Skinnyfat

Do you have scoliosis or just bad posture?

Thanks for the replies.

May I ask why that level of fat is unsustainable?

This made me laugh, cheers.

I'm no expert by any means but I'd suggest going to a doctor or physiotherapist to get yourself checked out before you do any serious damage to yourself. One of the few times I actually lifted any weights in my life, I decided to do a set of incline fly's with 30-ish pound dumbbells in each hand. I ripped a tendon nearly completely off my bone. Hurt like a cunt for months, until I finally went to a physio and he patched me up in no time. Felt really good.

I know this is going to sound like a noob question, but would I see more of my abs if I cut down just a little more fat? I definitely have some form of muscle underneath all that fat, just not very pronounced probably.

Pretty sure it's just bad posture as I went to a physio a couple of years ago and he said nothing about scoliosis or anything.

I have spent too much time of my life in (bad) chairs, lying in bad positions or hunching my back when I was standing up. I also have a tendency to bring my shoulders forward.

Are there any ways to improve bad posture?

I was thinking about doing that but I'm also scared he will tell me that I should not work out anymore. I never ''made it'' or got big as you guys say it, but I did look and felt a lot better , and I miss that feeling.

Anyway, I'll grab my spaghetti and consult with one and see what can be done.

I wouldn't worry too much, most of the time physio's can deal with a problem quite easily.

I'd say the worst case scenario would be you need an operation, but that's unlikely.

In any case, it's best to find out as soon as possible so you can get back on the weights as soon as possible. Good luck though, hope it's just a minor problem.

Thanks user.

Hey OP, I started at your weight (and height approx). Been 1.5 years of slow bulking, at 185lb now. Just eat a lot, and lift a lot. That's all there is to it, don't worry about cutting until you're at least 200lb.

Dude the only difference is you look like you got sunburned. What have you been doing for 1.5 years?

Congrats on the progress. Do you eat more or less calories than you need? Or do you eat a maintenance amount?

To clarify I meant a level of fat where you can't grab your stomach is unsustainable, not your current level, which is clearly sustainable becase you have it.
Anyway, it's unsustainable because you'll die if you don't have enough fat. Fat is necessary to shield nerve cells. When bodybuilders cut to ridiculously low bf% they get to the point where the body doesn't have any more fat to consume that isn't necessary for life, so it starts consuming a lot more muscle, and yes, even some of the essential fat.
And even a bodybuilder in comp condition has rolls when they sit down and bend over. You physically can't stop rolls from happening. Compress literally anything and it will bunch up like that. So if you somehow didn't have rolls you would be at about 0.1%bf and on your deathbed.

kek, I should've added an after pic - they're both 'before' pics, taken when I was like OP.
This is current-2 months.

Oh shit my bad broski nice you do you boo

Eat more than I need for most of the time, maintenance when I take time off (partying, exam season, camping, etc). If you're strict with your diet and lift regardless of interruptions, you'll get much further than me.

Haha I congratulated you because I thought the pictures might not be doing your progress any justice. Thought it was a bit weird.

Anyway that looks really good, roughly what I would want to look like. Just asking you again in case you don't see the other comment: do you eat a calorie surplus or shortage?

Thanks for replying. I think I might get rid of some of the fat I have and then do the same as you.. clean bulk my way to a good physique.

Thanks for the reply.

What are the indications of too little body fat? And is there a relatively accurate way of measuring it by yourself?

There are a few (DEXA scan is the most accurate you can use) but most are relatively inaccurate or very complicated. You can eyeball it fairly well as you get more into fitness by comparing to others - either post a pic here or get calipers to measure using online guides.

Didn't mean to freak you out. You don't have too little body fat. Your body fat is just fine. Getting to those extremely low bf% is very hard work and takes a long time, so you don't have to worry about it happening by accident. Just wanted you to know that "not being able to grab belly fat" isn't a realistic goal.
I second getting a DEXA scan, it's the only way to know for sure, even calipers will be wrong if you don't have experience using them.

Cheers for the info.

Say I wanted to get my weight down from 153 to 145 (by christmas, say), would this be considered unhealthy?

I wouldn't recommend it but it's doable and not too unhealthy. You might have body image issues if you think you're fat or have too much body fat based on this pic .

Haha no don't worry about it, I'm not too bothered by the fat.

I just like the idea of setting myself a goal for christmas. Also, I plan to start bulking in Jan 2017, so I thought it would be good to start with as little fat as possible.

You have nothing to cut to. Just start a "lean" (250-500 caloric surplus) bulk and start lifting on a real program.

Really nice. How come you bulked so much but only increased in muscle? You kept the low body fat %.

I had very little fat (and muscle) to begin with. ~35lb gain over ~60 weeks is 0.5lb/week gain, no one's going to get fat on that (esp a beginner).

>on a real program

The split OP posted isn't a good program?