Honest opinion:build muscle or lose fat?

Reza151
Reza151 Posts: 517 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi MFP! I'd appreciate your honest feedback (but please don't be mean!). Here's a pic of me, that I just took tonight. Exhibit A:

2u60l4z.jpg

What should I work on? What muscles need most improvement (that you can tell from my mediocre-quality camera phone picture)? I weigh 127 pounds, and am 5 ft. 3.5 in. I haven't measured my body fat% in a loooong time but I'd estimate 24-25% (hopefully?). Should I focus on losing more body fat or building muscle? Carb cycling takes more planning than I'm willing to deal with and since building muscle requires eating at a surplus and losing fat requires a deficit, I BESEECH THE INTERWEBZ.



Excuse the dusty mirror. I've only just moved into this place and haven't gotten around to dusting it yet >_<

Replies

  • KirstenTheFamilyCoach
    KirstenTheFamilyCoach Posts: 327 Member
    build muscle!
  • MichaelBrewer2634
    MichaelBrewer2634 Posts: 91 Member
    First of all I think you look great, but my super power is not giving a crap what others think. I believe you should train to make yourself happy with the way you look. What are your goals? Who inspires you, and what would you like your body to look like?
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    No need to carb cycle.
    I'd put you in the 23% range at a glance.
    I'd cut for another 4-6 weeks and reassess at that point.

    Estimate is hard to do with 1 pic so take that for what it's worth. Definitely below 25 and above 20.
  • Reza151
    Reza151 Posts: 517 Member
    First of all I think you look great, but my super power is not giving a crap what others think. I believe you should train to make yourself happy with the way you look. What are your goals? Who inspires you, and what would you like your body to look like?

    My goal is to be comfortable with myself. I feel like I can do better. I'm not trying to get ripped as Jillian Michaels (that would require eating clean and I love my carbs way too much). But despite lifting weights, doing resistance training, planks, bicycle crunches, and hula hooping and zumba, I can't seem to get rid of this pudge in my belly. So I don't know if it's an issue of losing more fat or cutting more.

    My other goal is to be able to do scorpion pose. RIght now I can do the forearm stand but only hold it for a few seconds:

    k0k1ky.jpg (thats not me by the way)
  • Reza151
    Reza151 Posts: 517 Member
    bump. More input ?
  • littlebudgie
    littlebudgie Posts: 279 Member
    The only way to get rid of belly pudge is diet, really, so if that's your goal SideSteel's suggestion is definitely the way to go.

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