BF Estimate and Suggestion
dpr73
Posts: 495 Member
Is there anyone who might accept a DM with pictures to estimate body fat and give me suggestions for next steps? I feel like personally my body is in a weird, possibly skinny fat, gray zone and I don’t want to commit to the wrong goal.
Stats- 5’7/134/Male/25 (weightlift 6 days a week consistently for 6 years now)
Lifts (5x5): Squat 215/Bench 145/Deadlift 220
Stats- 5’7/134/Male/25 (weightlift 6 days a week consistently for 6 years now)
Lifts (5x5): Squat 215/Bench 145/Deadlift 220
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Replies
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I'm not sure if offering DMs are within the guidelines of MFP. I'm pretty sure I got a warning once to help a person out through a DM as a more efficient conduit.
If it's within guideline go ahead and if not just post here.
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Thanks. I have attached photos here0
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Have you been running well-established, progressive, lifting plans for that six year time period? Have you been tracking your nutrition for that time period, particularly your protein intake?2
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Have you been running well-established, progressive, lifting plans for that six year time period? Have you been tracking your nutrition for that time period, particularly your protein intake?
I don’t usually do progressive programs when I’m maintaining. I just have kind of kept the routine the same to maintain weight. But when I have attempted bulls I have started training with progressive overload. I just quit before I make any gains because I fear getting out of shape.
I have counted in the past (for about 5 years). Currently I am not tracking calories because I have actually found that it heightens my anxiety about building and works against me. I tend to undereat so just not counting and eating a bit more than I think has gotten me into a nice rate of gain so far (about a month of experience so far).1 -
You look like you have good muscle definition, just not a ton of muscle.
If you do not want to do the bulk/cut cycle, you can always recomp and do your progressive lifting while eating at maintenance. It's slower, but it means skipping the bit of chubbiness that typically comes from a bulk cycle.1 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »You look like you have good muscle definition, just not a ton of muscle.
If you do not want to do the bulk/cut cycle, you can always recomp and do your progressive lifting while eating at maintenance. It's slower, but it means skipping the bit of chubbiness that typically comes from a bulk cycle.
If I bulk slow and mindfully will I really get very chubby though? I don’t mind a slow bulk to about 150 so long as I don’t get fat looking
What would you do in my position? Again, considering that I don’t want to get unattractive on a bulk1 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »You look like you have good muscle definition, just not a ton of muscle.
If you do not want to do the bulk/cut cycle, you can always recomp and do your progressive lifting while eating at maintenance. It's slower, but it means skipping the bit of chubbiness that typically comes from a bulk cycle.
If I bulk slow and mindfully will I really get very chubby though? I don’t mind a slow bulk to about 150 so long as I don’t get fat looking
What would you do in my position? Again, considering that I don’t want to get unattractive on a bulk
What is your goal? Physique? More Muscle? You're 137lbs at 5'7"? That's pretty lean.
I'm 5'8", 190lbs. My body fat is around 13%-15%. You're probably around the same body fat (maybe more a little more or less....)
If you want to put on muscle... you're going to need to eat... a lot.
If you're really putting in the work in the gym (3-5 Days per week) and getting cardio in (2-3 Days per Week).... You're young enough that it's going to be hard to eat TOO much because your metabolism combined with exercise is likely to put around 3,500-4,000 calories per day (maybe more)... just for maintenance.
Like I said... need to know what you want to do... that'll guide to a path forward.1 -
Scotty2HotPie wrote: »tcunbeliever wrote: »You look like you have good muscle definition, just not a ton of muscle.
If you do not want to do the bulk/cut cycle, you can always recomp and do your progressive lifting while eating at maintenance. It's slower, but it means skipping the bit of chubbiness that typically comes from a bulk cycle.
If I bulk slow and mindfully will I really get very chubby though? I don’t mind a slow bulk to about 150 so long as I don’t get fat looking
What would you do in my position? Again, considering that I don’t want to get unattractive on a bulk
What is your goal? Physique? More Muscle? You're 137lbs at 5'7"? That's pretty lean.
I'm 5'8", 190lbs. My body fat is around 13%-15%. You're probably around the same body fat (maybe more a little more or less....)
If you want to put on muscle... you're going to need to eat... a lot.
If you're really putting in the work in the gym (3-5 Days per week) and getting cardio in (2-3 Days per Week).... You're young enough that it's going to be hard to eat TOO much because your metabolism combined with exercise is likely to put around 3,500-4,000 calories per day (maybe more)... just for maintenance.
Like I said... need to know what you want to do... that'll guide to a path forward.
How did you come by those maintenance figures. I’m same weight as OP and an inch taller. My maintenance cals are 2300. I do resistance training 5 times a week and cardio about 2 to 3 hours (spin)0 -
tcunbeliever wrote: »You look like you have good muscle definition, just not a ton of muscle.
If you do not want to do the bulk/cut cycle, you can always recomp and do your progressive lifting while eating at maintenance. It's slower, but it means skipping the bit of chubbiness that typically comes from a bulk cycle.
If I bulk slow and mindfully will I really get very chubby though? I don’t mind a slow bulk to about 150 so long as I don’t get fat looking
What would you do in my position? Again, considering that I don’t want to get unattractive on a bulk
What are your goals? Do you want to be around the same size with a bit more definition? Do you want to be bigger and more muscular ? If you want more muscle definition you will have to put on muscle, recomp could work but since you are already fairly lean you could have limited results. It really depends on the look you are going for. If you want to gain you need to not be scared of getting fat. You will not get fat if you do it properly.
What kind of progress have you made in the 6 years? If you are happy where you are and with your results then that's great keep doing what you are doing. If on the other hand you are not happy and not reaching your goals something had to change. And sometimes change can be uncomfortable.1 -
cupcakesandproteinshakes wrote: »Scotty2HotPie wrote: »tcunbeliever wrote: »You look like you have good muscle definition, just not a ton of muscle.
If you do not want to do the bulk/cut cycle, you can always recomp and do your progressive lifting while eating at maintenance. It's slower, but it means skipping the bit of chubbiness that typically comes from a bulk cycle.
If I bulk slow and mindfully will I really get very chubby though? I don’t mind a slow bulk to about 150 so long as I don’t get fat looking
What would you do in my position? Again, considering that I don’t want to get unattractive on a bulk
What is your goal? Physique? More Muscle? You're 137lbs at 5'7"? That's pretty lean.
I'm 5'8", 190lbs. My body fat is around 13%-15%. You're probably around the same body fat (maybe more a little more or less....)
If you want to put on muscle... you're going to need to eat... a lot.
If you're really putting in the work in the gym (3-5 Days per week) and getting cardio in (2-3 Days per Week).... You're young enough that it's going to be hard to eat TOO much because your metabolism combined with exercise is likely to put around 3,500-4,000 calories per day (maybe more)... just for maintenance.
Like I said... need to know what you want to do... that'll guide to a path forward.
How did you come by those maintenance figures. I’m same weight as OP and an inch taller. My maintenance cals are 2300. I do resistance training 5 times a week and cardio about 2 to 3 hours (spin)
He's only 25 and looks to be in decent shape. I may be high by 500 calories or so. But you don't really know your own BMR until you start tracking your exercise and diet.
If he's really been lifting for 6 days per week for the last 6 years, his lifts really should be higher than that.
Without more info, I'm thinking this
- Program needs some adjustment
- Need to eat a lot more... a lot more (good food though)3 -
Bf 15-20%
Judging by the pictures I find it hard to believe that’s 6 years of training,even with
A bad diet and no set training you should still see some newbie gains.6 -
To give a perspective from someone only seriously lifting for 2 years, I've learned that you have to seriously commit to your specific goal. If you want to bulk up, you have to eat and lift and not be scared to put on some body fat in the process. If you operate based on appearance, I feel you will be shortchanging yourself.4
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Bf 15-20%
Judging by the pictures I find it hard to believe that’s 6 years of training,even with
A bad diet and no set training you should still see some newbie gains.
You’re right I’m totally lying to you. I have been lifting 6 year but started obese and lost 70lbs when I first started.2 -
I want to not be called skinny all the time! I personally think my body looks ok (these pics are not great representations but I wasn’t going to pose to look better for these) but people call me very skinny a lot0
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Hey man I understand that. Last summer I was 138lbs at 5ft 8 and I really felt too thin also.
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15-20% is way too high to bulk anyways isn’t it? That’s not a healthy percentage especially for someone who lifts daily for years now.1
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I also lost a lot of weight to get to that picture but as you can see, I wasn't really defined either. Bf% aside, if you don't have the muscle you're not going to have that look. You're already very light, you can't really lose much more weight. Being young, I think you should put your focus on building muscle.4
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I would get on a progressive lifting program as others have mentioned. It sounds like you have not been pushing yourself, which is why you aren’t seeing much change happening. While I don’t believe there are any set amounts a person “should” lift, I would expect a young man such as yourself with lots of testosterone to be pulling WAY higher numbers after 6 years of training. Whether you try a slow bulk or a recomp, you are going to need to really push yourself and your muscles to grow.
BTW - if YOU like the way you look at this weight then just tell anyone that calls you skinny that you are happy with your appearance and leave it at that. You don’t want to be chasing physique goals based on other people’s opinions.4 -
mom23mangos wrote: »I would get on a progressive lifting program as others have mentioned. It sounds like you have not been pushing yourself, which is why you aren’t seeing much change happening. While I don’t believe there are any set amounts a person “should” lift, I would expect a young man such as yourself with lots of testosterone to be pulling WAY higher numbers after 6 years of training. Whether you try a slow bulk or a recomp, you are going to need to really push yourself and your muscles to grow.
BTW - if YOU like the way you look at this weight then just tell anyone that calls you skinny that you are happy with your appearance and leave it at that. You don’t want to be chasing physique goals based on other people’s opinions.
Yes. I agree. I don’t push myself at the gym. I just lift the same to maintain my weight and stay fit. But when I have tried for short periods to build I do progressive overload. But then I quit very shortly after imitating due to fear of fat gain.
I really want to be more muscular and this is truly the look I want to achieve, but I just can’t get over the fat thing.1 -
mom23mangos wrote: »I would get on a progressive lifting program as others have mentioned. It sounds like you have not been pushing yourself, which is why you aren’t seeing much change happening. While I don’t believe there are any set amounts a person “should” lift, I would expect a young man such as yourself with lots of testosterone to be pulling WAY higher numbers after 6 years of training. Whether you try a slow bulk or a recomp, you are going to need to really push yourself and your muscles to grow.
BTW - if YOU like the way you look at this weight then just tell anyone that calls you skinny that you are happy with your appearance and leave it at that. You don’t want to be chasing physique goals based on other people’s opinions.
Yes. I agree. I don’t push myself at the gym. I just lift the same to maintain my weight and stay fit. But when I have tried for short periods to build I do progressive overload. But then I quit very shortly after imitating due to fear of fat gain.
I really want to be more muscular and this is truly the look I want to achieve, but I just can’t get over the fat thing.
Totally understand your feeling. After working hard to lose weight it's hard to see the scale move the other way, but if you put yourself in a moderate surplus and start a progressive program, you WILL gain muscle too. Beyond that, I don't know what else to suggest.1
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