Building Muscle Losing fat

JLG1111

Hi all. Thanks for your help in advance. Im 5 foot 8, 194 pounds. Im pretty active, work out about 5 days a week and have a desk job. Im confused about my diet. I want to build muscle, but don't want to get HUGE! Question is, how many calories should i really be eating? Heres my workout routine. My workouts consist of heavy lifting and cardio

MONDAY 4 mile jog lunch, chest at night
TUESDAY 4 mile jog lunch, core at night
WEDNESDAY 4 mile jog lunch, back at night
THURSDAY Legs
Friday Off
SATURDAY shoulders and core
SUNDAY OFF

Should i really be eating near 3000 calories??

arditarose

Set MFP to lose, possibly 1 lb per week, continue lifting heavy. If you get some newbie gains, great, but you should expect the scale to move downward and to become smaller. You won't become HUGE in a calorie deficit.

JLG1111

But after a while, can i continue to gain muscle on a calorie deficit? Thank You in advance

arditarose

JLG1111 wrote: »

But after a while, can i continue to gain muscle on a calorie deficit? Thank You in advance

Not likely. If at anytime, you will have more luck in the very beginning. Some beginners have luck building a small amount of muscle in a deficit, but after awhile the "noobie gains" taper off. Muscle building is mostly done at a surplus or maintenance, but strength training is important in a deficit as it will help you maintain lean muscle mass, rather than lose it along with fat.

cityruss

Appreciable gains in muscle mass require surplus calories.

Think of it as building a house. You need the materials there to do it!

SezxyStef

JLG1111 wrote: »

But after a while, can i continue to gain muscle on a calorie deficit? Thank You in advance

Yes but it requires a lot of dedication. You at at maintenance or just slightly below it...continue to do a progressive load lifting program and give yourself lots of time.

This is called a recomp. You will lose fat while building small amounts of muscle.

wheelsjad

You can strengthen/condition the muscle you already have while in deficit, but it is unlikely you will add new muscle

SingingSingleTracker

JLG1111 wrote: »

But after a while, can i continue to gain muscle on a calorie deficit? Thank You in advance

No. It's pretty hard to do even under the best circumstances - and it will be slow as heck. Eat a deficit to lose weight. Eat a surplus to gain weight - including muscle. Most will either bulk the muscle up first by eating a surplus, then lose weight - or they will lose the weight first, and then do the bulk once they have reached their weight goal. Everything I've read says that even under the best training circumstances, gaining 1.8 pounds per month of muscle is about the most anyone can attain. So the actual muscle bulking phase takes a long time. At least compared to the speed at which we can lose weight (1-2 pounds per week).