Switching From Fat Loss to Muscle Gain
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lostinwebspace
Posts: 99 Member
Hey everybody,
I've finally gotten rid of the fat. I'm at 10.5% body fat, and I'm really pleased with myself. Along the way, I lost some muscle mass, but now that I'm where I want to be fat-wise, I'm switching gears to gain muscle. Is there anything I need to know about the transition? Should I bring my calories up to maintenance all at once (I was at a deficit of 500 calories a day while losing fat) or should I slowly build it up 100 calories extra each week until I hit maintenance?
I know one mistake I made while losing fat was I didn't pay as close attention to my macro ratios as I should have. Now I have to pay better attention. What ratios should I start with?
I know there's no one-size-fits-all method and everyone's different, but I'm looking for some starting points.
Thanks, everyone!
I've finally gotten rid of the fat. I'm at 10.5% body fat, and I'm really pleased with myself. Along the way, I lost some muscle mass, but now that I'm where I want to be fat-wise, I'm switching gears to gain muscle. Is there anything I need to know about the transition? Should I bring my calories up to maintenance all at once (I was at a deficit of 500 calories a day while losing fat) or should I slowly build it up 100 calories extra each week until I hit maintenance?
I know one mistake I made while losing fat was I didn't pay as close attention to my macro ratios as I should have. Now I have to pay better attention. What ratios should I start with?
I know there's no one-size-fits-all method and everyone's different, but I'm looking for some starting points.
Thanks, everyone!
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Replies
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If it were me, I'd spent a couple of weeks moving from a deficit to maintenance.
As far as macros go since you'll be in a surplus you'll have plenty of wiggle room but if I were to make a very vague generalization I'd set protein somewhere in the neighborhood of 1g/lb LBM or a little higher. I'd set fat somewhere around .4g/lb bodyweight to start, and I'd put the rest in carbohydrate.
From there you can monitor satiety and personal preference (and rate of weight gain of course) and adjust as needed. For example if you prefer higher fat, you could go a bit higher in exchange for carbs. If you prefer higher carbs, you could go a tad lower in fats and bump carbs up.
As you stall in weight gain (you will gain weight and you may upregulate NEAT naturally due to excess energy consumption) you will need to gently nudge calories up. Most people dump them into carbs and that's fine idea but let your preferences play a role in that as well.0 -
@SideSteel
As far as macros, since I'm about 150 lbs and have 10.5% body fat, that means, daily:
* protein: 134 grams/536 calories/26% of intake
* fat: 54 grams/486 calories/24% of intake
* carbs: the rest/a little under 1,000 calories/50% intake
And then adjust/balance carbs vs. fat according to what's working/my preferences.
But not sure how to increase calories. You're saying you take a couple weeks to increase my calories all the way, but @MrM27 says increase by 100 a week. Does that mean I bump my calories by 250/week (about 36 per day) until I reach maintenance, and then go into a calorie surplus by 100 calories a week after that? Or in the overall scheme, will it matter too much what method to use to bump my calories up?
I"m assuming I end up at 2,300 calories after I increase. I read in a book that a good starting point when gaining muscle is to increase to 15% past your maintenance calories. I'm smack in the average and my maintenance calories is at 2,000, so 2,300 is 15% more for me.
I'm also told I overthink this stuff way too much. Tell me if I'm overthinking this.
I'll check out the link provided too. Thanks for the link!0 -
Since you are trying to bulk, and will have a calorie surplus, I think a little more protein wouldn't hurt. I would go with 1 gram per lb of body weight, instead of 1gram per lb of lean mass. Since you are 150lbs, I would suggest 150 grams of protein per day, until your weight increased by 5 lb, then adjust your protein accordingly.
As SideSteel said, 0.4 gram of fat per lb of body weight, and the rest come from carbs.0 -
As far as the rate of reverse it will basically work like this:
Slower reverse = water weight gain will occur more gradually and it will take you longer to get to maintenance and into a surplus. You might lose a little more fat along the way. If you are feeling any negative effects of leanness/prolonged dieting it will take longer for that to subside by reversing slow.
Faster reverse = faster potential gain in water/bloating. You'll hit maintenance quicker, might still lose on the way up but not as much/not as likely as you would if you take your time reversing. If you are feeling any negative effects of leanness/prolonged dieting you'll probably start to feel better a bit faster.
I could see merit in going slower if someone were a bit more paranoid about bloating/really wanted to ease into maintenance.
On the flip side if someone is feeling crappy because of leanness/prolonged dieting I would lean towards getting out of the deficit faster.
Lastly, getting out of a deficit faster may have a very small benefit of your gym performance improving earlier.
I don't have anything against a 100cal/week approach and I've used that with clients with very good results. So in that regard I'm not saying one approach is right and the other is wrong. In either case you want to add in cals, observe results, add in more cals, repeat.0 -
As far as protein intake I don't see an issue with 1g/lb bodyweight but as a matter of nerdiness, protein needs increase in an energy deficit. When you are exceeding your calorie needs you actually need slightly less protein which is why the 1g/lb lbm figure is very likely to be sufficient.0
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Lift heavy stuff.
Eat A LOT.
If you've been on, say, a 500 cal deficit while leaning out you need to find another 600-700 calories per day at a minimum. Second breakfast anyone?0 -
freqzinbigd wrote: »Lift heavy stuff.
Eat A LOT.
If you've been on, say, a 500 cal deficit while leaning out you need to find another 600-700 calories per day at a minimum. Second breakfast anyone?
Actually the advice above you is better. Slowly reverse diet till you hit maintenance then get a feel for it while for a few weeks. Then slowly add more till you start gaining weight. The worst thing a person that has just dieted down can do is rachet the calories back up too fast and you end up with a dirty bulk because you have no idea where your current maintenance really is. Best to take it slow until you understand where your body is and then move forward from there.0 -
600-700 more calories per day is 100-200 per day above maintenance (assuming a 500 cal/day deficit)--or 500 to 1000 extra calories a week.
That's hardly pigging out.
You're not going to "shock your system" with an extra 4000-4500 calories per week.
That is, of course, assuming you lift.0 -
@MrM27 but I was at a 500-calorie deficit, so if I gain 100 calories a week, it'll take longer than a couple weeks.
And, so I should have 1 gram of protein per body weight then? So...
* protein: 150 grams/600 calories
* fat: 54 grams/486 calories
* carbs: the rest/still a little under 1,000 calories
And, @Wheelhouse15 , yeah I don't want to jam all those calories in right away. I'll take it slowly. So just pause at maintenance for a little while? Then slowly add more calories until I figure out when it goes from gaining muscle to gaining fat? Kind of like sticking my toe in the water to test the temperature?0 -
OP- if you do the reverse diet method just make sure that you weigh yourself once a week at the same time; this way, you can track when you get to maintenance and when you start gaining.
Also, make sure that you take measurements of arms/chest/biceps/waist/thighs to track progress...
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I would weigh yourself daily and keep a rolling seven day average. Then compare the average weight rather than the daily weight.0
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freqzinbigd wrote: »600-700 more calories per day is 100-200 per day above maintenance (assuming a 500 cal/day deficit)--or 500 to 1000 extra calories a week.
That's hardly pigging out.
You're not going to "shock your system" with an extra 4000-4500 calories per week.
That is, of course, assuming you lift.
500 over is standard advice but you have to be at maintenance already for that to work. If you are on a large cut you won't know what your maintenance is since your metabolism will have gone through some adaptive thermogenesis and will be more effecient than it was previously. The reverse diet to maintenance phase allows you to reduce the metabolic gap before you start trying to bulk.
What you say isn't wrong but it's just not optimal for a person just coming off of a large cut. Another problem is that if you start going full on bulk is that a person who just cut will see the fat coming back on and will often panic and try a mini-cut and stop their bulk.0 -
I would weigh yourself daily and keep a rolling seven day average. Then compare the average weight rather than the daily weight.
That^^^
I keep a spreadsheet of each daily weigh in then divide on the 7th day.
OP, 100 a week would add up to a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks doesn't need to mean 2 weeks. 5 weeks is also a couple of weeks.
man I thought I was the only one!0 -
I would weigh yourself daily and keep a rolling seven day average. Then compare the average weight rather than the daily weight.
That^^^
I keep a spreadsheet of each daily weigh in then divide on the 7th day.
OP, 100 a week would add up to a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks doesn't need to mean 2 weeks. 5 weeks is also a couple of weeks.
man I thought I was the only one!
has a spreadsheet too ...0 -
I would weigh yourself daily and keep a rolling seven day average. Then compare the average weight rather than the daily weight.
That^^^
I keep a spreadsheet of each daily weigh in then divide on the 7th day.
OP, 100 a week would add up to a couple of weeks. A couple of weeks doesn't need to mean 2 weeks. 5 weeks is also a couple of weeks.
man I thought I was the only one!
has a spreadsheet too ...
<-- maintains a spreadsheet with rolling 3, 5, and 7-day averages when bulking or cutting . . .
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So we are all a bunch of spread sheet using geeks, cool!:)0
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