Heya folks -

2 months ago I set a goal to gain 10lbs of muscle (I’m somewhere between a beginner and intermediate lifter) from 161 lbs at 13% BF, I have hit my scale weight goal today at 170 lbs at 13.5% BF with 4.6 lbs muscle gained. I think on paper I could continue the bulk, but I’m pretty happy with that muscle gain and I’m thinking it would be nice to try to lean down for aesthetics down to about 9% BF which would be about 8lbs fat loss and do that over the next twelve weeks slow enough that it’s a borderline recomp. The last time I cut from 170 back down to 160 I managed to still gain 3lbs of muscle over 2 months so at a lower deficit I think there’s a chance between now and the end of my cut I manage to hit my 10lb muscle gain goal by the end of the year. All my measurements are based on fasted + hydrated InBody measurements. 

But I’m still pretty new to being on the leaner side of the spectrum, so I’m not so confident in my scheming. I’d like to get some thoughts on whether my ideas are making sense. 

For additional info, I work out 6 days a week, about 10 months into working out in a gym consistently after more than a decade out of the gym where I used to be pretty inconsistent, few months on, few years off. A few years ago I was obese and lost about 70lbs with contrave, which was good in most aspects but I lost a lot of muscle mass as I was starving with no attention paid to protein or exercise. My exercise now is mostly hypertrophy focused, full body, with some extra emphasis on glutes, chest, lats, and upper back as these were the least developed areas for me or were areas I had some loose skin I wanted to fill out. 

Photo shows me now, same day as InBody. I do think I’m probably closer to 15% BF given InBody has a decent margin of error, but I can see bicep veins, top two rows of abs, and some separation around serratus and obliques, so I don’t think it’s crazy far off. 

Is this a good point for a slow cut after a bulk milestone?