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ShyPanda93
Posts: 69 Member
Forgive my ignorance, but if you cannot build muscle at a deficit, what's the point in strength exercises? I am in no way trying to be sarcastic I am simply clueless.
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Replies
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Curious too...I mean I thought you could build some at a deficit but strength training is very foreign to me0
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The reason they say you should still do strength training when you're in a deficit is to keep the muscle you do have.0
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That's not true. It's harder to build muscle at a calorie deficit, but absolutely possible. You just have to make sure that you're nourishing yourself properly, getting enough protein, etc. This is a good article explaining how it's possible. Gain Muscle and Lose Fat At the Same Time0
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That's not true. It's harder to build muscle at a calorie deficit, but absolutely possible. You just have to make sure that you're nourishing yourself properly, getting enough protein, etc. This is a good article explaining how it's possible. Gain Muscle and Lose Fat At the Same Time
You cannot build any appreciable amount of muscle in any sort of significant calorie deficit (>10% below TDEE). It's not impossible to build muscle in a deficit, but it's not enough to really make a difference.
As mentioned by another poster, the reason to strength train in a deficit is to retain muscle while losing fat. If you do not strength train you will lose a great deal of muscle, regardless of protein intake, along with the fat that you lose. The reason that people cut and bulk is to gain muscle in a bulk and lose fat in a cut. If you could gain an appreciable amount of muscle in a cut there would not be a reason to bulk.0 -
Thank you guys. I'm still learning health and fitness, so that was very helpful! I will start incorporating more strength exercises to my weekly routine.0
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To give you an idea. According to scoobies calorie calculator my maintenance calories should be below 1600. In fact they seem to be around 1900, maybe even a bit higher (still trying to figure it out). Either I'm metabolically much younger or I have a good set of muscles that needs extra energy. Might just be a combination of both. But anyway, muscles rule!0
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That's not true. It's harder to build muscle at a calorie deficit, but absolutely possible. You just have to make sure that you're nourishing yourself properly, getting enough protein, etc. This is a good article explaining how it's possible. Gain Muscle and Lose Fat At the Same Time
+1 to this.
You absolutely can gain muscle while loosing fat at the same time. In fact as a beginner to intermediate lifter you will see good to excellent gains in building lean muscle mass. Having been a gym rat for many years the article mentioned is absolutely correct. By adjusting your diet to the correct amount of protein intake as well as providing it a greater amount of important amino acids to give your muscles what it needs to build and repair themselves. You will also need to adjust to eating 5-6 times a day so the brain will not think it is starving and start converting muscles into energy as well as turning what you eat into fat. If you do not eat more frequently the brain does this because it is telling the body it is starving so it attempts to build a reserve energy source. The idea that you have to bulk first and cut second is an outdated regimen for anybody that is not already below the 8% body fat percentage.
It will take some time for you to adjust to the new eating routine, though the results in the end will be worth it. As a woman you will not see the same amount of muscle gains that a man would so you will not need to worry about the "bulking up" misconception. You will however see just as much fat being lost which will allow you to see the more defined muscle underneath just as quickly. You are essentially performing a body re-composition so at some point you may see a stall in the numbers on the scale. Do not let this alarm you or stop you. Muscle is much denser than fat and therefore it takes a greater amount of fat to equal 1lb than it takes in muscle to equal the same 1lb of weight. Think a pound of feathers versus a pound of steel. They both weigh a 1lb however it takes far more feathers by volume to equal that pound.
Good Luck and Keep Lifting!0 -
DesertGunR wrote: »That's not true. It's harder to build muscle at a calorie deficit, but absolutely possible. You just have to make sure that you're nourishing yourself properly, getting enough protein, etc. This is a good article explaining how it's possible. Gain Muscle and Lose Fat At the Same Time
+1 to this.
You absolutely can gain muscle while loosing fat at the same time. In fact as a beginner to intermediate lifter you will see good to excellent gains in building lean muscle mass. Having been a gym rat for many years the article mentioned is absolutely correct. By adjusting your diet to the correct amount of protein intake as well as providing it a greater amount of important amino acids to give your muscles what it needs to build and repair themselves. You will also need to adjust to eating 5-6 times a day so the brain will not think it is starving and start converting muscles into energy as well as turning what you eat into fat. If you do not eat more frequently the brain does this because it is telling the body it is starving so it attempts to build a reserve energy source. The idea that you have to bulk first and cut second is an outdated regimen for anybody that is not already below the 8% body fat percentage.
It will take some time for you to adjust to the new eating routine, though the results in the end will be worth it. As a woman you will not see the same amount of muscle gains that a man would so you will not need to worry about the "bulking up" misconception. You will however see just as much fat being lost which will allow you to see the more defined muscle underneath just as quickly. You are essentially performing a body re-composition so at some point you may see a stall in the numbers on the scale. Do not let this alarm you or stop you. Muscle is much denser than fat and therefore it takes a greater amount of fat to equal 1lb than it takes in muscle to equal the same 1lb of weight. Think a pound of feathers versus a pound of steel. They both weigh a 1lb however it takes far more feathers by volume to equal that pound.
Good Luck and Keep Lifting!
this is all very encouraging!
i do want to ask, though, about the 6 meals a day. i know a lot of bodybuilders do it, but i thought the consensus was now that the timing and number of meals largely makes no difference for most people?0 -
@tomatoey The number of meals will depend more on the intensity of your training, how often a day you're training, how long you're training and your own metabolism. Though timing will also have its factor too. If your goal is just to maintain what muscle you have then the same amount of calories spread over 6 meals may not be needed, just adjust meal timing to maximize recovery. However the proper amount of proteins and amino acids will be still be needed to keep from losing any muscle you already have. If you are trying gain and are not going very high intensity or spending more than an hour training adjust your meals accordingly and see if that works for you. If you find that even though you are not going high intensity and still not gaining the muscle or are losing ground then start adding a meal into your schedule. Another point is that eating protein as part of a recovery snack/meal will also help in the gain/retain department. Keep in mind that some people may still need more than the 3 meals a day due to metabolism and you still need to be able to maintain good energy levels at your daily job.
When it comes to meals for me, depending on my goals at the time, if I was attempting to get maximum gain of new muscle I needed 6 or more meals. This is because I was training more than once a day and for more than an hour. If I was just trying to gain some muscle and keep myself from gaining fat then I could get by with 4 or 5 adjusted to the time of my workouts and need for recovery nutrition. This was because I was only training once a day, though still for more than an hour.
Keep in mind that regardless of what type of training you are doing, be it cardio or weights, if you're training goes for longer than 1 hour at a time, you will need to eat in order to maintain performance level. If you do not consume some form of food that can be converted to energy rather quickly as well as sustain the energy you are expending you will bonk/hit the wall. I can not currently lift, at least not until my recovery is much further along, yet I still ride for more than 1 hour and sometime up to 3 hours at a time. While some might call these just snacks, since they are more than just a single energy bar, I usually eat a nutrition bar, a piece or two of fruit and a handful or two of trail mix at each hour mark. I count this as a meal. I also eat a protein heavy meal after the rides to help the muscles used in their recovery. This may be where the meal as a full blown meal multiple times a day is not a requirement comes from that you mentioned. It is more a matter of adjusting what you need to consume to meet your energy requirements throughout the day and during your training into smaller portions is more important.
On another note I am not a proponent of energy bars, I prefer a nutritional bar. The difference being is an energy bar is really nothing more than a bunch of sugar/glucose and the body under heavy exertion needs more than that to sustain good output. A nutritional bar contains some sugars that can be converted quickly and they also contain protein and other nutrients to help out in sustaining performance. Though, to each their own.
Hope that helps answer your question.0 -
Thank you - very informative reply!0
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Both thanks & you're welcome.0
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DesertGunR wrote: »That's not true. It's harder to build muscle at a calorie deficit, but absolutely possible. You just have to make sure that you're nourishing yourself properly, getting enough protein, etc. This is a good article explaining how it's possible. Gain Muscle and Lose Fat At the Same Time
+1 to this.
You absolutely can gain muscle while loosing fat at the same time. In fact as a beginner to intermediate lifter you will see good to excellent gains in building lean muscle mass. Having been a gym rat for many years the article mentioned is absolutely correct. By adjusting your diet to the correct amount of protein intake as well as providing it a greater amount of important amino acids to give your muscles what it needs to build and repair themselves. You will also need to adjust to eating 5-6 times a day so the brain will not think it is starving and start converting muscles into energy as well as turning what you eat into fat. If you do not eat more frequently the brain does this because it is telling the body it is starving so it attempts to build a reserve energy source. The idea that you have to bulk first and cut second is an outdated regimen for anybody that is not already below the 8% body fat percentage.
It will take some time for you to adjust to the new eating routine, though the results in the end will be worth it. As a woman you will not see the same amount of muscle gains that a man would so you will not need to worry about the "bulking up" misconception. You will however see just as much fat being lost which will allow you to see the more defined muscle underneath just as quickly. You are essentially performing a body re-composition so at some point you may see a stall in the numbers on the scale. Do not let this alarm you or stop you. Muscle is much denser than fat and therefore it takes a greater amount of fat to equal 1lb than it takes in muscle to equal the same 1lb of weight. Think a pound of feathers versus a pound of steel. They both weigh a 1lb however it takes far more feathers by volume to equal that pound.
Good Luck and Keep Lifting!
this is all very encouraging!
i do want to ask, though, about the 6 meals a day. i know a lot of bodybuilders do it, but i thought the consensus was now that the timing and number of meals largely makes no difference for most people?
http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/50 -
I just wanted to add what might or might not be obvious: to get stronger. Your muscles can get stronger without building mass by neuromuscular adaptation. I know this isn't an aesthetics reason, but there are tons of benefits (psychological, physical, practical) to being stronger.
And seconding the preserving muscle mass as you lose thing -- very beneficial, both to your end look and your end maintenance (you may get a higher calorie target if you have more muscle on your frame than you would have otherwise).0 -
While you cannot gain muscle mass in a caloric deficit; you can still increase strength and preserve whatever muscle you have.0
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DesertGunR wrote: »That's not true. It's harder to build muscle at a calorie deficit, but absolutely possible. You just have to make sure that you're nourishing yourself properly, getting enough protein, etc. This is a good article explaining how it's possible. Gain Muscle and Lose Fat At the Same Time
+1 to this.
You absolutely can gain muscle while loosing fat at the same time. In fact as a beginner to intermediate lifter you will see good to excellent gains in building lean muscle mass. Having been a gym rat for many years the article mentioned is absolutely correct. By adjusting your diet to the correct amount of protein intake as well as providing it a greater amount of important amino acids to give your muscles what it needs to build and repair themselves. You will also need to adjust to eating 5-6 times a day so the brain will not think it is starving and start converting muscles into energy as well as turning what you eat into fat. If you do not eat more frequently the brain does this because it is telling the body it is starving so it attempts to build a reserve energy source. The idea that you have to bulk first and cut second is an outdated regimen for anybody that is not already below the 8% body fat percentage.
It will take some time for you to adjust to the new eating routine, though the results in the end will be worth it. As a woman you will not see the same amount of muscle gains that a man would so you will not need to worry about the "bulking up" misconception. You will however see just as much fat being lost which will allow you to see the more defined muscle underneath just as quickly. You are essentially performing a body re-composition so at some point you may see a stall in the numbers on the scale. Do not let this alarm you or stop you. Muscle is much denser than fat and therefore it takes a greater amount of fat to equal 1lb than it takes in muscle to equal the same 1lb of weight. Think a pound of feathers versus a pound of steel. They both weigh a 1lb however it takes far more feathers by volume to equal that pound.
Good Luck and Keep Lifting!
this is all very encouraging!
i do want to ask, though, about the 6 meals a day. i know a lot of bodybuilders do it, but i thought the consensus was now that the timing and number of meals largely makes no difference for most people?
http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/5
Aha ok, thanks
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