Hey guys, first post in the forums. I’m kind of at a sticking point right now. I’ve been maintaining the past couple of months. So, at my heaviest I was 237lbs. I did an online meal plan and was able to get down to 205lbs  where I pretty much, sometimes fluctuate a bit lower, but haven’t been over 205 since about November (no unwanted weight gain during holidays was a major win!!). 

Im 38, 6’2, don’t know what my body fat % is because I’m not sure what’s the best method to take. I still have a bit of fat on my lower belly and love handles, not as bad as where I was, but still bugs me. The thing is I also feel like I could put on more muscle. 

Im a tall, lanky person so I always see myself as the super skinny kid I used to be. 

Any advice would be helpful, also, if any more info is needed let me know. I’ll be keeping an eye on the thread. I also want to make a meal plan myself. It was cool to have one designed for me, it worked great, but left to my own devices I can feel kind of lost. 

I tried to upload a photo but it says the type of photo is not an accepted file type.

Just to add, I aim for 1 gram protein per pound daily.

Typical day of eating

Breakfast:

2 eggs 2 egg whites

.5 cup oatmeal

2 pieces of toast

couple slices turkey bacon

Mid morning snack: Tuna or yogurt or a protein shake

Lunch:

Typically 6-8 oz chicken or turkey

3.5 ounces rice

3.5 ounces Broccoli

Pre Workout:

protein shake if I didn’t have one for snack and an apple

post workout:

Shake

Dinner:

6-8 oz protein

3.5 carbs

3.5 oz veggies

Before bed:

servjng of yogurt or 2% cottage cheese

 If you want and feel like you want to bulk do it. From your picture and height and weight your probably around 18%-20%. Try bulking with about 250-500 calories above you maintance and see what you put on in a few months.

Is 18-20% bf too much to go for a bulk? I’m just nervous to end up where I was last year. I’d never felt so bad about the way I looked. That was definitely a low point. But I had stopped working out for a couple of years, so that certainly didn’t help. Thanks for your reply @zeke_be

It would be best to know your bf% before suggesting whether to bulk or cut. It's pretty hard to tell from your picture what you might actually be, but like @Zeke_BE said, given your height and weight, it's probably not much over 20%.

It would also depend if you are a newbie. If you are, you can still probably lose some fat in a surplus. If you've been training for a while, then you probably want to cut down to between 13-15% before going back into a lean bulk, and you could still cut down while maintaining a good amount of muscle mass.

Your food options look good too, but most important is what the total macros of that typical day of eating? Again, what your bf% and training background is will probably determine the best route first (bulk or cut), and then knowing what you're currently eating (macro and calorie-wise) to maintain will give us an idea of where to go next.

Hope that all makes sense!

Everything you said makes sense @Scott_Herman My gym offers a free fitness consult so I’ll get my bf% measured there. As for experience, I lifted pretty consistently for about 2 years, and then stopped for about 2 and a half. I don’t think I’m a beginner, probably closer to intermediate, but still doing a lot of learning and research. I’ll track what I’m eating the next couple of days and post the macro breakdown so we can go from there. Thanks so much everyone. It’s really cool to get top tier support like this.

OK you're probably past the newbie stage for sure, but that's OK. If you are only at 20% or so, it won't take too long to cut back to that 13-15% mark before you can get back to focusing on building muscle. Besides, it tends to be easier at a lower bf% because your testosterone levels tend to be higher.

Definitely get those macros man and we will get you on track! 😁 ðŸ™Œ 

So today I had a fitness evaluation at my gym. They gave me a device that they put my weight, which is 200lbs. now, and it said my bf was at 18.7%. I’m not sure how accurate these devices are because I’d never seen one. I assumed they’d use calipers. So I got to talk with the trainer, he asked my goal and I said I’d like to cut a little more body fat before actually bulking. But he told me I didnt have to cut because I can gain muscle and burn fat at the same time. I was pretty skeptical of this, and of course he was trying to selll me programs, but I already know I’m in the right place when it comes to getting first and training advice.

So, I’m an idiot because I can’t find the macro calculator on the site. I clicked the search but it’s taking me to pages not found. If it helps I’m on iOS right now I’ll try again tomorrow at work on the computer. But yeah, I’m so ready to make these changes and be happy with my body. I was also glad to learn I was under 20% bf because just a few months ago I know I was way over, at least for where I had been most of my life. Gonna keep checking the site to see if I can find the macro calculator. Thanks everyone!!

To add to this, I've been tracking my meals all week. I've been averaging:

230-250g Protein

45-60g fat

160-175g carbs

the part that concerns me is the calories, It's only been about 2,220-2,300 calories, so I feel like I may be under eating, especially for my height. Should I try to slowly intorduce more calories? And what's a good way to do that with keeping it clean?

edit: ok, at work and I was able to find the macro calculator. It looks like I need around 3,340 calories if I want lean muscle gain. So I’m in a severe deficit. I always figured I don’t eat enough, but disnt realize how dramatic it was. Like I said previously, I’ve lost close to 40lbs and wa siding a meal plan that I had purchased online to help me cut weight and give me a foundation of how I should be eating. I’ve been staying at the same level of calories that I finished off the program with, which is why I’ve plateaued.

also, if I want to drop some bf% it has my calorie goal at 2840, which still puts me at a caloric deficit.

For lean muscle gain the macros are

Protein 163g (at 1g protein)

Fat 89g (.55g)

Carbs 472g

3,340 calories

For fat loss

Protein 163 (@ 1g)

Fat 89g (@ .55)

Carbs 347g

2,840

Sorry again for the long post, I just wanted to get all the info that I’ve accumulated out there and see if anything needs tweaking and advice. Thank again.

Yeah I mean, it's mostly in the first year you can gain muscle AND lose fat at the same time, or it may still be possible later than that if you are obese and have tons of extra fat, but unfortunately, probably not for you at your bf% and your stage of lifting. But that's OK, it won't take too long to cut down to 13-15% before you can start focusing on lean gains again.

You can find the @mealplan calculator by literally clicking on either of the blue links in this sentence which say @mealplan. Although that is for future refernce.. seeing as you found it now haha.

If you can, I would aim for more like 1.2g-1.5g protein per pound of lean body weight. So that would be more like 195g-245g. That would leave you some room to lower carbs, because I think you were on track initially by aiming for 160g-175g daily while cutting. So you can boost the fat as well to help you reduce them further. You could try these macros...

Protein: 250g (1000 Calories)

Carbs: 175g (700 Calories)

Fat: 125g (1125 Calories)

Total Calories = 2825

Thoughts?

I figured the protein was on the low side. For some reason that’s what came up in the macro calculator when I plugged in the numbers. It seems the calculator doesn’t show up on the safari browser on my phone, but I was able to find it on my work computer. 2825 is a nice number, not a dramatic increase from where I am currently, so the adjustment should be fine. Thanks a lot for the input @Scott_Herman I’ve been doing a ton of reading on this site, articles and forums, and I gotta say, it’s really awesome how much you interact with the community here. I’ve been on other forums that “celebrity” fitness personalities have run and they just push products with little to no interaction with their communities.