Building Muscle General Q's

clay0904

This is going to be a bit lengthy and I appreciate any feedback.

First off, I'm 18 year old male, 5'11 167 pounds. I am playing sports currently. I wish to build muscle and reduce fat.

I understand that to help build muscle you need to eat plenty of food. If I'm trying to also burn fat (specifically belly fat to see my abs) what diet specifications should I follow? I've read some places that it is good to eat more carbs than proteins and vice versa. Which would be recommended?

With these goals in mind, should I be eating more, less or about my TDEE?

Also, on days when I have practice/game I will be burning many more calories than off days. My TDEE is more on these days right? So should I be eating more on these days to balance with more activity?

A more general question regarding the calorie suggestion by the app, it asks for how active you usually are and this changes how much calories you should consume. But, it also tracks your walking and other activities. So it's as if this question doesn't matter if it tracks your activity later. So what changes the suggested intake without exercise?

Thanks for the help.

larsminnaar

Cant burn fat in a specific spot. TDEE is the amount of calories or energy you need to live like if you were in a coma. It doesnt change however if you burn more energy youre gonna want to refill that energy with more energy intake. Burning fat and gaining muscle cant be done at the same time. You bulk up to gain mass with the inevitable fat gain and cut to reveal the muscles you trained for. You can try recomping which is if you want to remain the same weight while reducing fat but its a slow process (check the maintaining guides).

StealthHealth

larsminnaar wrote: »

TDEE is the amount of calories or energy you need to live like if you were in a coma.

TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure and takes exercise into account.

JoshuaMcAllister

larsminnaar wrote: »

Cant burn fat in a specific spot. TDEE is the amount of calories or energy you need to live like if you were in a coma. It doesnt change however if you burn more energy youre gonna want to refill that energy with more energy intake. Burning fat and gaining muscle cant be done at the same time. You bulk up to gain mass with the inevitable fat gain and cut to reveal the muscles you trained for. You can try recomping which is if you want to remain the same weight while reducing fat but its a slow process (check the maintaining guides).

This isnt correct, your BMR is the energy used as you describe as " you need to live like if you were in a coma". Your TDEE is the total amount of energy used by your body daily which varies depending on how active you are and what your numbers (statistics) are.

He is right about spot reducing, you can't burn fat in a certain area. If you want to gain muscle, you have to combine a combination of strength training and a calorie surplus. Sadly this comes with a little fat gain. If you want to reduce fat and show your abs, you have to maintain your training and eat at deficit. Its called bulking and cutting, there are loads of threads on the website that will help you with getting an understanding of that.

StealthHealth

Reducing fat and gaining muscle at the same time is very difficult and generally accepted as slower than gaining muscle and then reducing fat. I'd advise you to pick one or the other, focus upon that and then switch. This is a classic bulk, cut cycle.

Vanity may push you in the "cut" direction but your sports performance would probably benefit from a bulk (if it is a strength/speed sport rather than endurance sport).

• To bulk, eat surplus to your TDEE (250 to 500 cals or so)
• To cut, eat less than your TDEE (250 to 500 cals or so)
• With either, you can, if you want to, flex your eating so that you eat more on training days

If I was 18 again (with the massive testosterone levels that you guys have), I'd be stuffing the entire contents of the kitchen into my mouth on a daily basis and lifting heavy weights 4 times a week to build as much muscle as possible and spend 6 -8 weeks prior to my summer holiday cutting - but that's me.

sijomial

larsminnaar wrote: »

Cant burn fat in a specific spot. TDEE is the amount of calories or energy you need to live like if you were in a coma. It doesnt change however if you burn more energy youre gonna want to refill that energy with more energy intake. Burning fat and gaining muscle cant be done at the same time. You bulk up to gain mass with the inevitable fat gain and cut to reveal the muscles you trained for. You can try recomping which is if you want to remain the same weight while reducing fat but its a slow process (check the maintaining guides).

An 18 year old male will be able to recomp very easily and quickly. Especially if new to strength/weight training.

I understand that to help build muscle you need to eat plenty of food

No food doesn't make you build muscle - too little can stop you.

Here's a nice quote from Eric Helms....
“Training is the actual stimulus while nutrition is only permissive to muscle growth. What do I mean by permissive? I mean that nutrition can permit the growth of muscle tissue but it is not the root cause. That is the function of training. “Eating to grow” is a misnomer. All you can do is eat to provide the ideal environment to permit growth. You can train to grow, but you cannot truly eat to grow.”

With these goals in mind, should I be eating more, less or about my TDEE?

Depends if you want to get heavier, lighter or stay the same.

BTW - remember the difference between TDEE and MFP methods is how you account for your exercise calories. Either as an average (TDEE) or on the day (MFP). Make sure you choose your calorie goal according to the method and don't mix the two.

StealthHealth

Suggested macros would be:

• Protein 2.0 to 2.5g per lean mas in kg
• Fat 1.0 to 1.5g per BW in kg
• Carbs the rest up to your calorie allowance/target

Don't worry too much about hitting these exactly.

StealthHealth

sijomial wrote: »

Here's a nice quote from Eric Helms....
“Training is the actual stimulus while nutrition is only permissive to muscle growth. What do I mean by permissive? I mean that nutrition can permit the growth of muscle tissue but it is not the root cause. That is the function of training. “Eating to grow” is a misnomer. All you can do is eat to provide the ideal environment to permit growth. You can train to grow, but you cannot truly eat to grow.”

Nice!

Also worth pointing out that rest and recovery is important for muscle growth. Rippertoe says something along the lines of "You don't get strong from lifting weights, you get strong from RECOVERING from lifting weights".

(I'm aware that I've slipped into muscle growth=strength increases but, generally, after neuromuscular adaptation has leveled out, that is all we have to go on)

larsminnaar

JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »

larsminnaar wrote: »

Cant burn fat in a specific spot. TDEE is the amount of calories or energy you need to live like if you were in a coma. It doesnt change however if you burn more energy youre gonna want to refill that energy with more energy intake. Burning fat and gaining muscle cant be done at the same time. You bulk up to gain mass with the inevitable fat gain and cut to reveal the muscles you trained for. You can try recomping which is if you want to remain the same weight while reducing fat but its a slow process (check the maintaining guides).

This isnt correct, your BMR is the energy used as you describe as " you need to live like if you were in a coma". Your TDEE is the total amount of energy used by your body daily which varies depending on how active you are and what your numbers (statistics) are.

Sorry! misunderstood it myself thanks for the fix

StealthHealth

No prob. We are all here to learn and the terms are pretty confusing.

larsminnaar

Hey stealth i think i have sorta accidentally started recomping when i intended to start my bulk. Lost fat but i can see my muscles growing overtime and am still around the same weight. I feel like I have to gain some weight though to increase my lifts. Eating 3.4k calories without workout and 3.6k with workout though daily. You reckon i should just keep going like this or up calorie intake even more

StealthHealth

There is an old saying:

"if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it"

I think that this applies to you at the moment. If you are seeing gains and losing fat you're golden. Keep going. If this changes in the future consider a tweak to the calories.

I would also strongly recommend that you:

• Weight frequently (avoid responding to peaks and troughs)
• Measure yourself (chest, waist, thighs, maybe bicep - I also measure neck because it is one of areas I put on fat)
• Take some pictures

Use these to monitor your progress.

larsminnaar

StealthHealth wrote: »

There is an old saying:

"if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it"

I think that this applies to you at the moment. If you are seeing gains and losing fat you're golden. Keep going. If this changes in the future consider a tweak to the calories.

I would also strongly recommend that you:

• Weight frequently (avoid responding to peaks and troughs)
• Measure yourself (chest, waist, thighs, maybe bicep - I also measure neck because it is one of areas I put on fat)
• Take some pictures

Use these to monitor your progress.

Doing all those cheers

ninerbuff

larsminnaar wrote: »

Cant burn fat in a specific spot. TDEE is the amount of calories or energy you need to live like if you were in a coma.

Actually that's BMR. TDEE is total daily energy expenditure and if you weren't in a coma it'd be much higher due to daily activity like working, walking to the car, etc.

It doesnt change however if you burn more energy youre gonna want to refill that energy with more energy intake. Burning fat and gaining muscle cant be done at the same time. You bulk up to gain mass with the inevitable fat gain and cut to reveal the muscles you trained for. You can try recomping which is if you want to remain the same weight while reducing fat but its a slow process (check the maintaining guides).

TDEE does change. If you workout with more intensity it goes higher. Same with gaining weight.

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