Hello again folks.

Just trying to clear my head and get some thoughts down on paper, bear with me :P

The general question of this thread is, when to stop ?

Let me set the scene for you:

5 months ago I was tipping the scales at pretty much 14.5st... god knows what body fat... 38" waist, 5"11'.

I've just this second got home from a cardio day at the gym. I weighed myself there, too find I had hit another "all time low" of 11st 3 lbs.

Don't get me wrong, I feel awesome... I now fit into a 34" waist no problems, and should be buying my first pair of 32's next month. However, I am getting a little worried about just how little I am going to weigh!

I would guess my body fat at the mo is still just over 15%, with the bulk of my fat still at the rear on the love handles :s. I have pretty much got rid of the gut, and my arms / legs / chest are actually starting to look pretty lean :D

I have yet to reach the dreaded plateau... and seem to still be losing 1-2lb a week comfortably.

My diet is 40/40/20 p/c/f, ~1800 cals, 4 cardio seshs a week, 2 weights.

I am still lifting nearly twice as much weights wise at the gym, compared to when I started, however I have not moved up a weight on any exercise during the last 6 weeks.

My initial plan was to cut until I can start to see my abs (whilst trying to retain muscle mass in the process through high protein diet and 2 weight sessions a week)

Your thoughts / opinions are appreciated ? Thanks

The general question of this thread is, when to stop ?

Simple answer? When you're happy with where you are. Period. Then maintain it.

-R

It sounds like you have been cutting...right? Is there a reason that once you get down to maintenance level you cannot do a clean bulk?

If you are concerned about weighing too little then you need one of two things; more fat or more muscle. I would go with the muscle needless to say, it weighs more than fat and takes up less space allowing you to still look trim, but also fill out and be stronger at the same time. There are a lot of threads here on bulking if you run searches in the various forum categories.

Good luck!

Sorry I should have made it clearer, yup I'm still cutting.... the questions should be, when to stop cutting :P

My plan was to cut until my abs are visible, then clean bulk as it were.

My concern is once I have visible abs, I feel as though I will weigh about 3 stone :o

My concern is once I have visible abs, I feel as though I will weigh about 3 stone :o
I understand your concern. I've gone through several "hey, I've lost a lot of weight, why am I still so flabby?"-stages, but I try not to worry. I'm also at slightly over 15% right now, and I've still got 20 lbs or so to lose. What I feel though is that the closer you get to your goal, the more visible every single pound gets. Well, every single pound you lose that is. There's not much difference between 26 and 24 % BF, but there's quite a big one between 16 and 14.

Just keep at it, and make sure to get your exercise and eat enough, and you won't lose much more than fat.

Yep, simply until you're happy with where it is. Setting a scale weight is a bad, bad idea. I've set them in the past and when I get down to it I realize that I'm not as thin as I want. A body fat percentage is much better, but even then it's not perfect, because in the past I've said maybe 12% is my goal. Well, I'm there now, and I'm still not quite as thin as I'd like, so 10% is my current goal (oops, I just said that a BF goal wasn't even great :o). Basically just go until you're happy :D

I feel the same getting on the scales and seeing my weight diminish each week scares me. But i guess if your diet is correct then all you are losing is fat which is a good thing.

I kind of wonder about that same thing. When I get down to less than 15% bf, I'm going to be less than 150 lbs. I'll be a dang welterweight. I think about how thin I was at 19ish when I was 144 and even then, I wasn't really fit. I still had some flab around my belly.

I'm just going to wait and see where my bf loss takes me and then when I'm happy I'll start trying to really bulk. In the meantime, I guess I'll have to just put up with the skinny comments and having to wear the dang belt on the nautilaus equipment just to keep from being lifted out of my seat.