Gym Advice

Hello everyone, I've been working out at the gym for 16 months. Initially I was 160 lbs and now I'm 150lbs and I am more muscular but not close to where I should be I think. I have a bigger frame and arms but I still have love handles, lower back fat and I feel soft except at the arms. I started working out mainly just with machines and my lifts in those have all increased. Thing is, I've been under eating for the whole first 14 months or so (Eating about 1500-1600 calories a day while I'm 5'8) so I think I automatically recomped without doing it on purpose. My lifts stagnated for the past 7 months so I raised my calories now to around 2200-2300 (with 150-160g protein) for about 1.5 months, I noticed my lifts started rising again. My average steps for the last year and this year so far is 6200 steps per day. I don't really do any cardio or incline walking besides that.

Right now here are some of my lifts: (3-4sets of 8-10 reps)

Lat pulldown Bar: 100 lbs

Lat Pulldown discs: 230 lbs (115 lbs each side Iso)

Long Bar rows: 100 lbs 

V handle Rows: 100 lbs 

Bicep curls sitting: 25 lbs

Tricep pulldown with small bar: 50 lbs 

Tricep pulldown iso: 15 lbs

Chest press machine: 130 lbs 

Incline Dumbbell Press: 45 lbs (per side)

Chest pec fly machine: 125 lbs 

Shoulder press machine: 100 lbs 

Leg Extension machine: 135 lbs

Squat Smith Machine: 155 lbs 

Like with a pump and good lighting I think I look decent, but when im in the beach or just normal I think I still look skinny fat. I've started doing cable crunches a lot more over last month but don't notice much difference yet in my stomach. If someone has some advice for my situation, do I just keep going like this and give it time, do I change anything to speed it up considerably, are my lifts decent? If anyone needs more info for a better conclusion or advice please just ask! Thank you so much.

Posted Apr 28, 2026, 7:01 PM UTC

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