Curious Cutting Question for me.

A question regarding my former, and perhaps future self

I'm an ecto (I've said this too much I fear). However, I'm not the "stereotypical" ecto who has a ludicrously small ammount of body-fat. I've lifted weights off and on for three years, but only started lifting "seriously" last june. At the time I started, I weighed in at about 125 to 128 pounds at 5'7 (perhaps I'm 5'6). I had roughly 11% bodyfat, looked fairly lean, but by no means 'cut'. Currently (depending on time of day) I weigh between 141 and 144 pounds - a significant improvement due most likely, dare I say "unfortunately", to creatine, which I see as "false" weight.

My simple concern is, that when I decide to cut - i.e. I get so fed up with my bodies refusal to add muscle I simply decide to shred myself as much as possible - how much weight (currently about 13% bf) will I be looking at dropping to get the proper "cut" look, with abs and all?

I mention this as a concern because at 125 pounds, I still had 11% body fat, and I don't want to drop to some ridiculously light weight (which would no doubt be unhealthy) in order to get that shredded look. Even at 125 pounds, I had to "contract" my abdominal muslce to have any semblance of a six-pack - in fact, I still have to. I don't mean suck in my gut of course - I've never had one. But the fat below the navel/belly-button level, which I hear is the last to go, never seemed to go away.

I never did HIIT back then, or ate as sparkling-clean as I do now, though I didn't eat badly, and did do morning cardio. I'm just worried that when I do cut that I'll need to lose an obscene ammount of weight to "look" right, which will blast any gains I have made (few as they are) straight to hell

Any comments/ideas? Thanks

I am not really understanding your question(s)?

Heh, an answer from "the man". Looking good there by the way, I'm envious.

I simply remember that, 20 pounds ago (I've added about 17 or 18 pounds in the last few months through creatine mostly I think), when I was a measly 127 pounds, I *still* didn't have that much definition. No noticeable abs really or anything. I'm concerned that when I *do* cut that I'll have to drop a large ammount of weight to appear "cut", hence my gains (small as they are) will get wiped out.

At 127 lbs, I still had 11% BF. To have gotten down to say, 8% or 9% would have meant weighing less than 120 pounds at 5'7! That just isn't healthy I don' think.

I'm more or less wondering how to get cut without ending up the stick figure I was before. I could never get rid of that last bit of lower abdominal fat, get any proper abdominal definition at all without "contracting" them, or get the overall "look" quite right.

Long and short (I'm sure I said this already, sorry) is that I'm afraid a decent cut will simply return me to my scrawny-arsed size that I was before I put any serious effort into lifting. I haven't gained much, and I'm starting to doubt that with my poor ectomorph genetics that much more will be possible. More so than someone who has the potential to end up bigger than I do, preserving every bit of lean mass is more important to me since I have so little of it. A guy who doesn't cut quite right who is twice my size may accidentally liquidate a pound of muscle here or there, but can chalk it up to experience and move on. A pound or two of muscle to me is a much bigger deal, proportionately speaking, due to my much smaller size.

Hence, how does an ecto-type body cut when the time comes? I would think cutting for an ecto is done differently to preserve the smaller gains. Or perhaps not?

Corsair, Why not just train heavy, and eat bigger? It takes a long time to get big, trust me, I know.I started out weighing 98 pounds.Get large first few years, and then cut back to see what you`ve got.There is no rush unless you want to compete.It`s a lifestyle, so you`ll hopefully be in it a long time! Good luck on whatever you decide!