My personal opinion only, I think you're in a perfectly fine place to bulk. Just take it slow.

^Sounds like you've got a great plan. Best of luck.

Rather than giving you a short answer I'm going to try to lay out some context.

First of all one of the reasons that Lyle mentions for reaching a certain body-fat level before intentionally gaining mass has to do with how nutrients are partitioned. I haven't looked into research on this so what you're getting here is appeal to authority (that authority being Lyle) but the premise is that you're likely to have better partitioning of calories within a given range of bodyfat levels. Starting a bulk too far outside of these ranges might be less efficient.


You can read about that here:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-1.html/
and here
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/general-philosophies-of-muscle-mass-gain.html/
and here
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/initial-body-fat-and-body-composition-changes.html/

But having said all that lets scrap the p-ratio talk and think about how you feel and how you tolerate weight gain. Because I think those are both important considerations that always should be evaluated before deciding what to do.

As an example, if you were in a position where you have no issues with gaining a little weight, and gaining some fat, and perhaps you're sick of dieting and would like to experience eating in a surplus then I don't think there's any issue with you bulking.

If I were to base just on the photos you've provided and I were to disregard your preferences (which is foolish to begin with) I would suggest you get a little bit leaner before beginning a long and slow bulking phase. I think you're close, but I think it would be ideal to get a bit leaner first.

If you aren't in a hurry to bulk, but you ARE having issues remaining in a deficit or you're having some gym performance issues you could consider taking a two week diet break where you raise calories to maintenance. Followed by resuming a deficit for a few weeks to finish off the dieting phase.

Comments to be taken with all the caveat's SideSteel has given (e.g. personal preference etc), but if I was you, I would have one last push (a few weeks to a month) and cut a little more before reversing up and doing a slow lean bulk. If you time it right, you may be up to, or near to, maintenance by the holidays.

With regard to people saying you are too thin - you appear to be at a healthy body fat and not too thin at all (this is obviously just based on the 2 pics above), and would not be 'too thin' losing a % or 2 more BF. i was starting to get the same comments when I was at my leanest, and I was in no way 'too thin'.

From a partitioning perspective, and often, just being able to eek out a bulk a little longer before getting uncomfortable and/or your clothes not fitting it is beneficial to be a little leaner.

This is also caveated with the comment that if you are in any way starting to have issues with your relationship with food, then I would not continue to cut - you are at a good healthy body fat.