Muscle gain without fat gain.

aldomodo

Hi, in the last year I've gone from being morbidly obese to BMI around 22 following Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy surgery. During this time I followed a lowish carb, high protein (70g+) eating plan. I run 3 times a week and do circuit/body pump classes 3 times a week. I'd like to gain some muscle and fill my loose skin out a bit, but after a lifetime of obesity I fear gaining weight and being out of control around food again. I'm a 48 year old female currently weighing about 130lb with a sedentary job. any suggestions about macros and muscle gain exercises would be appreciated.

biorobotics

up your protein to at least 130g.

SueInAz

You're right about my weight and age. I just started hitting the gym with a friend this past Spring to build muscle. I'm very happy with the results so far; I wish I had started earlier. Your best bet is going to be to start lifting heavy. Find a good strength program like New Rules of Lifting for Women and give it a try. If you don't like it try a different one, there are plenty out there. If your gym offers personal trainers, you could also see if you can get a free session and have the trainer show you some moves.

You won't gain weight while lifting unless you're eating more calories than you burn. You can build some muscle at the beginning without needing to eat beyond maintenance calories, so you won't gain pounds while you're gaining muscle. After a time, that will stop, though, and in order to keep gaining muscle you'll need to eat more calories than you're burning and you'll gain weight but it'll mostly be muscle. You could then decide to lose fat to make the muscle definition more obvious and continue the cycle until you're happy. More muscle means a higher metabolism, stronger bones and, of course, more strength. These are all things that will serve us well as we get older.

aldomodo

Thanks for the advice guys. So I'm currently aiming for net calories of about 1500, but still losing a little weight. I don't want to lose any more weight and gain some muscle mass. I understand I need to find a lifting program like New Rules, aim for 130g of protein and how many net calories per day? (On the 3 days a week I run I deduct my running calories as these make a big deficit. I don't tend to deduct much on strength days).

tsimblist

SueInAz wrote: »

You're right about my weight and age. I just started hitting the gym with a friend this past Spring to build muscle. I'm very happy with the results so far; I wish I had started earlier. Your best bet is going to be to start lifting heavy. Find a good strength program like New Rules of Lifting for Women and give it a try. If you don't like it try a different one, there are plenty out there. If your gym offers personal trainers, you could also see if you can get a free session and have the trainer show you some moves.

You won't gain weight while lifting unless you're eating more calories than you burn. You can build some muscle at the beginning without needing to eat beyond maintenance calories, so you won't gain pounds while you're gaining muscle. After a time, that will stop, though, and in order to keep gaining muscle you'll need to eat more calories than you're burning and you'll gain weight but it'll mostly be muscle. You could then decide to lose fat to make the muscle definition more obvious and continue the cycle until you're happy. More muscle means a higher metabolism, stronger bones and, of course, more strength. These are all things that will serve us well as we get older.

Yep, what she said.

SueInAz

aldomodo wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys. So I'm currently aiming for net calories of about 1500, but still losing a little weight. I don't want to lose any more weight and gain some muscle mass. I understand I need to find a lifting program like New Rules, aim for 130g of protein and how many net calories per day? (On the 3 days a week I run I deduct my running calories as these make a big deficit. I don't tend to deduct much on strength days).

Set MFP for maintenance and give that calorie goal a try for a couple of weeks. Keep your eye on the scale and adjust up or down as necessary.

The 130 grams of protein can be tweaked based on how many calories you're actually eating. I believe the general recommendation is .5 to 1.0 gram of protein for every pound of lean muscle mass. I shoot for around 100 grams per day eating about 1400 calories. If you have difficulty meeting that goal you might look into a good low calorie, low sugar protein powder to help make up any deficit. I've been using Cytosport powder or Premier Protein shakes.