New Rebel, another skinny-fat

[hass]

Turning 40 this year but still feel really young.  6ft, 0in. Was 135lbs in my early 20's but in decent shape due to relentless daily skateboarding from about 14yo-21yo.  By mid-late 20's settled into my "adult weight" of about 150-155lbs.  In the 30's crept up to 185 or so.  Didn't want to enter 40's fat, not even skinny-fat.  Got on with the South beach diet and lost back to 156-158 lbs.  Doesn't feel like it did when I was in my mid 20's.  Was feeling weak and somewhat jiggly despite looking OK in the mirror (still with a small paunch and small love handles).  Decided that losing lbs was not the metric I was going for as I had obviously lost some lean mass as well.

 

Found NF, and loved the vibe.  Loved the simple message eat clean (which I know I can do) and lift heavy (foreign to me).  Eat clean, lift heavy.  Love it.  Bought barbell, 300lbs weights, rack.  Started Stronglifts 5X5 this week (seems like similar philosophies to NF, kind of kindred spirits).  Been hitting youtube heavily to learn correct form.  Pray I don't hurt myself!

 

Currently:

Weight: 158

Body Fat: 24.5% (by Bod Pod -- but that number seems much too high for how I look in the mirror.  FWIW my Withings scale says 17%, and the mirror tells me somewhere in the middle, maybe 19-20%)

Lean Mass: 119.4lbs (75.5%)

 

Goals:

Weight 160

Body fat 20lbs (12.5%)

Lean mass 140lbs

 

Edit:  after reading more on the difficulty of trying to build and cut in the same time period, I think my goals are too long term.  Revised, I think building 3-5lbs lean mass while shedding another 5-10 lbs of fat is a more reasonable, attainable goal in a relatively shorter time frame (~6mo)

[hass]

Thanks for the shout, Synyster!  BTW, I meant to ask...  What do folks think of my goals?  Attainable? Not desirable?  Seems like a tall order to basically convert 18-20 lbs from fat to lean mass.  I guess this would have to involve bulking up, then cutting?  Not really something I'm too keen on after working for months to drop the lbs...

[Bones]

Hey! I, too, am working on building muscle and am doing the 5x5! Just downloaded the Apple 5x5 app onto my iPod, which is super awesome for keeping track of your progress. It's a blast. Good luck to you!