Just hit 81 lbs lost and want to maintain/build muscle

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pdwhitlock
pdwhitlock Posts: 83 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Good morning. I hit a weight of 168.4 this weekend. I originally had a goal of 160 lbs but I think I am "skinny" enough. I've been weight lifting, however, I think that due to my small calorie intake, I'm not making the "gains" of weightlifting that most see. Will setting my calories up to maintain my weight help me see the benefits of weight lifting due to more of a calorie intake? Will I still be able to see my fat percentage continue to drop if my weight stays the same? These probably seem like dumb questions just interested to see what some fellow users did to continue on their fitness path after switching to maintenance from weight loss. TIA!

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited October 2015
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    Will setting my calories up to maintain my weight help me see the benefits of weight lifting due to more of a calorie intake?
    Yes. Training performance and recovery are also much better at maintenance.
    Will I still be able to see my fat percentage continue to drop if my weight stays the same?
    Yes. It's commonly called recomp.
    Just hit 81 lbs lost.
    Well done!


  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
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    You can recomp at maint to try to lose fat and replace it with muscle at the same time. This is a very slow process.

    You can bulk at a surplus, if you are trying to gain muscle mass quickly. You will gain both muscle and fat, but if you're careful, can minimize the fat gain.

    Or, you can continue to cut at a deficit, while trying to maintain muscle mass.

    All three of these options benefit from weightlifting, and provide "gains". All depends on which "gain" is your target.
  • mommarnurse
    mommarnurse Posts: 515 Member
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    pmm3437 wrote: »
    You can recomp at maint to try to lose fat and replace it with muscle at the same time. This is a very slow process.

    You can bulk at a surplus, if you are trying to gain muscle mass quickly. You will gain both muscle and fat, but if you're careful, can minimize the fat gain.

    Or, you can continue to cut at a deficit, while trying to maintain muscle mass.

    All three of these options benefit from weightlifting, and provide "gains". All depends on which "gain" is your target.

    Can muscle mass not increase with a deficit?
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    mommarnurse wrote: »
    pmm3437 wrote: »
    You can recomp at maint to try to lose fat and replace it with muscle at the same time. This is a very slow process.

    You can bulk at a surplus, if you are trying to gain muscle mass quickly. You will gain both muscle and fat, but if you're careful, can minimize the fat gain.

    Or, you can continue to cut at a deficit, while trying to maintain muscle mass.

    All three of these options benefit from weightlifting, and provide "gains". All depends on which "gain" is your target.

    Can muscle mass not increase with a deficit?

    You cannot gain any appreciable amount of muscle mass in a calorie deficit. There is an energy cost associated with building muscle so if you are running a net negative in terms of energy, your body will not build muscle. The best you can aim for in a deficit is preserving as much muscle as possible while you lose fat.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited October 2015
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    mommarnurse wrote: »
    pmm3437 wrote: »
    You can recomp at maint to try to lose fat and replace it with muscle at the same time. This is a very slow process.

    You can bulk at a surplus, if you are trying to gain muscle mass quickly. You will gain both muscle and fat, but if you're careful, can minimize the fat gain.

    Or, you can continue to cut at a deficit, while trying to maintain muscle mass.

    All three of these options benefit from weightlifting, and provide "gains". All depends on which "gain" is your target.

    Can muscle mass not increase with a deficit?

    Yes some categories of people can. Helps to be "overfat" and small deficit.
    New to lifing, returning to training after a break, genetically gifted (including just about all young men), a long way from your genetic potential....

    Yes there will be a point where a deficit will make muscle gain impossible but that point will be different for everyone. It sure as hell isn't TDEE -1 calorie for everyone.

    Saying recomp is "a very slow process" is misleading - again it will be different for everyone. It may vary from very quick to virtually impossible.
  • CasperNaegle
    CasperNaegle Posts: 936 Member
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    Congrats on your weight loss.. I am a big fan of lifting heavy and doing compound lifts. It has really helps transform my and my girlfriends bodies. Still working on it!!! Check out Mike Matthews. he has written books and has a website muscleforlife.com that has some great information.
  • lisawinning4losing
    lisawinning4losing Posts: 726 Member
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    Congratulations! I'm kind of in the same boat. Will be following this thread.
  • taco_inspector
    taco_inspector Posts: 7,223 Member
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    @pdwhitlock AWESOME! Great news on your success and that you're transitioning to recomp. Clearly you've putin a lot of effort, and seen your changes -- just great stuff.

    I'm a bit off from moving into recomp myself (still seriously over-fat), but one of the better threads that I've been watching is: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat As with all MFP threads of any value, there's a lot of 'noise' posts, but the guidance and experience in the thread has been quite helpful -- I hope that you also find it valuable.

    Congratulations!
  • megginanderson
    megginanderson Posts: 276 Member
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    pdwhitlock wrote: »
    Good morning. I hit a weight of 168.4 this weekend. I originally had a goal of 160 lbs but I think I am "skinny" enough. I've been weight lifting, however, I think that due to my small calorie intake, I'm not making the "gains" of weightlifting that most see. Will setting my calories up to maintain my weight help me see the benefits of weight lifting due to more of a calorie intake? Will I still be able to see my fat percentage continue to drop if my weight stays the same? These probably seem like dumb questions just interested to see what some fellow users did to continue on their fitness path after switching to maintenance from weight loss. TIA!

    How exciting! me too!
    Im getting ready to build starting in November.
    Excited - we got this!
  • pdwhitlock
    pdwhitlock Posts: 83 Member
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    So to update, I bumped my goals to maintenance from a two lb a week loss and I gained 5 pounds in a week? Omg I'm super stressed I don't want to go back to where I was. So I bumped it to a one pound a week loss and my weight is staying the same. But will I really be limited to 1500 calories a day in order to maintain?!? Need some help
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,732 Member
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    Did you eat an extra 17500 calories during the week you gained the 5 lbs?

    if you did, then maybe the 5lbs are an actual weight gain. if you didn't, then read on!

    if you were low carbing you will see glycogen replenishment and carb (re) loading. You may also have more food going through your system!

    In any case, it sure looks like, you are not using a web site such as www.trendweight.com or www.weightgrapher.com or an app such as Libra for Android or Happy Scale for iphone.

    People have weight levels, not single weight points!

    You need to detect your weight level, not be confounded by single data points that can be influences by hormones (TOM), sodium levels, glycogen state, even whether you are retaining water to repair muscles after intense exercise.

    Using any of the above tools will show you the TREND of your weight changes as opposed to short term changes. Water weight can swing as much as 5lbs in a single day. Actual weight changes are not likely to exceed a half a lb. Guess which one will show up on a scale more easily?
  • pdwhitlock
    pdwhitlock Posts: 83 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Did you eat an extra 17500 calories during the week you gained the 5 lbs?

    if you did, then maybe the 5lbs are an actual weight gain. if you didn't, then read on!

    if you were low carbing you will see glycogen replenishment and carb (re) loading. You may also have more food going through your system!

    In any case, it sure looks like, you are not using a web site such as www.trendweight.com or www.weightgrapher.com or an app such as Libra for Android or Happy Scale for iphone.

    People have weight levels, not single weight points!

    You need to detect your weight level, not be confounded by single data points that can be influences by hormones (TOM), sodium levels, glycogen state, even whether you are retaining water to repair muscles after intense exercise.

    Using any of the above tools will show you the TREND of your weight changes as opposed to short term changes. Water weight can swing as much as 5lbs in a single day. Actual weight changes are not likely to exceed a half a lb. Guess which one will show up on a scale more easily?

    So helpful! I'm going to look into these websites. Thank you for the input

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