is this normal or am I doing something wrong? feel like I'm getting smaller. is this body dysmorhia?

[macherieamour]

Basically, started working out 2 months and 10 or so days ago, made really good progress and ate in a surplus but realized my bodyfat% was too high (like 25%) to be bulking and I needed to cut bc I just kinda come off as fat if I go on.

since then for a month I've been eating in a defiect, went from around 91 or so kg to 88 or so kg In a month, not really losing strenght and gaining in some places still, high protien diet (200g) 500 defiect, 8 hour sleep everyday.

now whenever I come home and want tk take a picture I don't know nothing good comes, not even good enough that I wanna save it, its like I'm getting smaller and looking worse in every place except my gut which has gotten smaller. my fiance (long distance) says this might be body dysmorhia.

I've always had good shoulders, today I cMe Aith a shoulder pump and I just felt like shit.

6'1 for weight refefence. and there are some pictures of me on my profile

 

[buggins]

@macherieamour Your glycogen stores are likely depleted from cutting

 

[macherieamour]

@buggins What's that?

 

[dawn16]

@macherieamour Glycogen is the main fuel source for your muscles.

 

[macherieamour]

@dawn16 Ah i see, what should be i doing for this?

 

[buggins]

@macherieamour Just keep cutting. When you are done and get back into a surplus you'll replenish your stores and your size will return. The fact that you haven't lost strength during your cut is a really good sign.

 

[macherieamour]

@buggins would you recommend making the cut smaller or not?

 

[buggins]

@macherieamour Not sure what you mean. Cut if you wanna cut. Bulk if you wanna bulk. I honestly hang around 15-18% bf perpetually. I honestly think leaning out more than that just isnt worth the hassle for just a random dude lifting weight that isn't gonna compete.

 

[heartfire]

@macherieamour You can’t really do anything. Glycogen is a carbohydrate stored within the muscle, and since you’re eating less, inherently there will be less in your muscles. It’s the same idea as when you’re super dehydrated your muscles will look smaller, because your intramuscular water stores are depleted. It happens to everyone when they start cutting, just keep going until your target weight

 

[asperd]

@macherieamour This is a popular meme on social media. Sean Nalewanyj posted a short on this recently. Natty bodybuilders can pick one: Look big in clothes* or look lean shirtless.

*presumably fall and winter clothes. Like long sleeve tops, hoodies and jackets. I look great in a tight short sleeve, my upper body lifts are all still in novice territory I think and I'm only 167cm 153.2 lbs. Not too big even for my height. And I have long arms and a long torso for a manlet and short legs. So upper body is harder for me to grow.

I feel self conscious about my size during the cold fall and winter weather myself. But my date on Wednesday, who has never seen me wearing a short sleeve, has said I look a lot more muscular than when she first saw me 4 years ago. So maybe people really can still tell when you are wearing a long sleeve top or hoodie. She has never seen me without a pump cover because she hadn't seen me in 4 years until three weeks ago. Unless she noticed my chest because I like to wear button up tops and hoodies.

I'm in that weird tweener phase too right now where I'm not Lean. But haven't went bear mode for the fall and winter either. I decided to recomp at maintenance for the fall and winter (maingain). And reassess in the spring. As I am worried about getting legitimately fat. My digital body analyzer already has me down as 23.7% body fat waking up first thing in the morning (though these things are not 100% accurate. Apparently 25%+ is obese for men. I don't feel I'm 23.7%. My BMI is just over 25 to begin with. Nowhere close to 30).

Like the other poster said: You will go back to looking muscular again when you eat more (especially carbs. Fat too but it takes awhile for it to be converted to glycogen) and your glycogen gets restored.

 

[mac64]

@macherieamour You look healthy imo. If you want to have huge muscles naturally, you will need to bulk for a while which means you will have more fat than usual but its essential to get bigger muscles first. Then you can cut down. I think you want to get big muscles and lose fat at the same time but naturally, it just doesn't typically work like that.

 

[macherieamour]

@mac64 The issue is, I kinda have tk lose fat since I have a gut, ill just become fat. I'm trying to get down to the point I can start bulking in some way without you know turning into a complete fatass

 

[mac64]

@macherieamour My wife has/had body dysmorphia disorder. She saw a psychologist which helped her a lot. Look into it.

 

[orangeoil143]

@macherieamour Should probably just eat in a maintenance, for the beginning of working out you’ll likely gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. This doesn’t normally happen except for when you’re just starting out. If you’ve only been working out for 2 months, I’d say just give it some time and try to push yourself in the gym

 

[benjaminthewolf]

@macherieamour

now whenever I come home and want tk take a picture I don't know nothing good comes, not even good enough that I wanna save it, its like I'm getting smaller and looking worse in every place except my gut which has gotten smaller. my fiance (long distance) says this might be body dysmorhia.

No, I don't think it's body dysmorphia - it just sounds like a bad body self-image, which isn't uncommon for novices or even intermediates during a cut. Lifters often expect to shed a few pounds and look like they have been lifting for a decade - but what actually happens is they end up looking like a smaller version of what they started with.

However, this improves the more muscle you pack on and later once you have the basic silhouette and shape you want, a cut will just make that more pronounced - although the loss in absolute size can be a mental issue with some people, especially those that are just caught up on the number on the scale.

True dysmorphia, and let's use an anorexic as an example, is a completely unrealistic view of your body - to the point where that anorexic can't see an emaciated concentration camp survivor staring back at them in the mirror, but instead see a fat person... and for those suffering at the opposite end of that spectrum, "bigorexia", they will see a skinny twiggy no matter how big or jacked they become. I have a bit of this because I spent so much of my life super skinny - it's hard for me to see myself as anything but that skinny past self... I have to cut the head off any progress pics to have any chance of seeing a realistic view of my body.

...and please, save those pics even if you hate looking at them. There is something very satisfying and even motivational when you look back years later and are able to compare your new physique to where you started from.

 

[macherieamour]

@benjaminthewolf Thanks, I understand better now.

I'll be saving the pictures too, I don't care for the scale it's judt that I think I feel smaller and look smaller

 

[chain94]

@macherieamour Stay the course. 2 months not a long time to have been training. Even starting at a lower BF% you are not really going to see that much muscle growth in the first 2 months. What you are experiencing is just your fat stores being used up as you lose weight. This is a good thing. It will make you look physically smaller, but if you keep at your training, eventually the mass you were getting from fat will be replaced with muscle. So just keep at it.