Build Muscle or Lose fat first?

Nutrition
41

This is wild to me man. Given these strength numbers, I wanna know how accurate the BF method you’re using is. Or are you super narrow at the shoulders and hips? Because 24% BF at 88kg means you’re likely carrying 35kg of muscle, which I don’t see supporting that kind of strength unless you’re a 0.1% outlier. Will be interested to see if pics match the description. I’m your height and when I was 22% BF I weighed 100kg, most of it around the belly. I looked strong but fat. Currently 80kg at 13% BF which has me carrying roughly 42kg muscle and my strength numbers are well shy of yours despite powerlifting-centric training.

Questions aside, it would do you a lot of good hormonally and health-wise to work your way down to ~15% BF if you plan to stay at that weight. And if you’re wanting to lean out before gaining muscle, I’d target ~12% to give room to add some fat as you add muscle without ending up in that 20% range where estrogen and cortisol run a train on you. Diet-wise, if you struggle to stick to it, I’ve found that hitting 1g/lb of protein and 25-30g fiber every day doesn’t leave you much room to over-eat unless you’re chugging cooking oil and eating a handful of sugar at each meal. Maybe do more of a powerbuilding type program to get some higher rep work on assistance lifts and burn off more energy too?

2 Likes
42

Here are some pics. Really sorry its all new to me, so don’t mind the lighting or the background.

IMG_2810
IMG_28101560×2821 550 KB

IMG_2813
IMG_28131808×3108 627 KB

IMG_2815
IMG_28151214×2277 497 KB

IMG_2812
IMG_28121920×2352 526 KB

24% BF was done via fat clipers - must be 6/7 months ago now, this guy essentially pinched my fat from different locations, ran some calculations and said 24%.

I said in my original post, I have gotten stronger but just fat! :frowning:. Bare in mind, the above was taking a few mins ago, after being on very low carb for almost 2 weeks now.

43

Thanks for the update dude, you can tell you carry muscle but could benefit from leaning out. I’d try to get down around ~12% and hold that BF% for at least 3-6 months to let your hormones balance back out. Then you can work on adding muscle without adding too much fat. You may have to give up a tiny bit of strength temporarily, but you look like you have room on your frame to carry more muscle. That extra muscle should help you move even more weight.

1 Like
44

Intra adominal fat is important to bracing. It is why tiny waisted bodybuilders experience back pain when trying to do a powerlifting block. I feel like i am around 18-22% body fat and can see my abs. I dont carry extraneous fat, but have some under the abs and my back is bulletproof. It is a consideration if powerlifting is the primary goal. I think 12% is fairly low. This site leans heavily towards bodybuilding. I personally ignored the advice to lose fat first and took the slow route and it was both easier and more fun that way. It took about 6 months to go from a lump of shit to a lean mean fighting machine.

The coach is a powerlifter and wants fat on the guy. This site has a bunch of bodybuilders and want him to lose the fat through dieting. The answer for him is probably somewhere in the middle depending on which is more important to the op

3 Likes
45

Out of curiosity, what approach did you take? What did you mean by the slow approach?

My other reason that makes me want to lean more to the side of losing fat first is because of my insulin resistant, bare in mind both parents are diabetic too so im always keeping an eye on my glucose levels to ensure they are in check. But I also know that more muscle helps a person become more insulin sensitive. :face_with_spiral_eyes:

46

12 is certainly low for powerlifting but doing it for a short time to help with insulin resistance and hormones would probably help. Maybe 15%? For most people the best balance of strength/health/weight class for powerlifting is probably around 15-18%. Anything above that your hormones usually start to suffer. If you’re showing abs you’ve gotta be lower than 18% unless you’re only seeing faint lines when flexing, or you’re a genetic anomaly (totally possible, I acknowledge).

2 Likes
47

The diabetes is a wild card for sure. That is out of my realm of expertise.

But specifically, i took a different approach than dieting. I still ate whatever I wanted, but looked at trying to combat the calories in a smart way. If you do strenuous cardio, it does two things. It puts stress on your body that causes you to eat even more and it takes away from your lifts. So i did three ten minute fast paced walks a day, usually after meals.

I changed my workout from strict powerlifting to more of powerbuilding. You figure out what lifts matter to you. For me, it was Press, deadlift, and squat. Secondary lifts were bench, rows, and pullups.

So i structured my lift days with a primary, an antagonistic secondary, and then a few accessories for my primary.

I ignored the 7 day week and just revolved on a four day schedule. Press got two days and the second day was lighter with bench included. Sometimes squat would get two days, but deadlift was always once because of the cns. I also had to restrict the weight/intensity. So the first press day would get standing press, pullups, then shoulder accessories. Squat would get rows or RDLs. Deadlift would get light squats with it, or i would do heavy squats right before the deadlift for low reps as this kind of gets me pumped to pull big weight. The second press day would get rows, then a light volume bench and tricep work.

You will kill your cns if you approach maximal weights and intensity, so you have to play with the numbers to see what you can manage. Sleep and food are important to maintaining recovery and energy, so i did not diet. If I felt rough, i would skip the day and do that workout the next day. If i felt rough often, i would adjust the weights/intensity.

With my ignorance about diabetes, i would recommend you try to get double your weight in grams of protein. This will do two things. It will make it damn near impossible for you to get too many carbs, and it will make sure you are getting plenty of fat in your diet, which keeps a man happy. It is also essential for brain health.

Essentially what I was able to do was recomposition my body with maintenance or slight surplus/deficit calorically depending on the day. Your body will find a stasis this way. Some days you will be famished, others you may eat like a bird.

There was no magic with what I did, but the walks will help keep your insulin steadier, i believe. They are best right after eating, so you dont go into a coma or overeat.

This is all my experience and anecdotal, but it did work for me. So if there is something here that helps you, it is a win

2 Likes
48

Mostly, i can see my abs well somedays, and faintly others. I call them fat days and skinny days.

I am not consistent in diet, but am losing weight still. I am somehow stronger everywhere except for bench. I have set PRs in everything else lately. It won’t continue if I continue to lose weight because my stomach is too flat already.

That said, i am doing the body challenge with everyone this year to see if i can show restraint in my eating. It will be a battle. I am trying to get down to 12% and then build back up slowly like what you all recommend only because my body needs a break from all the heavy lifting anyway and it will be a new challenge

2 Likes
49

Going from 22+ to 12% for me was rough on my lifts. No belly to bounce off my thighs squatting and bracing took a hit all around. I went from an alcoholic to dead sober and that’s what made me drop to about 15%, the last 3% came from 1g per pound of protein and always hitting 30g fiber. Can’t really have room to fuck up too bad if you do those two things, so it really wasn’t too hard to stick to. Trying to very slowly add muscle or just hold where I’m at and get used to it, may try to work back up around 190 BWT in 2026 though. I did the same as you program-wise. More powerbuilding than powerlifting, but only lifting twice a week. Cardio and mobility the other days and that’s helped a lot

1 Like
50

And my beer is too cold.

I’ve watched your progress and it’s been impressive. Love seeing it laid out here!

5 Likes
51

Everyone has been very helpful and supportive. This place is a fountain of knowledge and experience.

3 Likes
52

Yeah everyone so far has been really supportive! And I appreciate you all for taking time out to help me out.

Definitely feeling the early effects of cutting out carbs again, failed on bench today at 117kg :frowning: , but may visit this again next week or its time to change exercises or change my grip width - who knows yet.

Squats still feeling strong.

But weighed in today the same 87.5kg as last week, maybe I need to slightly lower or cut back on the fat I guess, or I may take some baseline measurements (should have done this to begin with) and then adjust from there. Thoughts on this would be great too.

Do any of you guys tend to increase test dose when trying to cut?

oh and I will take some more pics, maybe next week.

53

I actually find i cut better on a cruise

1 Like
54

If your going to keep people posted with physique pics. Why not also include video of your lifts?

Be interesting to see how the decrease in bodyweight effects your squat.

2 Likes
55

Yeah I will try to, to be honest I always try and take videos to assess form but most of the time I forget!

56

Exactly three weeks today of cleaning up my diet.

Starting weight 7th Dec 2025 - 88kg

21st Dec 2025 - 86.75

May need to tweak something at this point, possible drop fat down?:
Calories: 2,590 kcal

Protein: 227g

Fat: 175g

Carbs: 18g

Pics below:

IMG_2831
IMG_28311920×2229 502 KB

IMG_2832
IMG_28321567×3052 590 KB

IMG_2830
IMG_28301295×3528 636 KB

IMG_2829
IMG_28291376×2885 470 KB

57

I’m more wondering what got you to settle on this number.

All that said, 1.25kg in 3 weeks is a pretty solid trajectory.

2 Likes
58

Ditto. I wouldn’t make a change until there’s a reason

2 Likes
59

Well I wanted to keep my protein as high as I could since dropping carbs, was aiming for 180g - 200g that number is just what I have been hitting in the past week.

60

Is there a particular reason why?