mygaurdianangel15
New member
I'm 29 (M), 5'8", 172 lbs and seems like I'm around 25% body fat range (looking at pictures)
I'm not obese but I'm overweight by 5-10 pounds. I am an active person (cardio/hiit 5 days a week). Along with cardio, I have started lifting weights (just some chest, biceps, shoulders, back movements alternate days) for the last 4 months with very minimal protein intake and gained some muscle. While I have some muscle, I also have a belly and fat in other regions. To get toned, I started a training program (LULU split) with recomp as my goal but I'm gaining weight each week (heard it's so hard to track recomp) and I realized I will not like myself if I get any fatter (I might need to switch my shirt size to L as all my M sized clothes are getting tighter with my belly visible lol). So, I'm planning to cut first, get to my ideal weight (160lbs?) and then think about bulking up evenly from there. In this process, I'd also like to not lose whatever little muscle I have currently. So, I need some help on how to deal with this situation?
Basically, I'd like to reduce my bf% and get a toned physique, nothing fancy -- just decent chest, arms, back and legs with no belly. I have three questions
I'm not obese but I'm overweight by 5-10 pounds. I am an active person (cardio/hiit 5 days a week). Along with cardio, I have started lifting weights (just some chest, biceps, shoulders, back movements alternate days) for the last 4 months with very minimal protein intake and gained some muscle. While I have some muscle, I also have a belly and fat in other regions. To get toned, I started a training program (LULU split) with recomp as my goal but I'm gaining weight each week (heard it's so hard to track recomp) and I realized I will not like myself if I get any fatter (I might need to switch my shirt size to L as all my M sized clothes are getting tighter with my belly visible lol). So, I'm planning to cut first, get to my ideal weight (160lbs?) and then think about bulking up evenly from there. In this process, I'd also like to not lose whatever little muscle I have currently. So, I need some help on how to deal with this situation?
Basically, I'd like to reduce my bf% and get a toned physique, nothing fancy -- just decent chest, arms, back and legs with no belly. I have three questions
- Am I thinking right to cut first?
- While eating in a deficit (1880 cals), along with my cardio, I'm planning to do Basic Beginner Program from fitness wiki (modified GSLP) to maintain my strength and muscle so I can jump onto more comprehensive program when I want to bulk. Can I follow this routine while dieting/cutting?
- During these last two weeks, being a vegan, I found it very difficult to get to 170g of protein per day (without overeating) even after getting ~90g of it from pea protein powder. Before this, I was barely eating 50g of protein per day so I found this unsustainable for my current lifestyle and I felt 100g is something I can do and then increase it gradually. Would it be ok to preserve/gain some muscle while cutting if I take ~100-120g protein per day?