got measurements..what's the next step?

goldenbeaut

Hi guys, so I got my body fat measured today. I'm 137.2 lbs with 20-24% body fat. 20-24% is the scale I got because on the machine I scored 22% and the trainer told me it's + or - 2 points.
So my question is, what do you guys think my next step should be? right now I'm eating at about 200 Calories over maintenence so I can have energy to push myself on lifting weights. I'm only doing 1 cardio day a week. should I just keep lifting and eating at a slight surplus? my goal is to tighten my belly and grow muscle.

psuLemon

Those scales can be more inaccurate than what your trainer suggested (btw, I have personally seen a 9% difference between a scale and calipers). But if you want to lose belly fat, then lift heavy and eat a small deficit. If you want muscle gains (which almost means fat gains), then a surplus is required. It comes down to, which of your goals is higher priority right now.

goldenbeaut

thanks for your response psulemon! that's does clarify what my next moves are going to be.

Crogirl_22

I would say first build muscles.. then lose the fat, as having more muscles will make it easier, also will give your body(skin) structure and tightness...;)

EricLFC1892

Stupid question but are you male or female? if you are female then carry on building muscle for a bit if you are male you may want to consider dropping a few % on your body fat

psuLemon

EricLFC1892 wrote: »

Stupid question but are you male or female? if you are female then carry on building muscle for a bit if you are male you may want to consider dropping a few % on your body fat

OP is a female according to the profile.


OP, how tall are you?

cypresslb

Just pointing out that building muscle and losing fat can occur concurrently. Also assume all measurements are fairly inaccurate. Calipers, impedance, pictures, etc. They're all inaccurate and contain formulas based on very different assumptions so even if you pick the most accurate formula it can still be very inaccurate for you.

Springfield1970

goldenbeaut wrote: »

Hi guys, so I got my body fat measured today. I'm 137.2 lbs with 20-24% body fat. 20-24% is the scale I got because on the machine I scored 22% and the trainer told me it's + or - 2 points.
So my question is, what do you guys think my next step should be? right now I'm eating at about 200 Calories over maintenence so I can have energy to push myself on lifting weights. I'm only doing 1 cardio day a week. should I just keep lifting and eating at a slight surplus? my goal is to tighten my belly and grow muscle.

Do you want to get bigger or have more muscle definition?

goldenbeaut

I'm a female. I'm about 5'6 and I want to grow bigger muscles

Springfield1970

Keep doing what you're doing then, and aim for a half apound gain on average a week. Make sure your lifting on a progressive weight training programme.
Don't be disappointed if your belly gets bigger though, and your body fat gets higher as you go on this slow bulk.

Muscles will be growing. When you've had enough and can't fit in your clothes, go on a slow cut, and do it cleverly so you lose as little as possible of your hard earned muscle.

goldenbeaut

thanks Springfield1970.. I did start a new lifting program today so I'll continue progressing on that and logging my meals

FireMike05

A calorie surplus won't help you tighten your belly/abs but you can control and keep your fat gains to a minimum while gaining muscles by tracking everything accurately, training hard, fine tuning calories weekly, and patience! If your main focus is to tighten abs then I think even finding maintenance cals can yield some good results for slight muscle gains and slightly tighten your abs for about a few weeks until your body adapts to the cals, but eventually you'll have to either pick fat loss of muscle gain. Just my 2¢