Weightlifting/recomp questions

amyk0202

I had the worst year ever last year & spent much of it with my old friend Comfort Food, so right now I am back to eating in a deficit to get rid of the ugly consequences. I am also recovering from an umbilical hernia repair so I cannot begin lifting right now, but I do have some questions.

I have been reading some of the recomposition threads & want to verify that I understand the concepts:
1) You cannot make significant gains in muscle while eating at a deficit, but you may make "newbie" gains and you may also retain water which could appear like you are gaining muscle.
2) You should still lift while eating at a deficit to try to preserve as much muscle as possible.
3) You can eat at maintenance and do a progressive program like SL 5X5 or NROLFW and do a slow recomp, or do a bulk/cut & get there faster.
4) If you are lifting heavy, you do not need to do any cardio in order to lose body fat (just to improve heart/lungs)

Before I went off kilter, my husband & I had just learned how to do the SL 5X5 program with a trainer & I like it. It's simple & fast. I want to start it again when I have clearance from my surgeon.

5) Before, I maintained for 2 years on 1430 calories a day. I plan on going back to this once I get back to my goal of 150 lbs. How will I know if that is enough calories once I start lifting?

6) I was pretty happy at 150 lbs before I regained. I would mainly like to take some inches off my waist, try to fill in some of my loose bat-wing skin, & see if lifting will help with the strange area that stretches along the sides of my breasts to my melting candle back. Once I get to a point where I'm happy, can I just stay at those weights & lift that amount forever & maintain? Do I HAVE to keep increasing to keep where I am?

SideSteel

You've basically got it correct for the most part.

Eventually if you end up satisfied with your strength levels and your physique you could theoretically maintain your physique by maintaining gym progress and eating around maintenance intake.

robertw486

amyk0202 wrote: »

4) If you are lifting heavy, you do not need to do any cardio in order to lose body fat (just to improve heart/lungs)

This is the only one that I personally don't agree with. I've never been around anyone that didn't get leaner by adding some cardio type workouts. If eating at maintenance, I'd increase enough to account for some of the cardio nutrition needed and not go nuts on the cardio if lifting big.

I also think the "lifting heavy" term is over used myself when it comes to building. I've known people that lifted at lower weights doing circuit type stuff to build and incorporate cardio, and they still build muscle fairly well.

nordlead2005

robertw486 wrote: »

amyk0202 wrote: »

4) If you are lifting heavy, you do not need to do any cardio in order to lose body fat (just to improve heart/lungs)

This is the only one that I personally don't agree with. I've never been around anyone that didn't get leaner by adding some cardio type workouts. If eating at maintenance, I'd increase enough to account for some of the cardio nutrition needed and not go nuts on the cardio if lifting big.

I also think the "lifting heavy" term is over used myself when it comes to building. I've known people that lifted at lower weights doing circuit type stuff to build and incorporate cardio, and they still build muscle fairly well.

Funny, I disagree with #4 for a different reason. Its that no lifting or cardio is required to lose fat. You may not know anyone, but the science doesn't agree with you. I can also point you to all sorts of threads where people said "I've been exercising for 10 weeks and gained 10lb" (or something similar). Its the calorie deficit that matters, how you create it doesn't really matter. Cardio often works because it burns a lot of calories in a short amount of time, but it isn't that hard to out eat the calorie burn rate. I personally eat back all of my cardio/weight lifting calories, so cardio isn't helping me lose weight at all, since I'd still eat at a deficit even if I didn't exercise.

#5, I'd really double check your calorie counting. I'm guessing you don't weigh your food or you were sneaking things in without accounting for them. A quick estimate says that at 5'2" and 150lb you should eat ~1750 to maintain for a lightly active person. 1430 comes out to less than a sedentary person requires.

robertw486

nordlead2005 wrote: »

robertw486 wrote: »

amyk0202 wrote: »

4) If you are lifting heavy, you do not need to do any cardio in order to lose body fat (just to improve heart/lungs)

This is the only one that I personally don't agree with. I've never been around anyone that didn't get leaner by adding some cardio type workouts. If eating at maintenance, I'd increase enough to account for some of the cardio nutrition needed and not go nuts on the cardio if lifting big.

I also think the "lifting heavy" term is over used myself when it comes to building. I've known people that lifted at lower weights doing circuit type stuff to build and incorporate cardio, and they still build muscle fairly well.

Funny, I disagree with #4 for a different reason. Its that no lifting or cardio is required to lose fat. You may not know anyone, but the science doesn't agree with you. I can also point you to all sorts of threads where people said "I've been exercising for 10 weeks and gained 10lb" (or something similar). Its the calorie deficit that matters, how you create it doesn't really matter. Cardio often works because it burns a lot of calories in a short amount of time, but it isn't that hard to out eat the calorie burn rate. I personally eat back all of my cardio/weight lifting calories, so cardio isn't helping me lose weight at all, since I'd still eat at a deficit even if I didn't exercise.

I think it's a matter of wording, but I agree with the deficit. That's why I stated to only account for increasing the eating over maintenance to account for some of the cardio. Being it's a lifting/recomp question and not only looking for loss, I was simply suggesting increasing deficit through some cardio, most likely on the non lifting days.

sijomial

3) is very much a generalisation regarding speed. Some people will recomp quickly, some very slowly (some not at all probably!). Bulk/cut cycles don't actually work very well or faster for everyone, even some people with advanced physique goals or training status. Worth a read - http://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/
The program you choose should suit you because of your enjoyment of it and your training status rather than a blanket 5x5 program for everyone. Does seem exactly the right choice for you though.

4) is strictly true but don't think of "cardio" as just for fat reduction. Think fitness & health. Cardio can also be complimentary to a lifting routine.

5) your maintenance calories seem very low. Lifting isn't a big calorie burner. You judge your calorie needs based on weight change over time.

amyk0202

Thanks everyone for your answers! I mainly want to get back to my maintenance weight, do some recomposition & then just stay there. I don't really enjoy exercise but I know it's important for my health so I'm looking for the easiest, fastest way to get it in. I seem to go through phases with exercise where I do it for a while & then I stop because I hate it. I'm just looking for something that I will keep up with. I know that I liked weight lifting way better than cardio. The only cardio I do really like is zumba, but my knees do not. I read that weight lifting can actually help with bad knees so we'll see. I don't rely on exercise at all for weight loss or I'd still be morbidly obese.

As far as my maintenance calories of 1430, they really aren't that low for my age & height. When I run my #'s through the Scooby calculator, I get 1551 to maintain. When I use the IIFYM calculator, I get a TDEE of 1483. When I use the calculator on acaloriecounter.com, I get TDEE of 1548. I am sedentary & that's how I run the calculations. When it all boils down, these numbers are estimates, a starting point. I maintained for years eating 1430.

There's no mystery about why I regained weight. I wasn't off in my logging. I stopped logging. I stopped taking care of myself. If I don't log everything that I eat, I gain weight.

@sijomial Thanks for that article. It just reaffirms that the bulk/cut cycle is definitely not for me. I'll just eat at maintenance & lift. If things happen, great. If not, I was still pretty happy before.

alizesmom

I, too, appreciate all of the information. My goal is to strengthen muscle while continuing to lose fat. At this point I don't care about building and defining. Is this a healthy ting to do?

cmasongreen

I too have started SL 5x5 and I love it. My only question is, even on the days where I'm resting, should I still be striving to get the same amount of carbs, fats, and proteins that I get on days that I do work out? I have them set at 40/30/30 and it can be difficult to hit those (especially protein), so I wasn't sure if that was an everyday thing or not.

Thanks!