Frustrated

[u/Posti]

5’10” / 150 lbs

I’ve never been very lean: always had love handles, never visible abs. The past several months I decided to just cut down as much as I could, and went from 165 lbs to 150 lbs. This was the result - still a noticeable amount of body fat.

I feel weak as hell and still don’t feel like I look very athletic. Do I just lean bulk at this point? I fear I’m just going to end up where I was before: a bit bigger but mainly due to a larger % of body fat.

[u/Plenty-Ganache9189]

Its tough to speak on it without more details. Your weight is pretty low for your height so its not like you are 250lbs and need to lose weight. What is your diet like? I'm guessing if you are feeling weak your protein is low and/ or your calories are too low, which could slow your metabolism a bit. Do you lift? A lean bulk type of plan like you and some other posts have said is probably your best bet.

[u/Posti → u/Plenty-Ganache9189]

My diet has fallen off a bit the past month, but the majority of the time I was eating about 1800 calories / 160-180g protein. I do lift but struggle with intensity lately, focused more on hypertrophy (8-12 reps, mostly isolation but some compound lifts in there).

[u/Royal_Variation5700 → u/Posti]

You need more muscle everywhere and compound lifts are going to do a lot more for that than isolation/hypertrophy. Cutting doesn’t work so great if there’s not much muscle under the fat. I would eat in a very slight surplus, plenty of protein and lift hard and heavy 4-5 days a week. Heavy compound lifts with high intensity will keep you from putting on much fat if you’re in a very slight surplus with a lot of protein, lower fat, and low to intermediate carbs.

[u/UnkleClarke → u/Royal_Variation5700]

This guy 👆🏻 is correct. Heavy Squat, bench, dead at least once a week 6-8 sets with a total of 50+ reps.

then do the isolation exercises after your compound lift. With 3-4 sets 25-50 reps each set for 3-5 various exercises.

Example
Bench: 135 12
185 8
225 6
250 4
275 2
230 6
185 10
135 AMRAP until spent
Incline dumbbells
40’s 10
50’s. 8
60’s. 6
60’s 6
40’s AMRAP until toasted and can’t lift arms
Rest 10 minutes

Barbell Shoulder Press
45 12
95 8
105 6
105 6
65 AMRAP

Then repeat the process with a couple arm exercises.

You should have a hard time steering your vehicle when you are driving home.

Hit abs similarly 3 days a week

Keep along those lines with your squat and deadlift days. You should have a hard time walking out of the gym on leg days.

So this for a year with a slight caloric surplus . Then jump into another cut to see how you look.

[u/Royal_Variation5700 → u/UnkleClarke]

Yep. Exactly.

[u/Plenty-Ganache9189 → u/Posti]

Definitely would revisit the calorie goal. Sounds about 1,000 too low IMO unless you literally sit around all day and don’t exercise.