I'm super glad you found the group and posted!

Take a look at the stickies at the top though as there are a couple of options for advice and also, pretty much everyone will ask for more information such as your activity and what it includes as well as your intake including macro averages if you have them

I think you will be happy with the advice that you get here!

I was told today that I needed to stop dieting. In 7 months I have lost about 60 pounds. My goal weight is 175 before I was planning to bulk. My body fat is around 24% or so. I'm 5'9 193.7. I was told that if I kept dieting I would end up with lots of flab on my chest and stomach and that I needed to get my calories to maintenance level and to focus on getting shredded. Some have told me to go ahead and start bulking up for about 4 weeks. What should I do?

Do the one that told you to get "shred" realize that getting "shredded" means having really low BF?

Similar situation. I think you are on the right track, e.g. continue to lose fat while lifting to preserve as much LBM as possible. This always preps all your parts to bulk when you get to your goal BF%. Not sure what the flab vs. muscle thing is your buddy is talking about.

Pics are sometimes helpful, so here is my journey. Started at 254 lbs, 36-38% BF. Dropped to 205 lbs, 22% BF and was happy there. Did some machine lifting on that part of the journey. Nothing progressive or heavy. Then I decided to get some better muscle definition. Dropped another 20 lbs to 185 and 16% BF. I began to explore barbell lifting during this journey. I stopped at 185 because I thought I was getting skinny fat. That's when the serious lifting started and I ate at maintenance. Since then, I have stayed at 185 lbs and dropped the BF to 13% ish. Slow going, to be sure, but it's going in the right direction. If this is what you are looking to do, cut down at least below 20% and then re-evaluate.

I was told today that I needed to stop dieting. In 7 months I have lost about 60 pounds. My goal weight is 175 before I was planning to bulk. My body fat is around 24% or so. I'm 5'9 193.7. I was told that if I kept dieting I would end up with lots of flab on my chest and stomach and that I needed to get my calories to maintenance level and to focus on getting shredded. Some have told me to go ahead and start bulking up for about 4 weeks. What should I do?

You should stop listening to the person who told you that.

Challenge the person that told you that to a posedown

I just wanted to add quickly....

guys if you could maybe give him some guidance as to intake as well? In the other thread he mentioned that his intake is 1500-1700 and sometimes netting 1200 which seems to be super low to me.

Also, just out of curiosity......you did mention that you have been doing strength training since the beginning....what program are you following or what does your program include?

I just wanted to add quickly....

guys if you could maybe give him some guidance as to intake as well? In the other thread he mentioned that his intake is 1500-1700 and sometimes netting 1200 which seems to be super low to me.

Also, just out of curiosity......you did mention that you have been doing strength training since the beginning....what program are you following or what does your program include?

Today I upped my calories to maintenance of 2400. Since Jan I have been doing strength training but during that time I was going heavy with low reps. I do chest and tri on Mondays and Back and biceps on Wed. I do shoulder and legs on Fri. All is followed by cardio for 30 minutes or less. Today I started High reps of 18 with lower weight on strength training.

Would you mind opening your diary? (Set your diary to "public")

Do you use a food scale?

I just wanted to add quickly....

guys if you could maybe give him some guidance as to intake as well? In the other thread he mentioned that his intake is 1500-1700 and sometimes netting 1200 which seems to be super low to me.

Also, just out of curiosity......you did mention that you have been doing strength training since the beginning....what program are you following or what does your program include?

Today I upped my calories to maintenance of 2400. Since Jan I have been doing strength training but during that time I was going heavy with low reps. I do chest and tri on Mondays and Back and biceps on Wed. I do shoulder and legs on Fri. All is followed by cardio for 30 minutes or less. Today I started High reps of 18 with lower weight on strength training.

I'm sure the guys will step in here but IMO if you are new to weight training (meaning you started in January) you are better off to stick with the high weight, low reps. The low weight at 18+ reps is a pretty awesome endurance workout, but that's about it. But I did ask you about it, so I did want to respond

Was in a similar situation about 5 months ago or so. Ultimately decided to go to maintenance as well (at around 22% BF). My weight hasn't changed substantially in that time but I'm down to about 20% BF and teetering on needing to drop another pants size (getting that in-between size thing going right now). It's really slow, but my training is exceptional eating at maintenance. I tried to diet again to cut a bit quicker, but I really started to bonk on my training and was negatively impacting my racing season, so back to maintenance I went.

Right now I'm just really focused on my training...my last race of the season is in mid October so I'll re-evaluate my needs at that time...but I'm pretty happy where I'm at...if I lose some more, that's great...if not, I'm fine right now. I will be doing some triathlon next season, so I definitely don't want to bulk...may end up cutting a few more Lbs off though..we shall see.

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