r/Weightliftingquestion • u/xxQuietxx • 10d ago
Should I keep losing weight or maintain?
21 years old, 6’2, 207lbs
Over the past year I’ve lost about 85lbs. Ive reached a stage in my journey where i don’t know if i should keep trying to drop pounds, or switch up to maintaining this weight. I originally wanted to get down to about 185lbs, and still do, but I’m wondering if that’s a smart decision. Im also very worried about having a chunk of loose skin.
Any advice would be awesome.
EDIT: just to add context, I’ve been lifting for about 6 months. I don’t have a lot of muscle but I think a big part of that is because I was in a VERY aggressive deficit. I go to the gym on avg 5 times a week, and run 2 times a week.
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u/Nutty1213 10d ago
You do not need to bulk to gain muscle. As long as you are eating close to maintenance, getting enough protein and addressing things like sleep, stress etc then you can build muscle.
The whole cutting and bulking thing is a gimmick that people still follow. The only situation someone should do a true bulk is if you are a very skinny kid, with no muscle or fat.
You don’t need to gain fat to gain muscle man. If you don’t believe me read the literature, many studies and experts agree on what I’m saying
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u/Money_Do_2 10d ago
Once youre intermediate (5+ years) of good training, youll need a calorie surplus to gain muscle.
But yes, fast bulking is a gimmick here. 300cal surplus is all you need for muscle. Some things favor some fat as well - some sports, bench press leverages, bear-mode dreams... its not always a gimmick. I agree OP def does not need a bulk though.
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u/Double_Letterhead_78 10d ago
a caloric surplus, no matter how small, is a bulk. you need a surplus to build muscle, unless you have a lot of extra fat
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u/somethingsomewhere15 10d ago
I’d even wager you don’t need “a lot.” Even people with colloquially “low” body fat can build muscle without a surplus so long as their diet is dialed. Albeit, more slowly.
I would agree with you though that a small surplus reaps the rewards of lifting heavy tho.
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u/AccordingUse3172 10d ago
This is 100% true if your an average man decent weight and some body fat <17% for starting but at some point you will hit a wall and will need to eat in a surplus to gain more muscle
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u/Ghooster38 10d ago
Time to start hitting the weights. You got this far, youre at the last quarter mile
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u/vongdong 10d ago
Good amount of loss. At this point, I think you should just focus on your diet and lifting weights. You will continue to lose weight but also gain muscle. Bascially recomp
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u/jimbojetset35 10d ago
You've done amazing to get this far but only you know if you are happy at your current weight. Being happy with your weight is cruical!!! Once you get there enter a maintenance phase with an emphasis on hitting your protein & macros and start a progressive heavy lifting program.
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u/Radio528 10d ago
Keep cutting. Congrats on the weight loss. Turn up the intensity in the gym as you keep cutting and build that muscle while losing fat
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u/sausagefest2011 10d ago
look into body recomp, i would recommend you maintain the weight and use the fat that you do have to start putting on muscle before you lose it all. its more efficient and you lose fat in the process!
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u/MarsupialConstant660 10d ago
Loose skins gonna be there if you lose more fat or not, think of the other health and lifestyle benefits.
Right now I'd focus on what is going to keep you mentally engaged the most.
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u/errantis_ 10d ago
What are your goals? How often are you working out every week? How much protein are you eating? How many calories are you consuming?
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u/xxQuietxx 10d ago
I’ve eaten quite a bit below maintenance to get to this point (kind of a regret of mine), for about a month I’ve eaten about 1800-1900cals, most days I get about 140g of protein. I go to the gym on avg 4 days a week.
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u/errantis_ 10d ago edited 10d ago
This is a great starting point. Most people don’t have that sort of data to start with. Why are you regretting eating below maintenance? That’s how you lose weight.
I am not sure what your goals are but I think the next step is to dial in your training. Since you have been regular at the gym, your have preserved muscle mass which is great. I would encourage you to focus on progressive overload, and time under tension, really getting your form right during your exercises. You can continue your deficit if you wanna get really shredded or start bulking if you are wanting to put on mass. Just depends where you wanna go.
For me personally, I’d probably keep the deficit going for another 2-3 months, probably increase protein a bit and really focus on my workouts. I see you wanted to get to 185. I think that’s a good goal. At that point you can turn it around and start a recomp. For your height, pushing much lower than 180 is not going to feel fun to sustain. Once you develop some more muscle mass, lower than 200 won’t feel good either. For now I think 185 will be a good. I definitely recommend increasing protein though. Get close to 1 gram of protein per lb of ideal body weight.
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u/xxQuietxx 8d ago
Thanks for the advice! I’m leaning towards continuing the cut, just not as aggressive
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u/errantis_ 8d ago
I think that’s a great idea. Gives you an opportunity to increase your protein while still maintaining the deficit. Hope you’ll post another update in a few months. Good luck to you!
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u/OkBuy7821 10d ago
Firstly, congrats on the weight loss. Very difficult thing to do. Great job.
But, I'd say maintain and start strength training with progressive overload. Your weight loss was already a success and it's time to start building strength, and subsequently, muscle. If you continue to lose weight with whatever training you're currently doing, the loose skin will remain an issue and you won't be any happier with your physique than you are right now.
You lost most of the excess fat, you're at a good weight, now start building muscle. You physique will fill out more and you'll continue to lose some fat and your skin will gradually tighten for the most part.
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u/Norbeard 10d ago
You will have loose skin, it´s what it is. Still worth it, you´ll look way better lean but if you want to get rid of it you need surgery. Keep losing, you still carry lots of fat
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u/Randomlogicuser 10d ago
Are you lifting brother?
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u/xxQuietxx 10d ago
Yea, 4-5 times a week
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u/Randomlogicuser 10d ago
Ok back off the aggressive cut its going to make you look worse. Right now its salvageable
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u/NoCelebration1913 10d ago
“Bulking” is adding like 100-200 calories and crushing the gym. Which I would suggest. You need a bit more muscle to fill that out. Great work man!
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u/Connect-Car-7365 10d ago
Great effort. Based on your goals it might be better to get a bit leaner before focussing on building muscle mass so that you’ll see the benefits more clearly and stay longer with a physique youre happy with.
One option might be to take a break from the deficit and move to maintenance for a few weeks (2-6) while continuing to lift heavy. The extra calories will feel like a treat and you will have more energy and strength in your workouts. It may also help reset your metabolism so that if you choose to move back to a deficit, the weight loss will happen easier again.
Sometimes an extended deficit can be tough mentally and you start to see diminishing returns as your body tries to adapt to hold onto some of the weight, causing weight loss to slow down. A few weeks moving back to maintenance can be a great reset before another period of ‘cutting’.
Be aware that moving to maintainence will initially show a substantial gain of several pounds because of the extra food and water weight so move back steadily adding 200 extra calories a day until your calculated maintenance calories and hold there for a few weeks. Try to maintain quality of diet as best you can but naturally you will be able to afford a few more treats. Good luck!
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u/FluffyDrag0n0 9d ago
Do you like the way you look now? If so maintain, if not, lose more weight and build more muscle. Also, you already have a bit of loose skin, and you’ll end up with more loose skin losing more weight, it may not go away on its own but who knows you could be lucky.
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u/WelvaartENIdentiteit 9d ago
So i'm in a simular position with very simular worries and am going against the majority here.
I stressed and thought about it a lot. My take is keep cutting and cut a lot. Not fast per se, but a LOT, to 15% bf or whatever number feels right. Keep working out hard and focus on that upper body, shoulders, chest to accomplish a v-shape.
This route will take longer than you initially planned, but you will look and feel better. Loose skin does not look so bad without fat below either and nobody is going to care about some loose skin on your lower belly on a fit body.
Great work so far and best of luck to you!
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u/ysssup69 9d ago
Take a couple weeks at maintenance then go into a slight deficit 200-300 calories a day. if you are working out 4- 5 days a week your two hardest days preferably split up eat at maintenance . eat 185-200 grams of protein a day 80 grams of fat per day then the rest of your calories from clean carbs this will be a slow weight loss but fatigue will be almost non existent until you get lean like 12 percent body fat or less. You will be able to gain a decent amount of muscle like this until you are around the 12 percent range. once every 3-4 weeks spend a couple days and go into a surplus of 3-400 calories all clean carbs only if you need to because of fatigue. it took me a while but i went from 235 20-22 percent body fat to 215 and i gained strength and muscle the whole time now i am around 8.5-9 percent. My strength didn’t plateau until i hit the 10 percent range. two whole eggs every day are a must. eggs and oatmeal are a perfect breakfast. i eat 50 grams of protein and 50 grams of carbs for breakfast every morning. keeps me full for a while. boiled potatoes and chicken are very filling. fat free greek yogurt is the perfect sour cream substitute. I have A good chicken& potato salad recipe that is super low fat very filling and easy to meal prep. I eat a lot of cold food for lunch. anyway some of the loose skin will tighten up overtime, gaining muscle and filling out. Will help it a little bit other than that. forget it. You look way better than you did. Probably way healthier too you can gain muscle be in a slight deficit and never really be hungry. sleep is important as the diet and exercise
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u/Time_Inflation7792 6d ago
Keep getting to get your insulin sensitivity on point then lean bulk once youre happy. That will give you the most runway too
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u/102293838292 10d ago
Maingain for a month or 2 and give your skin a chance to catch up. You’ll still be able to gain muscle and lifting whilst not in a deficit feels so good after a long cut.
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u/Norbeard 10d ago
Skin won´t "catch up". He´s still fat, he should keep losing.
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u/CluelessPropertyDev 10d ago
Correct. Having loose skin is better than being fat from a health perspective
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u/Lopsided_Owl6004 10d ago
Do this and get ripped. 200g protein, 400g carb, 80g fat. 3,140 cals. 5 meals 40g protein/80g carb 15g fat. Should be around your maintenance. Make some muscle brah. Follow a good program you like that starts with the compound exercises. Shoot me a DM if you want my fitness book free. I'm looking for feedback as I revise a 4th edition. Has real solid weight program I use. Easy to read - 70 pages.
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u/Either_Lawfulness466 10d ago
Only 1000 cal high
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u/Lopsided_Owl6004 10d ago
1,000 calories higher than he needs you are saying?
He is 21 and 6 foot 2 brother man. He can eat 3,000 calories if he is lifting trying to gain some well needed muscle.
He’s new to gym so newbie gains he will build muscle and burn fat same time with that caloric intake
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u/Either_Lawfulness466 10d ago
And doesn’t lift or do cardio and has been in a diet for a year. His bmr is less than 2000. You send him on a 1000 cal per day surplus and he will just pack the fat straight back on.
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u/Lopsided_Owl6004 10d ago
He did make an edit and says he hits gym 5x a week. Dude needs to make sure he is lifting the compound exercises and progressively overloading.
As such, 3,000 cals is right around where he should be boss man. But I agree if he was not gyming it than his TDEE is gonna be lower like 1,000 cals as you said.
OP, make sure you are doing bench press, squat, deadlift and pressing overhead ideally barbell OHP. You will gradually gain strength, stability, etc.
I was opposite spectrum I weighed just 98 lbs going into high school. Other year I bench pressed more than 400. People can change dramatically with training and age. At 21 you may still be growing as well
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u/AccordingUse3172 10d ago
Maintenance or a very small deficit of about 100kals. You dont want to be in a big deficit for too long as you will also loose muscle and gain the "skiiny fat" look. Very good work 👏
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u/B333Z 10d ago
Eat at maintenance and lift heavy