Body Fat

anask4

Hey guys. I am a 5'6"-5'7" 19 year old male. My starting weight was 189 lbs and Im now down to 131. Im just about ready to switch to maintenance. However, I still have a sizeable amount of fat around my mid-section. The rest of me (legs, arms) are skinny, perhaps even a little too skinny, but i still have belly and lower back fat. I plan on getting into heavy lifting after switching to maintenance in order to recomp. But it seems like I have more fat than most of the people on here had when they switched to maintenance. I dont know how healthy it would to continue to lose weight. So my question is, is maintenance and lifting still the best course of action for me?

Sorry for the lack of details but I dont know my actual body fat % etc.

nxd10

Congratulations!

After I hit maintenance I stopped losing weight but continued to drop inches and fat in my mid-section. Everything kept tightening up and looking better. It did take a few months.

Doing lifts will make it happen faster. If you don't have money for the gym, my skinny sons with wicked abs both do 20 pushups and situps every day and carry around their backpacks.

There are other ones out there but this TOUGH 7 minute workout will do a lot for you in very little time.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

sijomial

As a 19 year old male you are in the golden years of when you can add muscle mass quickly and relatively easily.
I wouldn't over-think too much if you are too fat to switch to maintenance - at 131lbs there can't be a lot of you!

Start a proper lifting program, get adequate protein, eat to fuel your workouts and you should be able to make some serious gains quickly.

What you decide now doesn't have to be forever, you might want to maintain for a few months and ride the newbie gains wave and then consider cutting or bulking depending on how your progress is going. (My bet would be bulking.)

TavistockToad

As a 19 year old male you are in the golden years of when you can add muscle mass quickly and relatively easily.
I wouldn't over-think too much if you are too fat to switch to maintenance - at 131lbs there can't be a lot of you!

Start a proper lifting program, get adequate protein, eat to fuel your workouts and you should be able to make some serious gains quickly.

What you decide now doesn't have to be forever, you might want to maintain for a few months and ride the newbie gains wave and then consider cutting or bulking depending on how your progress is going. (My bet would be bulking.)

all of this is excellent advice

ndj1979

As a 19 year old male you are in the golden years of when you can add muscle mass quickly and relatively easily.
I wouldn't over-think too much if you are too fat to switch to maintenance - at 131lbs there can't be a lot of you!

Start a proper lifting program, get adequate protein, eat to fuel your workouts and you should be able to make some serious gains quickly.

What you decide now doesn't have to be forever, you might want to maintain for a few months and ride the newbie gains wave and then consider cutting or bulking depending on how your progress is going. (My bet would be bulking.)

all of this is excellent advice

+2

erickirb

<-- This pic is of me at 5'6" 140ish lbs about 10-11% BF at 33 years old.

I would suggest not maintaining, but bulking... Bulk up to 145 or so lbs then cut down to where you would like your BF%, rinse and repeat

anask4

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. I plan on making the switch to maintenance in about a months time. Hopefully by dropping a couple more lbs I'll have more room for trial and error.

TavistockToad

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. I plan on making the switch to maintenance in about a months time. Hopefully by dropping a couple more lbs I'll have more room for trial and error.

there really is NO benefit to waiting a month....

anask4

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. I plan on making the switch to maintenance in about a months time. Hopefully by dropping a couple more lbs I'll have more room for trial and error.

there really is NO benefit to waiting a month....

i was originally planning to wait a month anyway, as that is when my spring semester ends. I'll be able to go to the gym a lot more at that time so it seems ideal to up my calories then as well.

erickirb

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. I plan on making the switch to maintenance in about a months time. Hopefully by dropping a couple more lbs I'll have more room for trial and error.

there really is NO benefit to waiting a month....

i was originally planning to wait a month anyway, as that is when my spring semester ends. I'll be able to go to the gym a lot more at that time so it seems ideal to up my calories then as well.

This issue in not switching now is that you risk losing even more lean muscle mass. It is easier to maintain the muscle you already have then it is to build new muscle.

sijomial

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. I plan on making the switch to maintenance in about a months time. Hopefully by dropping a couple more lbs I'll have more room for trial and error.

there really is NO benefit to waiting a month....

i was originally planning to wait a month anyway, as that is when my spring semester ends. I'll be able to go to the gym a lot more at that time so it seems ideal to up my calories then as well.

If you are lucky it will take a month to find your maintenance calories (which is really valuable information BTW - whatever you decide to do). Much better to start increasing your calories now and start ramping up your training intensity steadily.

Hope you don't mind me being blunt but I wonder if there is an element of a former fat person being scared of eating more? You have lost a significant amount of weight and it just can't come back unless you eat at a surplus for an extended period of time.

anask4

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice. I plan on making the switch to maintenance in about a months time. Hopefully by dropping a couple more lbs I'll have more room for trial and error.

there really is NO benefit to waiting a month....

i was originally planning to wait a month anyway, as that is when my spring semester ends. I'll be able to go to the gym a lot more at that time so it seems ideal to up my calories then as well.

If you are lucky it will take a month to find your maintenance calories (which is really valuable information BTW - whatever you decide to do). Much better to start increasing your calories now and start ramping up your training intensity steadily.

Hope you don't mind me being blunt but I wonder if there is an element of a former fat person being scared of eating more? You have lost a significant amount of weight and it just can't come back unless you eat at a surplus for an extended period of time.

I dont mind at all, that is definitely part of it. However, I do have a weekly cheat days that can get pretty bad sometimes. I workout the day of and the day after my cheat day though and make sure to get extended cardio. It helps me feel like Im not depriving myself of anything and it has seemed to work just fine with my weight loss. Gonna have to be mindful of that when figuring out my new daily calorie goal.