Yeah, I’m still losing on 1600 calories. Not so much anymore. I track my food intakes by macros and calorie total. I also use MyFitnessPal for tracking my food intake. My macros is 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 30% fat. I workout 5 days a week with 20 mins cardio after each workout. I also do cardio on weekends.
Do you train your abs? Do you use resistance?
Doing weighted crunches/sit-ups for heavy sets of 8-12 will cause the muscle to grow. Growth of the abs cause them to be more defined. The horizontal and vertical tissue that causes the six pack look does not change. The muscle will stick out further resulting in more definition.
Train your abs for growth like you would any other muscle. The good news is that this can give you the six pack even at higher body fat.
If you’re looking to impress someone with your appearance for your job, etc… being fit, healthy, and self confident goes farther than being emaciated, weak, and insecure. I heard someone once on a podcast say this, and it’s true: if you are fit and present yourself well (dress, speaking, etc…) that’s all anyone will notice. No one else is obsessing over the length of your clavicles or if your left pec is lopsided or your body fat percentage, and neither should you.
My two cents: unless you’re prepping for a show or a specific event, don’t cut/bulk etc… Just be consistent and put the work in. So many people seem to be looking to achieve perfection by doing short term fixes, and even if they end up achieving their goal (which is rare), it’s simply for a brief moment in time. Also, it seems few that go that route are happy and are overly obsessed about body parts they deem “weird” compared to a photo-shopped model they saw.
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This along with your intake is why you are feeling like trash. That caloric intake is not even that low for your BW.
If you want to start gaining again then just jump into a surplus no need to do stupid stuff like reverse dieting. You did not “crash your metabolism” or cause “metabolic damage”.
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Abs have always been my weaker muscle group. Probably because I didn’t train it enough when I started working out a few years back. I will train them more like 3 times a week with 2-3 exercises each abs day.
I’ve noticed that when I stay at a weight longer, I just get leaner over time.
Maybe you should go back up to where you were and build your way up over time. If your goal weight was 190, cutting down to 140 was just dumb. I’ve been 185-195 the last few years and went up from 140 in 2014
Yeah, that’s true. I won’t be making this mistake again. On the bright side I learned my lesson. This was my first time cutting.
Cutting to achieve low body fat isn’t fun to do and it’s not fun to sustain. Most people reach their goal and then gain weight. What’s the point?
The same can be said for a dirty bulk. Since January of last year I’ve gained 30 lbs and lost 40. The bulk was unnecessary and resulted in very little muscle gain (and it was mostly slow and methodical).
If you’re a young hard gainer then by all means, eat a ton. But if you’re a regular person then just eat a slight surplus even when you want to gain.
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Geez, I wish I followed this thread when it started…
You’re 5’8, you CUT down to 140 lbs, and still have 15% bf?! Dude, you’re doing something wrong here. I’m 5’8 and I was 150 lbs in college just being a normal guy who didn’t go to the gym (and clearly looked like I didn’t go to the gym!)
My two cents: Forget bulking or cutting, figure out what you need to train hard and maintain where you’re at. Then, add a SMALL surplus on days your body will likely make use of the additional nutrients (not on off days when you sit around doing nothing). Keep doing this for several months, and more than likely you will have added some quality lbm which will also have shifted your bf% in the process.
S
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Up your calories to 3000/maintenance and get on a high volume template(will keep you lean) by guys off this site…
or
I was 22% body fat. I thought I was 15%. I was starting to get a belly and everyone in my family was telling me that I was getting fat like my grandfather.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that cutting is the last thing you should do at 150.
Unfortunately, people who are casual with fitness equate weight loss to progress, even when they don’t need it.
Alright mate, just curious what you recommend for weighted ab training. I’ve started doing weights crunches with a plate but as I can only rally hold a 25kg plate I find I still hit high reps.
I’ve tried cable crunches (not sure if that’s what you call them) but really struggled to feel it all in my abs.
I like your training idea so thought I’d ask if that’s ok.
If you have access to a machine crunch then that’s easiest. Here are my go-to moves when I want my abs to stick out more.
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slight decline DB crunch. Don’t use your hip flexors. Move by flexing your trunk instead of initiating the move at your hips. I’ll do regular reps and partials - 10 bottom half, 10 top half, 10 full.
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regular DB crunch. I’ll put a pair of 50+ lb DBs on the floor to anchor myself and do weighted crunches. I’ve worked up to using a 100 lb DB for multiple sets.
I’ll do a cable crunch occasionally but it’s not my favorite move.
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