Maintaining weight while losing inches

peteryorkston

I'm 6' about 200#
I usually weigh in at 180, but went on a mission to gain, while accomplishing that (eating everything in sight, soda, sugar all the good stuff), I started to lose my abs (imagine that), and buy bigger jeans. Now my goal is to maintain the muscle and weight while dropping my fluff. Any pointers would be appreciated. I will also gladly answer any questions.

Protranser

If you're trying to reduce your overall bodyfat %, you need to be in a calorie deficit.
If you were doing some form of strength training when you were going from 180 to 200 you'll have put on some muscle mass.

A calorie deficit will allow you to reduce your bodyfat and keep more of the muscle gained, you will probably want to continue your strength training while in a reasonable calorie deficit. A reasonable deficit will preserve more of your lean body mass while you lose weight. An unreasonably high deficit will cause you to lose weight faster, more of it from lean body mass loss.

I'm not an expert by any means, but this is what I understand of what I've read on these forums so far.

I think that covers it. I'm sure someone will correct me if I had it wrong somewhere. Good luck!

sijomial

Recomp.
Eat at (or around) maintenance calories and lift heavy. Can be as simple as that.
There are plans that involve calorie cycling but that's optional.

Hamez_UK

I've heard that Cut/Bulk cycles are a lot more effective (and quicker) than a Recomp. I'm still cutting though, it's a long process...

sijomial

Hamez_UK wrote: »

I've heard that Cut/Bulk cycles are a lot more effective (and quicker) than a Recomp. I'm still cutting though, it's a long process...

@Hamez_UK
That's one of those "for who?" questions.
Just as recomp isn't the right, best or fastest answer for everyone to gain muscle and lose fat neither are cut/bulk cycles.

So for me as an old fart with 40+ years training my potential rate of muscle gain is glacial. So a bulk would really just mean getting fat. Would also mess up my cycling performance.

At the other end of the spectrum young males with few training years currently at their ideal weight would "probably" are best to recomp first and see if that get them to their goal.

Some people also have a very poor ratio of fat/muscle gain in a bulk (genetic or training issues). Or simply want to look good all the time. It's very goal dependant.

This is worth a read....

http://bretcontreras.com/to-bulk-and-cut-or-not/

arditarose

Yep, do the recomp if you have the patience. It doesn't hurt to try.