Back during the summer I was a pretty big lurker on these forums and made a few posts... I learned enough to be able to lose around 30 pounds throughout summer and the rest of the year, most of those were from July to September during which I actively went to the gym, did cardio and used Fitday to control my eating habits.

In October, due to a water main failure and a country wide union strike from the water company's employees, I came home to an apartment with no water. It didn't come back until late December. During these three months, I stopped running, going to the gym, and eating healthy. It was frustating enough to have to take a bath with a gallon of water from a friend's house, that I didn't feel like doing exercise when I couldn't take a good hot shower, couldn't cook because I couldn't do the dishes... had to eat out :S

Anyway, I weighed myself this week and I am at 150 Lbs. According to Fitday, I was at 185 Lbs a year ago, and just under 180 at the start of summer when I began to eat better... I was around 173 when I began my workouts at the gym, and hit 160 by September 13, on my birthday. So you see, during these three months of no healthy eating and exercise, I managed to lose another 10 pounds. Maybe most of it is lean mass, as I still see my beer gut, but I'd like to blame it on my body getting used to burning lots of calories.

Anyway, I want to resume my journy towards a new body. Even though I am under weight for my height (150 Lbs @ 5'11"), I feel like I should lose a few more pounds. It's because I have lots of fats around my belly that I want to be gone. But a friend told me that I shouldn't go on a cutting phase right now, that I should just bulk up, since I'm lacking muscle in the abdominal area, and my arms are too thin. Maybe you guys can help me out in making this decision. I think I will go back to my old eating habits starting today, and cut for two weeks at least, during which I expect to lose 4 more pounds, and then I can start to bulk up. I need to get on it fast, the semester starts this week and I have a heavy load, and come March, I will be having less time to workout. I could still go, but 2 times a week instead of 4 or 5. Regardless, that's a few months away.

Here are some pics of my progress...

There's not much change visible from September until now, but it's 10 Lbs less according to my scale. I have no current front pics but it's basically the same. I put in a zoomed pic of the problem area I want to get rid of and the reason I want to cut before I bulk.

What do you guys think?

Wow! You look really great! Congratulations on your progress so far!

I don't know whether you should cut or bulk but you should do low intensity cardio (no running/jogging) in order to burn fat and preserve muscle mass.

Thanks! ;)

I'm thinking about some light jogging for 30 minutes on mornings before breakfast... which is what I did to lose weight in August. Would that be too much and actually burn muscle mass?

I sometimes think I didn't gain as much muscle as I could have had, and maybe that's part of the problem.

I just measured myself and created a new profile at MyBodyComp. Most measurements have gone down, and by their calculations, the 12 Lbs I have lost since October are 10 of lean mass and 2 of body fat. So that explains the big weight loss with no exercise and no diet :S

It puts me at 17% BF and demonstrates my inability to use calipers which at first put me at 14% when I was 170 and then 8% now, which I knew was ridiculous.

I will still follow a kind of cutting diet for two weeks with morning runs, as I get used to going to the gym again, and then start bulking afterwards.

Thanks! ;)

I'm thinking about some light jogging for 30 minutes on mornings before breakfast... which is what I did to lose weight in August. Would that be too much and actually burn muscle mass?

I sometimes think I didn't gain as much muscle as I could have had, and maybe that's part of the problem.

As long as you keep your heart rate 60-65% of your MHR that should be perfect.

Great. When jogging, I check my heartrate every few minutes and speed up or slow down to keep myself in that range.


Today's Entry 1/17/05
150 Lbs

Woke up late, a friend came over and cooked me some pasta and sausage, wasn't as light as I'd wanted to but hey, no cooking for me ;) I'm going to whip out dinner now. Did some jogging in the afternoon. Tomorrow I'm going to the gym to renew my membership card.

So I checked my bf with my calipers, and did it correctly this time and got a similar reading to MyBodyComp. It puts me, in the third picture, at 17% bf. By my estimates of weight, and accounting for the 10Lbs drop in lean mass during last semester, I was at around 25% bf in the first picture.

So what I am going to do right now is follow my cutting routine for the next two weeks and get down to 144 - 145 Lbs, putting me at around 15% bf, and in the process give my body a break to get used to lifting again, so that I can start a good, controlled bulking cycle. I don't know how much Lbs in lean mass I am going to be able to gain, but the ideal goal would be to bulk as much as possible, with minor increase in bf, and go into a cutting cycle by May. That should put me right in track for < 10 % bf by Summer.

Perhaps I could gain 10 Lbs or so of lean mass, which took me one month and a half of lifting last year to gain (and three months of none to lose them :( ) and then I can try for 5 - 10 more pounds of lean mass, up to around the 160's before going into the cut. Am I overreaching?

Sadly I didn't join the gym early enough in the semester, and before I knew it I was too busy with my courses. But I finally went back today, I am too thin and need to gain lean mass. Not that I am not happy with it, it's better than being overweight, but for the last few months people keep telling me to gain weight because I look sick. Whatever ;)

So I went back today. I forgot to take my weight early in the morning, I will tomorrow, but the last time I did it a few days ago it was around 147 lbs. For the last few months of no exercise, I have just tried to eat healthy and have been hovering around 150 lbs.

My routine today:

[sets,reps]
3x7 Leg Lifts
3x7 Ab Curls (140 lbs)
3x7 Back Hyperextensions
3x8 Bicep Curls (15 lbs x 2 :( )
3x7 Back Rows (70 lbs)
3x7 Back Pulldowns? (70 lbs)
1x8 Traps (45 lbs x 2)

I would have had liked to hit the biceps more but I lost a lot of muscle and feel pretty weak. I will keep adjusting my routine, today I had to do it quickly because I was late to the gym and already feeling hungry, and had class at 1:30PM which I missed anyway (but at 2 the student union declared a 24 hour strike so it's ok).

Lets hope I don't give up too soon. In two months I will leave Puerto Rico to join a summer internship program in NY, I hope there's a gym nearby or one at work that I can use :D