Should I cut or maintain?

rephielj

Hello, im a 21yr old male who dont know what to do. I have a belly fat but my arms are not big compared to the belly, im going to the gtm consistently for around 1 month now (3-4x per week) but i dont know if i should cut first or maintain the weight while building muscle. Im 171cm and currently 79.6kg (morning weight) from 81.5kg

nossmf

Converting to units I'm comfortable with, you're 5'7" by 175. You probably don't have a lot of bodyfat to lose, so both options (cut, maintain) are viable at this time.

As a general rule, if you focus on one goal at a time you will achieve faster results than if you try to do two (or more) things at once. So if you want to keep cutting for a bit more, that can work. But I wouldn't aim for fast loss; a goal of .25-.5kg per week is safe and easily attainable.

On the other hand, if you want to focus upon lifting performance, that's also a good choice. I wouldn't try to necessarily gain weight at this point, but eating at maintenance calories while getting adequate protein (at least 1.5g protein per kg bodyweight) will help power you through those workouts. You may even experience a little bit of fat loss while you're at it, and that's ok. Just realize the fat will disappear wherever the body decides; it may drop the fat first around the chin and thighs while saving the belly fat for last (body's are funny like that).

briscogun

This thread might be of interest to you:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

Recomposition is when you eat at a very minimal deficit and build muscle while you lose fat. It's a VERY slow process and requires very exact logging of your calories eaten but might give you some tools to try and use?

Good luck!

PAV8888

I think your height and weight conversion was correct, but I alert that the BMI this works out to us not just over 25 but actually just over 27

So maintenance minus would be my own take....