Lose weight before gaining

bronagh679

Hi all
I am at a point where I am at my weight loss goal and I want to tone up (gain muscle) do I maintain my calories, increase them or what do I do

Really unsure

Spliner1969

Depends on what you want, you can either switch into recomp mode and take your time building muscle, or switch to bulking mode and try and build muscle then cut again later (you will gain weight doing that). I chose recomposition. To do that you stay at your maintenance calorie range and work out regularly and do your best to build muscle. You can lift heavy, or do bodyweight exercise, plus a mix of cardio, working the muscle groups you feel need improvement. I personally do an all over body workout about 4-5 times a week. I start with legs and cardio, then work my upper body, then my core, then switch back to my upper body all in the same workout. I can't lift heavy weights (back problems) so I stick to bodyweight exercises, but if you can lift heavy weights you can give that a try, although it would probably be best to be slightly above your maintenance calories for that. I've been doing recomp for the better part of a year, and expect to be doing it throughout this year with brief periods of slight bulks and slight cuts. I do it that way so that I don't gain a ton of weight all at once, and most of what I do gain is muscle, although it is much slower than lifting heavy and eating in surplus would be.