: 6'0" , 153 today (147 to 155 range, day-to-day, depending on training schedule)
Caliper estimates say 11.5% currently.

jeffpettis

I just reread your original post. Are you saying you work every body part five days a week?

Also, how long have you been lifting? If you haven't been lifting very long using an intelligently designed routine you can probably still make some noob gains in strength and possibly a little muscle while you lose some fat. This will be very short lived but take advantage of it while you can.

But my main question is still... are you lifting five days a week using the same muscles? If so, don't expect too much in the way of anything, except maybe an injury.

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kieranpalmer1995

jeffpettis wrote: »

I just reread your original post. Are you saying you work every body part five days a week?

Also, how long have you been lifting? If you haven't been lifting very long using an intelligently designed routine you can probably still make some noob gains in strength and possibly a little muscle while you lose some fat. This will be very short lived but take advantage of it while you can.

But my main question is still... are you lifting five days a week using the same muscles? If so, don't expect too much in the way of anything, except maybe an injury.

My split is arms shoulders chest back legs.