Hey guys, I would love to get a little help on how to start my journey. I'll give you the basic info:

26

5'11

152 lbs

BF% ~18?

I'm starting on a 3x week program and I'm just curious if I should begin by bulking or cutting ? My thought process would be to start bulking and eat around 2-2.1k calories a day and I'll be able to gain muscle and drop some BF at the same time?

Or would it be more beneficial for me to cut down to like 12-14% BF and begin a bulk then?

Apprecaite any and all advice. Thanks guys!

You could do either! However, if you cut down first over a period of 10-12 weeks by eating real strict, once you drop all that weight, your body's first reaction is to put it back on....thats why bodybuilders experience such large rebounds where they gain a substantial amount of weight in a short period of time. If you're not strict, the body will put that weight back on with fact. If you slowly increase your calories though and eat real clean, your body will gain muscle at an increased rate.

If you want to bulk right away, i would start at about 2,800 calories a day with 40% of your calories coming from protein, 40% coming from carbs, and 20% coming from fats.

If you want to cut, i would start at 2,300 calories following the same split for macros, and slowly decrease your carbohydrate intake week by week by stay in the range of losing 1-1.5lbs a week. Also, slowly increase your cardio. Start with something like 20min on the stairmaster 4 days a week and then gradually increase from there.

Hope this helps brotha!