Cutting weight for the long run: asking from a different perspective

[blueskies88]

Hey, I’ve posted about whether I should be cutting/bulking, and it seems like cutting isn’t the right/best option. But I thought about it for a bit from a different perspective and here’s my question:

I’m 5’7, 158lbs and here are my pictures from 2022-2023. Started from March 2022 (pics are from May 2022 (am I really gaining slow?))

I see that I have a good amount of body fat, isn’t it better to loose them before bulking, to reduce building new fat cells, which (as far as I know) they don’t disappear, they just “shrink” and this makes gaining fat again easier. So this may help me in the long run by not adding extra fat cells when bulking, instead, just increase the amount of fat in the already build fat cells. So it’ll be easier for me to lose after bulking.

Does it work this way, or am I wrong?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dawn16]

@blueskies88 So you want to get smaller in order to get bigger?

If I were to do anything I'd probably move into a maintenance phase, get your calorie intake and macro balance under control. Then after 12 weeks look to go into a surplus of 10-20% above your TDEE to build muscle and minimize fat gain.

Cutting at your age and weight wouldn't be a good idea, you haven't got a lot of muscle mass so you'll just look like a skeleton, and if you're looking to gain after that it doesn't really make sense.

 

[blueskies88]

@dawn16 Thanks

 

[stillwaters45]

@blueskies88 Nah. It'll be easier to burn off fat with more muscle.muscle burns 2x the kcal that fat does while resting. Focus on getting more muscle, less about loosing fat, and it will come naturally. Eff diets, eat three meals a day with good nutritious value and lift heavy weights 3-4 days a week. Diets are for girls. You are a man. now go lift them weights

 

[blueskies88]

@stillwaters45 I didn’t mention that I’ve been lifting since March 2022, but my gains are really slow. Mostly because I was program switching a lot

 

[cfitz]

@blueskies88 I think it is faster and easier to keep your weight and build muscle. I was able to gain muscle when my bf% was 15-20%. Once I hit 15%, I wasn't able to gain much muscle. So I am trying to eat more to increase my bf%. Once you gain muscle, then you can cut to see how you are doing.

 

[blueskies88]

@cfitz Thanks