[25 F] 59kg 168cm (130lbs 5'6") 24%BF dexa scan - To bulk or cut?

[therosary9]

Hello beautiful people!​

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Pictures of my dexa scan and my body (front, back, profile - semi NSFW).

(Keep in mind these photos are after a full day of eating, and I'm feeling particularly bloated today)

Why this post?​

Today I had my first Dexa scan which revealed what I suspected my body fat percentage to be approximately at: 24.2%. Now that I have a baseline I'm excited to see what I can achieve in the next few months coming up to Summer (southern hemisphere), as well as over the next year. Thing is, I don't know whether I should be trying to put on more muscle now, or lean out for Summer and wait for next year to put on size.

Current state​

I have only re-started my fitness journey about a month ago. I have been lifting 4 days/week (a mix of compound lifts and accessory exercises, PPL + L), and doing HIIT boxing/circuit training 2 days/week.

• Squat: 50kg (110lbs) for 10 x 3
• Sumo deadlift: 30kg (66lbs) for 10 x 3
• Hipthrust: 60kg (132lbs) for 10 x 3
• Military press: 15kg (33lbs) for 10 x 3

I currently track my food using MFP and have been eating around 1500 cals/day, which is what the scan operator suggested for cutting (she also suggested 1900 for maintenance and 2500 for bulking). Macros are approx 140g Carb, 120g Protein, 60g Fat.

Goals:​

I have the stereotypical goal of increasing lean muscle mass and decreasing fat. I like the look of Krissy Cela's physique, and feel as though this would be attainable for me over the long term (her and I are the same height).

I know that it is difficult to put on muscle and lose fat simultaneously, but with Summer coming up I do not wish to put on any more fat. This is the most fat I've ever carried in my life because I just finished my degree, and unfortunately I've put my fitness aside for the past year or so.

Ideally I would like my abs to be showing and put on some muscle in my back and lower body to balance my physique.

So, my question is: is 1500 cals (split approx 35%C, 30%P, 35%F), 4 days lifting and 2 days cardio conducive to my goal? Should I continue to cut through Summer and start bulking next year? Or just bite the bullet and clean bulk now for Summer?

Any advice is more than welcome!

 

[judaskisser]

@therosary9 Trust me you are young you will only gain weight as you age even with the current diet in my experience. Cut to 55 Kg then bulk 1-2 kgs specifically focusing on glutes.

 

[drf]

@therosary9 Your fat mass (not %) is low and so is your muscle mass (for the physique you want).

Yes I would eat closer to 1900 (Recomp) and start building muscle. Experiment with your energy levels. Don’t be afraid to eat a little more to see how it impacts your energy and performance, and be aware of the need to eat more as you gain more muscle and increase your activity. That’s not the same thing as bulking.

Appreciate that while you have goals, you are also starting in a good, healthy place with an amount of fat that can nourish your body and goals. Protect it for now and enjoy the journey of building strength and beautiful muscle! if you need to cut later to expose a little more of your hard work it will be easier then.

Go get it!

 

[dawn16]

@therosary9 For your BW and fat% and considering your goals, I would recomp (eat at maintenance, keep lifting and progressing). Since you're still kind of new to weightlifting, you can easily gain muscle without eating at a surplus (and thus gaining fat along with the muscle).

But I have to say, that image you shared as your goal physique or whatever, looks heavily doctored and honestly looks very uncanny valley. I don't say this to upset you, but these so-called "fitness influencers" are just engraving unhealthy and unnatural body images onto people and getting away with it. It pisses me off. Because the more people are exposed to these, the more they actually think this is a "normal" or "good" body to have. It is neither. Just my two cents.

 

[genenco]

@dawn16 She's definitely good at posing (like many other fitness influencers). You can tell she is twisting her body so her waist looks smaller and her glutes are accentuated. I checked her IG and here's a recent post that shows her actual proportions more. Even in this one she is slightly sticking her butt out but it's still a more 'normal' level of posing I think.

I hope OP @therosary9 knows this though and aims for this look more than the one linked in the post!

 

[shilohmark]

@dawn16 i really doubt the goal physique picture is doctored. i have followed krissy cela for years and she doesn’t edit her photos, but she is great at posing and has genetically blessed proportions. i sound delusional, i know, but i have a really low bullshit tolerance and also have retouched photos for a living so i am pretty confident when i say that. krissy is one of only two fitness influencers i still follow.

 

[dawn16]

@shilohmark I understand your confidence in her and maybe you are right. But having a smaller waist than your head is not genetically blessed proportions in my opinion, it's uncanny, unhealthy body image being advertised. That said, I don't know this woman and I don't want to judge her harshly based on one image, but obviously even this one image is adding to the idea of body image.

 

[dawn16]

She is most likely posing on the side so it makes her waist look smaller. My waist is currently close to the proportion of my head. It is just now I am built. I am 169 cm, and therefore my skeleton has to be larger than that of a woman that is 160 cm. Yet my waist is around 23 inches. That's basically how I am built, as my hips are around 37 right now. I have never really had a waist measurement above 28, even when I was nearly 170 pounds.

You are right though. I do not consider it genetically blessed. It has been a source of anxiety for me for a while, because I always appear larger than I am due to my hips and breasts. This is why the primary source of my exercise is cardio.

 

[dawn16]

I am so sorry if I offended you, I am by all means all for all kinds of body shapes and this was meant for "influencers" who are imposing certain body shape imprints on impressionable people/beginners to fitness. It's totally normal to have a head larger than your waist if that's your body, my wrists are as small as a child's but my forearms are as thick as a goblin's so...

Edit: bad English fixed.

 

[dawn16]

Oh no worries, I am not offended at all. I completely understand what you are saying, and I do think she posted in a way to make her waist look a bit unrealistic. I do think that influencers should be aware of the fact that many women aspire to have a certain aesthetic that may be their body proportions.

For instance, while I think the influencer most likely has an advantageous WHR ratio, I don't think that it may be realistic for people who may have narrower hips than the woman in question. Similar body size does not equal the same body proportions and so goals and recomp may not be a 1-1 mapping. I think people have to figure out what works for their own body, rather than trying to aspire to have someone else's alleged form.

 

[dawn16]

Exactly! For me personally, part of the fun is seeing what my body can look like once I put on muscle here and there. Sure, I'd like to look like Jessica Buettner in the end but will I? Probably not, lol. And I'm perfectly happy with that too, just curious to see how I will look!

 

[dawn16]

@therosary9 Eat at maintenance and focus on hitting your protein targets and progressively increasing the amount of weight you move. No real need to bulk or cut.

 

[michellegen34]

@therosary9 24.2% body fat? What? That sounds so high for what you look like. Am I just extremely misguided as to what that is supposed to look like? You look really good, definitely not what I thought someone with 24% would look like.

Sorry about my useless comment. I just don't understand that measurement. Could anyone clarify what a dexa scan specifically measures? I'm assuming it's nothing like bmi and that's probably why I'm misguided?

Edit: downvotes for asking a question okay then.

 

[darcylbridge]

@michellegen34 24% is low for women. You can see on her DEXA results page they have a Fat Mass Index with different ranges and she is on the low end of normal, close to the fat deficit range.

This is a good chart for interpreting body fat percentage. Someone here posted this from a book by Lyle McDonald.

 

[mrkruback]

@darcylbridge That was exactly what I was going to post! From The Women’s Book. For other readers, the different columns are because DEXA consistently gives higher BF% than other methods (like hydrostatic weighing, calipers, etc). As far as I know, no one knows why. But it’s the same flat increase across all categories.

 

[polcat]

@michellegen34 bf% is a percentage basically that is your fat relative to lean/other mass. Two people can weigh the same but have vastly different bf% because of the ratio of fat and muscle. DEXA is one of the most accurate ways to determine what kind of mass you have.

A high bodyfat% does not necessarily mean you have excess fat. Really skinny people sometimes have what seems like weirdly high bf%. If it's high but you're of a normal kind of weight, particularly as women, you just aren't likely to have much muscle mass. Add muscle mass and that number will go down because it's a ratio. You can be heavier but still have a lower bodyfat% therefore.

BMI is different. OP in this case has a BMI of 21 which is smack bang healthy middle of the range ideal really.

 

[michellegen34]

@polcat Thank you! That really cleared it up for me. Makes way more sense now.

 

[polcat]

@therosary9 Your weight is fairly spot on and your fat levels are good. You're more just undermuscled for what you want to achieve so you definitely shouldn't be targeting a cut.

I'd probably eat around maintenance and work on your lifts, you should see some reasonable progress on fat reduction and also weight progression on lifts at that for the immediate term. It means you won't put any more fat on if you keep yourself around 1800-1900 kcal. If it mentally helps keep a tiny bit below if you want but ultimately view it as fuel to smash the workouts.

You are gonna have to cut eventually to see abs but your physique is a lot like mine and I know without the muscle weight you will probably be dropping to quite a low weight to get it off your middle. It's not a healthy option and you'll probably end up quite boney in other areas rather than athletic looking.

4x lift and 2x cardio is perfectly good! A nice mix.

 

[therosary9]

@polcat Thank you very much for your response! I think that's what I need to hear... I have suspected I need to up my cals but just needed to hear it from someone else. The scan operator said my lean muscle should not drop any lower for my height so I think you're spot on with your advice.

As for abs, you're also correct there - last time I could see them I was so unhealthily thin my upper arms were concave (bad breakup, etc., I'm in a much better place mentally now).

Thanks again for your thoughts and happy lifting

 

[ephraimite]

@therosary9 FWIW I'm exactly your height, weight, age, and have a similar body composition (I was so excited to see this post!!) and I also have a similar workout schedule of 4-5x a week lifting and 2x a week cardio. I actually maintain on 2100 calories, though I aim for 2000-ish a day because I tend to go out to eat and drink around 1x a week and that takes me right up to maintenance. Workout intensities and other variances can easily make this a +/- 200 calorie thing, but wanted you to hear it from someone with the exact proportions as you!

Here is my progress trying to build muscle in 7 months of maintenance calories:

https://imgur.com/a/deeAUh2

I’m actually happy with the current muscle definition, but know I would lose some of it if I wanted to cut, so I’m not going there yet! Actually considering a slight bulk and then cut so I can end up where I’d like. I've been 120 lbs before, but it doesn't look defined/"tight", and I lose my curves. I'm suspecting we have similar goals.