Advice about bodyfat - help me decide what to do

[Xixor]

Hi all,

I am really tired of second guessing myself about my bodyfat percentage. On the one hand, I want to be lean and have good definition. I have a meticulously good diet and exercise routine, and have confirmed by both professional caliper testing (7-point and 3-point) and bodyfat scale at home to be somewhere between 6.5 and 7.0% bodyfat. This *should* by all means have me looking pretty cut up by now.

On the other hand, I was very obese as a teenager and lost over 100lbs of fat. That was more than 7 years ago at this point, but I am afraid that my skin never recovered from being so stretched out.

Bottom line - I don't think I look anywhere near as defined as I should look at 6.5% bodyfat.

I want very honest opinions and advice here:

1) Do my pictures honestly look as if I was somewhere south of 7% bodyfat? Are the calipers lying? Can the caliper tests be screwed up with loose skin? What about the bodyfat scale confirming the caliper tests?

2) Should I continue cutting in an attempt to look more defined, or am I just beating my head against a wall?

I really don't want to take this to an unhealthy level. If I really am truly close to 6% or 7% bodyfat I don't think I want to go much lower just for health reasons. On the other hand, if it looks like I have a long way to go I will continue to cut as much fat as possible.

What do you think?

p.s. Pictures are in an album linked to my username here. It wouldnt let me upload directly to the post because the file sizes were too big. The last picture of me leaning over is to give some perspective to the loose skin problem.

Thanks!

 

[Work IN Progress]

Im skeptical about the 7% for sure. I say put on some muscles first. Otherwise you are just gonna be a skinny guy with low bodyfat. Put on 15 -20 lbs and then start a diet. You will be happier plus you can quit buying small and medium shirts.

 

[Klutch]

i dont think you have loose skin... but def not 6-7% b/f... i say mabey 11-12% mabey a little lower.but i know 1 guy who is 6% b/f and he is super duper ripped x 1000... so i say keep cutting or add muscle and get more ripped.... your skin looks fine...

 

[Curlingcadys]

1)how many cals under maintenance are you?
2)whats your work out routine/schedule? cardio?
3)I suck at BF guessing so I'm not but you do have mild deffinition coming through so knowing NOTHING about your cals and workout I'd say you're on the right track, keep on keepin on. BUT I agree with work in progress you don't want to just go balls out on weight loss as muscle will be sacrificed and you will just be a skinny dude. Nobody wants that and I'm sure you don't, I'd say either A) keep the cals just under maintenance so little by little the weight comes off with minimal muscle loss or B) along the lines of what work in progress said build some more muscle, moderately, then cut it back down- you should be able to do this with a slight cal increase and still maintaint the slight deffinition you have allready.

 

[kyoryoko]

I see you lost A LOT of weight! Congrats! I have a similar issue with some loose skin. But it tightens up with time. Just REALLY not as fast as you want it lol.

Looking good, lean. If you're happy with where you are at i'd say to keep on cutting as it's summer, if you're burnt out from the dieting and want to switch gears i'd say jump back on maint cals, focus on the lifts and see how you feel in 1-2 weeks. Either way you are pretty good for summer, not SHREDDED, but definitely ppl will know you work hard at the gym.

 

[Kusakup]

Congrats man on the lost weight, you do have a tad of loose skin but I rather have that then it filled with fat.

I think you should bulk, bulk, bulk. Push that skin tighter with muscle.

From the look of it, you have no trouble cutting the excess fat when you're done with your bulk cycle.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with it though.

 

[Xixor]

Thanks for all the positive responses guys.

To answer some questions:

I am 6"2 at 200lbs right now. 37 inch waist. I had a low back injury so I hit my core muscles *really* hard to keep my stability up. This may be why my waist size is so large for the amount of bodyfat I have. I def want to get a little bigger though to see if the muscle can fill me out a bit. My ideal composition would be somewhere around 205-210 and sub 10% bf.

Using the Katch-McArdle formula I calculate that my maintenance calories are somewhere around 3000-3100 per day. I eat only clean foods, carb taper, periodic re-feeds, the whole deal. I can cut efficiently when I put my mind to it. While cutting I workout 6 days per week and do a variety of interval training, circuit GPP, and full body strength maintenance workouts.

When maintenance and bulking I do more strength workouts than cardio and GPP, and do a lot of gymnastics ring work because of my bad back - muscle-ups, iron cross, rope climbing, etc. Calories somewhere between 3500-3600 per day.

Even though the calipers say I am 6.5% I think I look more like 10-12% so I think I am going to cut for another few weeks and see what I look like then. From that point it will be a few months of maintenance and than some bulking again! I'll post more pics later to chart my progress.

Thanks all!

 

[Curlingcadys]

Sounds like a good plan, it appears you're organized- knowing your cals and what it takes for you to cut and bulk efficiently. Thats good. Good to see you do HIIT or just simply intervals/circuits too; its so much more efficient than 60min a treadmill.

 

[primo33333]

wish i was 7%