Im 27, 174cm. Been 55kg for 15 years+. Very slim body build coz not enuf food.
Just finished university and now can focus on my physique building before working.

So ive started tracking my calories using app, the target was 0.5kg/week. Because ive been slim all my life i dont believe that i can get fat. ive been bulking doing my calories excess was aout 500-1000 kcal daily.
That was though but i manage to gain 10 kg in 1.5-2 months. The problem was that I didnt do any exercise during that 1 month bulk. Now I looked very boroi demm (waist from 28 to 33) and i would say now i fall in the slim fat guy group. My fat percentage is 19% and my visceral fat is at level 9 (from xiaomi weightscale)

Ive been doing stronglifts 5x5 religiously for 1.5 months now + 2 scoop protien daily. Very happy with muscle growth but have not seen any changes with my belly fat. Ive even tried to do calories deficit but still not much changes. I havent tried cardio though.

My goal is to build more muscle at loose belly fat
Now im very2 confused about my diet and workout regiment. Should i stay on maintanence or deficit? should do cardio? should i add exercise to my stronglifts routine? help plz

This post has been edited by sandwraith92: Mar 7 2019, 04:50 PM

what do you mean by this?

building muscle and lose belly fat is kinda of an oxymoron. Though from experience, this kind of body recomposition is technically possible especially for someone who just started strength training. but the ratio of muscle build:fat loss will not be what you're expecting. The likely scenario, you'll lose abit of fat, gained some muscle and your strength gain progress will stall.

Pick 1 side of either coin. lose the body fat, calorie deficit you shall be in.

increase muscle, caloric surplus. This is the most efficient way to see progress.

I think that was a typo sry. By doing calorie deficit I mean as in eating with daily calories lower than suggested maintanence calorie level for approx 2-3 weeks. I thought with this and my strong lift routine, I will lose the belly fat but that didn’t happen. I do also notice that my growth stall with insufficient calorie which is to be expected.

Should I just ignore the belly fat for now and continue on calorie surplus + stronglift routine to continue building muscle? I do currently look like a 2-3 month pregnant guy Would it go away with my current strategy as I progress in the stronglift program or should I start incorporating other exercise ie cardio as well.

Sry for the basic Q. I’m a total gym and nutrition newbie.

This post has been edited by sandwraith92: Mar 7 2019, 04:56 PM

well honestly speaking, only you yourself can decide on this part. lol

Though if i am in your situation, this will be what i'd do (since you're doing stronglift), and it comes down to the 3 main lifts.

If your bench, squat and deadlift are currently lower than your current bodyweight (i.e you weight 70kg but benches only 50kg), i'd go for very slight bulk (around 100-200 tops calorie surplus) to gain some strength and muscle before cutting.

If they're well above or at least your bodyweight, then i'll start cutting.

honestly, no point cutting when you're lifting low weight as you'll look pretty bad after the fat's gone (as you'll hardly have any muscle left).

Dude, you went 500-1000kcal in surplus for about 2 months to gain those fats now you expect to lose all that 10kg in 3 weeks by going slightly under maintenance (I suppose that means 100-200kcal)? That should have made sense to you.

Doing whatever program ALONE is not gonna help you to lose the belly fat, and more bad news, belly fat is usually the last to go. If that belly fat is your only concern, then calories in < calories out is what you need to watch out for. If you wanna focus on getting strong, then you can continue to bulk.
I don't think you should be focused on a cut right now as you are only less than 2 months into SL5x5, maybe just eat slightly over maintenance and make sure you get enough protein.

Yeah unfortunately that's how bulking works. Your best shot is to keep building those upper body to make your stomach less noticeable.

when it comes to belly fat, you have no choice but to do more cardio. If you can swim, it's the best for belly fat. Total workout is not complete without intensive cardio.

Not only your goal, everyone's goal is build muscle and loose fat.

Since it is only 1.5 months. You still got long way to go. Really long, so, just try shit out. You might just miscalculate your maintenance, I believe you got your number from calculator? Have you actually test the number to get your exact maintenance number?

Several options:
1. Try add 200 surplus to your diet, maintain everything else and see how it goes, learn through the process as experience (surplus = build muscle = more muscle = higher bmr = your body burns more calorie)
2. Try add 200 deficit to your diet, maintain everything else and see how it goes, learn through the process as experience
3. Try add 200 deficit to your diet, increase protein intake, reduce carb intake, maintain everything else and see how it goes, learn through the process as experience
4. Maintain your calorie, add cardio which burns 200 calories which creates 200 deficit, maintain everything else https://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1350959101
5. Try add 300 surplus to your diet, maintain everything else, do cardio weekly that burns 700kcal, overall the calorie is same as 1 but it trains your mental and cardiovascular fitness

Personally I will pick no. 1 or 5.
2 and 3 i think it does no difference to you.
4 still creates deficit but allows you to eat more which can help with your lifting.

No harm trying things, it is a marathon, you gotta learn how your body reacts towards certain thing.

Here is how much calorie you burn in 10km steady state cardio. To burn 200, probably just run 2.5km a day, or accumulate 17.5km a week.


Here is total calorie of running 5km


Lastly,
You cannot lose fat on a specific area. It cant be done, just cant be done

This post has been edited by helven: Mar 16 2019, 01:09 AM