When to start gaining

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dcturcotte
dcturcotte Posts: 59
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey everyone,
I've been going to the gym for about 3 months steady and really watching my calorie intake I'm male about 5,5 and weighed 175lbs at the time, my goal was/is to lose my belly and some excess fat to strengthen my core (I was thinking about 15lbs) and then start packing on some muscle and bring my weight back up 20 - 30 lbs. As of today I've lost 20lbs which is more then I expected (or wanted) but I still have some stomache flab. What I'm wondering is should I try to lose a bit more body fat before I really start building muscle? Or is this the time to start hardcore hitting the weights and maybe slightly increasing my diet to feed my muscles? I'm thinking maybe the last of the flab will go when my muscle mass increases? My goal is to weigh between 175 - 185lbs so pretty much be where I was at or maybe a little more but radically change my body composition.

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  • ANewLucia
    ANewLucia Posts: 2,081 Member
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    Yes, start your weight lifting regimen because muscles burn fat, but you should also continue a cardio program to burn off that fat as well. You don't sound like you need to loose any more weight perse, just that fat.
  • jlewis2896
    jlewis2896 Posts: 763 Member
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    I'd say start hitting the weights -- that extra muscle will help you burn fat. You can increase your calorie intake, but make sure you focus on protein -- if you're wanting to bulk up on just muscle, you don't want to just increase your fat/carb calories. Maybe go in and manually adjust your protein intake %??
  • thedreamhazer
    thedreamhazer Posts: 1,156 Member
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    What the others said-- theirs no reason to put off the weights, although you should probably continue doing some cardio as well. Don't rely on the scale to tell you how you're doing, since you'll be losing fat and gaining muscle so it'll be hard to say what the number on the scale means.
  • dcturcotte
    dcturcotte Posts: 59
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    Thanks everyone,
    I've been taking a protein shake before my workouts and eating a lot of lean meats (and some red) to keep my muscle mass intact while losing weight. I didn't expect to lose this much weight I kind of surprised myself. I've been doing weights the last few months but haven't been giving it 110%. But I think now is the time to really kick it into high gear and start pushing myself on the weights and kick my diet up a bit. Also planning to keep up the cardio

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