Nutrition/body composition advice?

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1

Hello everyone.

​​​​I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on what to do next as far as my approach to nutrition goes.

I’ll start by getting the need-to-knows out of the way.

I’m 26 years old, male. 180lbs body weight at 5’5 with a 34 inch waist measurement. Been training consistently for ~5 years and with good programming for ~2 years.
​​​Best lifts are a 400lb squat, 310lb bench press, 500lb deadlift, and 205lb overhead press.

​​​​Now for my question. If my eventual goal is to put on a fair bit more muscle mass while also being a bit leaner than I am now, does it make more sense to try to drop some body fat now and then slowly gain muscle using a small caloric surplus, or should I just keep trying to slowly gain muscle and a few years down the road try to drop the excess body fat?

Thanks for giving this a read and thanks in advance if you have any input.

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2

With a 34" waist, I’d probably try to slowly gain weight ( 1 - 2 lbs / month) and see what your waist does. Ideally it won’t increase much or at all with a slow rate of weight gain, but if it does (i.e., it reaches 36"), then you can cut your waist down to whatever you like and repeat the process.