Hunger along with weight loss/muscle gain?

avatarrules123

First of all, I'm 5' 6" and I weigh 134. My BF % is 26.11. I want to lose a bit more weight and get down to around 128-130, and I want to reduce my body fat to around the "fitness" range of 24.9 %. I also recently started lifting weights (I'm going on the 6 month workout plan in the book New Weight Lifting Rules for Women, and I started this last Saturday) and I'm noticing that I'm pretty hungry, especially around when I go to bed. I'm trying to keep my calories around 1500 if I can, and eat an extra egg/whey protein on the days that I lift (3 times a week).

So, what I'm wondering is, is it possible to lose weight and build muscle simultaneously? Am I not eating enough to properly gain muscle / replace the fat with muscle?

avatarrules123

And at my height and weight, is losing 1 lb. a week too fast?

Robotscallmecoty

Losing a lb a week is fine. Losing weight while building muscle is possible to some degree but is a lofty goal. Building and sculpting usually requires a caloric surplus and heaps of protein.

ellie0213

You don't have that much to lose so 1lb per week may be a lot -- especially when you are building muscle. Definitely agree that you will need higher protein and if you are hungry start bumping your calories a bit: 50-100 a day. Keep it for a few days and see how you feel.