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You being a lean 90kg at 6'4" makes more sense than me being a fat 82.5kg; yet that is reality. I dont have a lot of muscle to need a lot of protein and it's just a waste of money overeating it - but - i will be ramping it up aggressively as i get leaner.

I agree that i'd rather be 10% @ 85kg than 7% @ 75kg. But reality is, that's not going to happen. Even if i gained 5kg of muscle right now, i wouldn't be 10% @ 85kg. That's just how bodyfat goes. 10% at 75kg is 7.5kg of bodyfat. 10% @ 85kg is 8.5kg - only a kilo more but yet needing an extra 9kg of lean mass. That's why im set on getting this epic cut underway to 6-8% - and from there im gonna try to stick under 12%. bulk up to12% and i will  cut back to single digits, repeat.

My plans are stepwise cut and bulk cycles to attain a lean 77.5kg, 80kg, 82.5kg and 85kg. If i'm 10% at 85kg i'll have done well but that's going to be a long process from here. And i'll prob stay weak as fk too because i dont start getting strong until my bodyweight goes up to 95kg or so..

Yeah good points. I hadn't done the math that way.

When you lay it out that way it's a good plan. I'm hoping you can stick it out and not let ego (strength) get in the way.

Bodyfat is the easiest and best thing to manipulate for body comp. Consider two guys both 5'10" at 10% bodyfat but one weighs a lightweight 70kg and the second a heavy 90kg. The respective bodyfats being 7kg and 9kg.  The second is only carrying an extra 2kg of bodyfat but a whopping 18kg more of lean mass. That just goes to show how little room to manouvre you have when it comes to bodyfat  -  a kilo loss of bodyfat makes a huge difference, whereas gaining a kilo of muscle is kinda meh.

Ego will be a problem but i know now that even if im a strong 95kg who gives a fuck when i'm that fat. So it's pointless chasing big lifts. Esp when i just wanna be healthy/fit/athletic. I'd love to be a lean 10% bodyfat at 90kg one day. But baring some amazing changes in body chemistry, i dont think that's realistic. 85kg lean seems like a solid goal for me!   If i can achieve my old PRs from earlier this year at 95kg at 85kg, i'll be a beast for sure. And i'll look good too. If only!

a kilo loss of bodyfat makes a huge difference, whereas gaining a kilo of muscle is kinda meh

Um... no?

It would be so in your hypothetical example IF you completely ignore their strength levels.

But in reality, the 70 kg guy with 10% bodyfat would likely squat 130 kg and the 90 kg guy with 10% bodyfat would likely squat 200 kg, assuming they have the same structure, nervous system and squatting movement efficiency/experience.

In fact, I would argue a few kilos more of muscle mass plays a bigger role than the same kilos of lost bodyfat, since the muscle mass is able to produce 3 times its weight in additional force. Bodyfat does not reduce the load on the body by 3 times it weight, but by 1 time its weight.

Oh, then yeah, it makes sense.

I'm not as lean now as I was in that pic (if i'm recollecting the right one). Still a while to go til then. I have slightly more muscle mass now though but that's neither here nor there. I may post a pic next week when i  finish this cut cycle, just to show where I am.

How long do you think you'll be out squatting for?

Plan for getting down to 6-8% bodyfat
Finish this cut on weds (with a carb refeed). Hopefully i'll weigh about 175lb on weds morning. I might still fast a good part of the day, but then i'll start the refeed around training. Whatever my bodyweight is a few days after the refeed, i'll maintain for the rest of August.

During the maintenance period i'll be doing a lot of conditioning - nothing boring but try to get a few decent basketball games in a week, maybe pickup or comp, whatever comes up. This alone will get my visceral fat down. Which is good cause it means i dont have to suffer through a much more longer and painful cut later.

After maintaining my bodyweight, getting my fitness up and hopefully having some decent lifts also, i'll start another cut, probably Sept 1st. This cut will get me down from 10% to 6-8%. It wont last super long, i think 3-4 weeks is probably the longest i should do this. 2 weeks would be ideal if i can lean enough but it might not be. We'll see. In this period of course training and nutrition will have to be precise, calculate and disciplined.

Supposing things go right, i've attained 6-8% bodyfat, i'll then maintain that bodyweight/bodyfat for a few weeks. Then we bulk.