Advice on cutting and exercise

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Erik8484
Erik8484 Posts: 458 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Background
Hi. I'm a 170cm (5'8) 31 year old guy weighing in at 68.5kg (150lbs) with 17.5% body fat. My TDEE seems to have been at around 2,200 over the last month of logging. I've been weight training for the last 10 years or so without any particular goal/direction, and have fluctuated between ~66kg and 73kg. I had a 6 month break from the gym until mid January this year due to surgery & injury, so my body fat is higher than it has historically been.

Question
This year my goal is to put on 3-5kg of lean body mass, but before I do that I want to reduce my body fat from the current 17.5%. Basically, I was looking for some advice on:
1. What should my target body fat % be before I move to a bulking phase?
2. How quickly should I aim to reduce body fat? I ideally want to find a sweet spot that lets me lose fat at a reasonable pace without losing too much muscle. Is 1lb per week too aggressive given my stats & goals?
3. When at a calorie deficit, is there an ideal way to train (frequency, program)? Is there a popular weight lifting program for people who are looking to reduce body fat?

Appreciate any input :smile:

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    Bulking isnt recommended unless you are sub 15%... personally, i would aim for 10 to 12% depending on your personal goal of aesthetics.

    Goal is generally 1% per month gor fat loss. Generally, 10 to 15% below tdee is recommended....

    lifting routines

    Follow one of those programs and you should be good.

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