Keep cutting? Or start to build?

SKenyon6
SKenyon6 Posts: 7 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm sure this question has been asked before at some point so I apologize. I'm 40 years old and started MFP on May 1. During that time I have lost around 25 lbs. I'm starting to look good, but also a bit thin. Unfortunately, my body fat is still high at around 24%. However, I'm thinking about stopping the cut portion and moving to a mass building for a couple of months. Then I figured I could go back again and cut later. Does this make any sense or should I let myself get real skinny then try to build?

Thanks for all of your help!

Replies

  • SKenyon6
    SKenyon6 Posts: 7 Member
    Bump
  • Cese27
    Cese27 Posts: 626 Member
    Bump
  • Vincentsz
    Vincentsz Posts: 407 Member
    Muscle metabolizes fat 24 hrs a day. Use that for what it's worth
  • Bobby_Clerici
    Bobby_Clerici Posts: 1,828 Member
    I decided to maintain but try recomp calorie cycling.
    It's a whole new ball of wax
  • Abells
    Abells Posts: 756 Member
    I lift while in a caloric deficit. I'm not building muscle per se but I'm keeping strength and losing fat percentage still. YOu are going to lose weight a lot lower but won't lose muscle with it :)
  • jdholland5508
    jdholland5508 Posts: 162 Member
    It really a personal preferance right now. If it was me I would keep cutting till I was happy with the leanness of my body then start a clean bulk so that I try to stay lean in the bulk process.
  • halejr23
    halejr23 Posts: 294
    Just my opinion ...
    I am 44 ... I got to that same point last year and decided to cut instead of build. My reasoning? I want to be an all around athlete and am not interested the "how much can you bench" conversations.
  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
    personal preference but IMO 24% body fat is still a little to high to consider a mass building phase.

    I would get it down to sub 15%.
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
    I'm no expert but you don't necessarily have to go one way or another, AFAIK.

    You can keep cutting weight but try and increase muscle mass (though at a lower rate) by incorporating some strength training.
    Just make sure you get your protein.
  • ChrisRS87
    ChrisRS87 Posts: 781 Member
    I lift while in a caloric deficit. I'm not building muscle per se but I'm keeping strength and losing fat percentage still. YOu are going to lose weight a lot lower but won't lose muscle with it :)

    This is what I have been doing, with good results. Only difference is I have been losing muscle, but i've had strength gains. So while I have less LBM, I can lift more weight. Strength/lb lbm, that's power baby!

    I say keep cutting, but keep consuming protein, I think a very attainable target for you would be 15%
  • jdholland5508
    jdholland5508 Posts: 162 Member
    I'm no expert but you don't necessarily have to go one way or another, AFAIK.

    You can keep cutting weight but try and increase muscle mass (though at a lower pace) by incorporating some strength training.
    Just make sure you get your protein.

    It is almost near impossible to gain muscle while losing fat.
  • mrstaggs
    mrstaggs Posts: 5
    I've been on a weight loss journey myself. It's hard to be accurate in the body fat % game so what I would go with is goal weight. If you are comfortable with your weight now, start building muscle and monitoring your macros. In order to lose weight, all you have to do is count calories (basically), but to maintain/build muscle while keeping lean is a much harder game. You must start keeping an eye on your protein/fat/carb numbers.
    That was a bit of a rant. To answer your question:
    Don't consider it a bulking or cutting phase. Do whatever weight lifting you feel like along with whatever cardio you feel like and eat right. You'll see fat melt (because of cardio and muscles burn more calories) and you'll see strength gain. That's what I've been doing for ~ 4 months.
    Also, google CLA (tonalin). It's supposed to allow your muscles to use fat cells more readily for energy (more fat burned/more muscle gained).
    Let me know if any of that was confusing.
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  • SilkyHotspur
    SilkyHotspur Posts: 233 Member
    personal preference but IMO 24% body fat is still a little to high to consider a mass building phase.

    I would get it down to sub 15%.

    Do both at the same time...will you gain muscle, NO, but you will maintain what you have, and burn fat. At 24%, you're still too high to consider bulking and looking to gain more muscle. 15% might be a bit of a stretch, but definitely shoot for something around 18% from the chart link below. Also, if you're standing on a scale and getting BF%, it's probably high by 5-7%. Calipers are cheap, less than $10 i'd use those instead.

    http://www.accufitness.com/images/pdf/accufitness-accumeasure-bodyfatchart.pdf
  • SKenyon6
    SKenyon6 Posts: 7 Member
    I am in fact standing on a scale, so if it's 5% high, that makes me feel much better.
  • SKenyon6
    SKenyon6 Posts: 7 Member
    This has been great feedback. It's funny because I feel like I'm starting to look skinny. I want to build up the muscle again, however I don't want to just get fat. My workouts have been 3 days cardio and 3 days lifting. If I switch I will probably just go to one day a week of hockey and then heavy lifting 3 days. Most of my fat that's left seems to be in the belly.
  • Vonwarr
    Vonwarr Posts: 390 Member
    The belly fat is the last place that it will disappear, because it's (biologically) your body's favorite place to store fat. After all, fat stored there doesn't interfere with your ability to run from a predator!

    I've been working on losing fat while maintaining as much LBM as possible - meaning that I'm eating a fairly high protein diet... at least 1.6g per kg of body weight, I'm lifting 3 times a week, but still eating at a deficit. I do half hours of HIIT style cardio, I try to limit how much as too much cardio can burn muscle as well.

    I'm losing slower, but I've been monitoring my LBM and so far have maintained it while losing almost 12 lbs... which is good because I know it's 12 lbs of fat. Without strength training up to 30% of the loss can be muscle.
  • Pascua_j
    Pascua_j Posts: 67 Member
    Do you think it is the same for girls? I was sick of hearing the "getting too skinny" comments so I upped my calories and doing more weights. So far I am happy with the results but I had a dexa body scan done and found out I am still 20% body fat and my goal is to be 12-14%. They break it up to show WHERE the fat is...on my upper body it's 14% (wasn't happy w/it looked bony) but my lower body is 30%. Sigh. Do you just have to get skin and bones all over in order to get the lower body and then build back up in muscles?
    I hate to think of the in between time when you look like skellitor (sp?)

    Sorry for the threadjack but you guys seem to know what you're talking about.
  • Vonwarr
    Vonwarr Posts: 390 Member
    Do you think it is the same for girls? I was sick of hearing the "getting too skinny" comments so I upped my calories and doing more weights. So far I am happy with the results but I had a dexa body scan done and found out I am still 20% body fat and my goal is to be 12-14%. They break it up to show WHERE the fat is...on my upper body it's 14% (wasn't happy w/it looked bony) but my lower body is 30%. Sigh. Do you just have to get skin and bones all over in order to get the lower body and then build back up in muscles?
    I hate to think of the in between time when you look like skellitor (sp?)

    Sorry for the threadjack but you guys seem to know what you're talking about.

    20% is the upper range of "Athletic" for women. Women should have a slightly higher body fat percentage than men due to physiological differences. You shouldn't really go lower than 14%, and that's on the low end of athletic. 16-18% might be a more realistic target. However the range is adjusted based on age... as we get older, we gain more visceral and intramuscular fat - and we can't control that with exercise (only the amount of subcutaneous fat we have).

    12% is in the underfat range, basically you're reaching the point of not having enough "essential fat" for your body to function correctly. It can disrupt hormones, prevent ovulation/TOM, and can also throw your metabolism out of whack. This is all from my personal research/reading on the internet though, for the best advice, perhaps you should contact a physician. :)

    As far as the upper/lower body breakdown of fat storage, for women unfortunately the "best" place biologically is around your hips/thighs... Which means it generally will be skewed towards your lower body.

    Edit: I love the builtlean website, I find a lot of really useful fitness info there... for example, this super awesome ideal body fat % chart:

    http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/
  • SKenyon6
    SKenyon6 Posts: 7 Member
    Lots of great advice. I'm glad I'm not the only one that has wondered this.

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