Throwaway my recomp/cut and bulk up?
Both pics at end of April 2026/ I (M,25) (5’9) have been working out since December 2025, so I’m about 5 1/2 months in. When I started I was about 175 pounds, a tad overweight. Today I weigh 165, I was in a very small defecit of 200 calories and getting 160-180g of protein a day for the past 3-4 months, trained with progressive overload hoping to build muscle and lose fat at the same time. I have improved in every lift over time, just PRed pull ups at 11 when I could barely do 1 when I started, but I can’t help but think I look the exact same and haven’t built much muscle, just only burned fat. Have I wasted my time by not just bulking off the start then cutting? I wanted to see abs by summer, and I am very close and can see my top abs barely in certain angles, I also feel mentally drained and burned out after being in a cut so long, and after looking at progress pictures I feel like I’ve literally wasted all my time in the gym by not choosing to put on muscle first. No one ever says anything positive about my physique other than I look skinnier. Anyways, I’ve been thinking about throwing my summer cut/recomp in the drain and just deciding to go into a surplus, but can’t help but feel like I’ve wasted so much time trying to recomp/cut with noobie gains and not seeing big physical results meanwhile everyone else has these massive transformations in 6 months.