Weight loss and muscle gain ?

Lynnmi07
Lynnmi07 Posts: 131 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I have a good 75lbs to lose before I'm in the healthy weight range. I have no butt, never have, even when I was in great shape and athletic. So now as I'm losing weight I would like to do exercises to try and gain some muscle in my glutes so I don't have such a flat butt. So my question comes in because I frequently see it posted that you can't gain muscle while losing weight. So am I really going to have to wait to deal with the flat butt issue until I reach my goal weight or can I do lots of exercises targeted towards my glutes and see some progress even though I'm eating lower calories. If it is possible any recommendations?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited November 2015
    look at a program called Strong Curves...

    that said, when you diet and lose fat, you're going to also lose muscle mass...doing resistance training and maintaining a reasonable energy deficit will mitigate the loss of muscle mass, but loss of muscle mass when dieting just comes with the territory.

    building muscle requires a substantial amount of energy...muscle is an expensive commodity. when you're dieting, you're taking in less energy (calories) than your body requires to function optimally...fat and some muscle is burned to make up for that energy deficiency...when you diet you are in a catabolic state and building muscle requires you to be in an anabolic state (i.e. consuming more energy than your body would generally require)...your body can't build something from nothing and can't really be catabolic and anabolic at the same time.

    if you do the work to maintain your muscle mass though, that muscle will start to show as you cut fat...this often gives the visual of more muscle and being "toned"..."toning" is simply cutting the fat and revealing the muscle underneath...but you obviously have to do something to preserve that muscle to be able to ultimately show it off.

    also keep in mind that the flat butt thing may just be genetic...I know plenty of people who workout and lift, etc and don't have much of a booty...a lot of this kind of stuff is simply genetics. If I had to wager though, I'd say that preserving the muscle you have and cutting the fat is going to result in more pronounced glutes among other things.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    You can't really gain muscle in a deficit but you can work the muscle you already have in your butt. I'd look up a lifting programme for beginners, squat lifts are great for lifting your butt.
  • thereshegoesagain
    thereshegoesagain Posts: 1,056 Member
    So if I can't gain muscle while losing weight, why am I able to lift more weight when using my free weights? I'm so confused...
  • DumbbellHell
    DumbbellHell Posts: 13 Member
    thereshegoesagain wrote: »
    So if I can't gain muscle while losing weight, why am I able to lift more weight when using my free weights? I'm so confused...

    Because you are gaining muscle. Just very very slowly. I have been on a diet the last year and my biceps are 1 inch bigger (in circumference from 11 in to 12) since my Progress Pic in Jan 2015. But that is very slow progress.
  • Azexas
    Azexas Posts: 4,334 Member
    edited November 2015
    thereshegoesagain wrote: »
    So if I can't gain muscle while losing weight, why am I able to lift more weight when using my free weights? I'm so confused...

    It's my understanding that you are strengthening the muscle you already have, not building more muscle. You can build some muscle in the beginning sometimes referred to as "newbie" gains. But you aren't going to build significant muscle in a calorie deficit.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited November 2015
    thereshegoesagain wrote: »
    So if I can't gain muscle while losing weight, why am I able to lift more weight when using my free weights? I'm so confused...

    you can make considerable gains in strength without adding muscle mass...when you start lifting, you recruit existing muscle fibers that weren't efficiently being utilized previously and your CNS adapts to the load. making strength gains =/= gaining muscle mass.

    google CNS adaptation...
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited November 2015
    thereshegoesagain wrote: »
    So if I can't gain muscle while losing weight, why am I able to lift more weight when using my free weights? I'm so confused...

    @thereshegoesagain
    Most of that is your nervous system getting better at firing off the muscles fibres (neuromuscular adaptation) but also your technique and confidence will be improving. So probably not new muscle - just using the existing muscle better.

    But to say everyone can't gain muscle at a deficit is a gross exaggeration. Depends where you are starting from, your history, size of deficit, genetics etc. etc.
    People's results if they do all the right things (including strength training) in a deficit will vary from minimising muscle loss to possibly gaining some muscle.

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