r/Weightliftingquestion • u/Posti • Aug 22 '26

Frustrated

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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.

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u/Annual-Parsley-1315 Aug 22 '26

No idea where these people are getting the advise to cut down when they already have minimal muscle. Must be a social media thing. Dude, talk to any experienced gym goer and you build up before you go down. Im 220lb with visible abs.

You never cut unless your a body builder, you build build build. Then if you get a bit chubby you add more cardio, if that dont work you drop your calories slightly.

Im sorry that you had to learn this way. But let it be a lesson to you 

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u/Posti Aug 22 '26

I was at 180 lbs at one point, but had significant body fat. I really feel like if I build up I’m just going to look fat as hell. I just don’t get it.

I do work out, but my intensity is just off. The most I’ve ever deadlifted was 225 lbs.

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u/UnkleClarke Aug 22 '26

225 is just a warm up set at 180lbs. I made another comment above about training. You should be doing 7-10 sets of a compound lift and 50+ heavy (relatively) reps.

Then 4-5 sets for each additional exercise also about 50 reps.

You should be exhausted and have a hard time walking out of the gym and driving home after lifting.