Lose fat but maintain muscle
DJayT13
Posts: 13 Member
Hi! I'm new on here and I'm wondering if someone could help me out! I'm a 20 year old, 202lb male. I'm active, I workout 4 days a week with heavy weights, but I want my abs to be more defined. I don't want to lose weight, but body fat. I know to burn fat but keep muscle I have to eat more protein and create a calorie deficit, but can someone help put me in the right track??
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Replies
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With losing fat we also lose a bit of muscle as well, that can't be helped, the more protein you eat that will help retain the muscle you already have though. To lose fat we have to eat at deficit. If you're working with heavy weights that will already help you retain muscle and build more.
How long have you been lifting? losing fat rather than weight is a lengthy process.
Hope you get a lot of good answers, I don't know enough about it myself, I just can pass on what I've experienced myself. I'm 7 months into a recomp, I'm seeing defination everywhere apart from my lower abs but in time I firmly believe I will lose the fat from there too.2 -
I'm trying to do the same
was told to do HIIT workouts on treadmill or eleptical stair master or sprints and still lift heavy find that balance for your body to much cardio for me I started losing the muscle so I do a lot of my cardio in my weight training for example box jumps good luck ! 0 -
What @RunRutheeRun said.0
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I'm in a similar situation. I got stuck for a few weeks and then changed my diet/exercise and have seen massive gains and changes in body composition over 4 weeks. here's what i did: 5 days a week of HIIT- 2 boot camp classes, two days on the treadmill (30 min each), one outdoor interval workout. I am no longer doing steady state cardio. I'm eating 100gm+ of protein every day and have cut the fat and carb calories way back, I also no longer eat white foods at all. I'm also carb cycling, so 5 days a week I eat 35% Protein/33% carb/ 32% fat; 2 days a week (in a row) i eat 28% protein/59% carb/13% fat. The goal is to keep your protein up so you can feed the gains.0
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Hi! I'm new on here and I'm wondering if someone could help me out! I'm a 20 year old, 202lb male. I'm active, I workout 4 days a week with heavy weights, but I want my abs to be more defined. I don't want to lose weight, but body fat. I know to burn fat but keep muscle I have to eat more protein and create a calorie deficit, but can someone help put me in the right track??
what program are you following for heavy weights?
compound lifts?
abs are made in the kitchen...to see that definition you need to lose the fat covering them and that is from the calorie deficit.
To keep as much muscle as possible while doing a cut you need to do a progressive load lifting program and eat at least 0.8 grams of protein for each lb of body weight.
How much scale weight are you looking to lose?
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I'm in a similar situation. I got stuck for a few weeks and then changed my diet/exercise and have seen massive gains and changes in body composition over 4 weeks. here's what i did: 5 days a week of HIIT- 2 boot camp classes, two days on the treadmill (30 min each), one outdoor interval workout. I am no longer doing steady state cardio. I'm eating 100gm+ of protein every day and have cut the fat and carb calories way back, I also no longer eat white foods at all. I'm also carb cycling, so 5 days a week I eat 35% Protein/33% carb/ 32% fat; 2 days a week (in a row) i eat 28% protein/59% carb/13% fat. The goal is to keep your protein up so you can feed the gains.
I heard that to lose fat you don't need a lot of cardio cause that drains weight and muscle, it's more about your diet and lifting heavy to get the stressors going. I'm not trying to lose a lot of weight, so I was told to focus more in the kitchen? But can you explain how I find out how much protein, carbs and fat I should be eating? I've heard about this carb cycling I just don't know where to start!0 -
I'm in a similar situation. I got stuck for a few weeks and then changed my diet/exercise and have seen massive gains and changes in body composition over 4 weeks. here's what i did: 5 days a week of HIIT- 2 boot camp classes, two days on the treadmill (30 min each), one outdoor interval workout. I am no longer doing steady state cardio. I'm eating 100gm+ of protein every day and have cut the fat and carb calories way back, I also no longer eat white foods at all. I'm also carb cycling, so 5 days a week I eat 35% Protein/33% carb/ 32% fat; 2 days a week (in a row) i eat 28% protein/59% carb/13% fat. The goal is to keep your protein up so you can feed the gains.
I heard that to lose fat you don't need a lot of cardio cause that drains weight and muscle, it's more about your diet and lifting heavy to get the stressors going. I'm not trying to lose a lot of weight, so I was told to focus more in the kitchen? But can you explain how I find out how much protein, carbs and fat I should be eating? I've heard about this carb cycling I just don't know where to start!
Carb cycling isn't required.
Protein is 0.8 gram per lb of bodyweight.
Fat is 0.35 grams rest are carbs.
cardio is okay if you like it.
AGain what program are you doing now?
Perhaps TDEE-5 or 10% is what you need or recomp.1 -
Hi! I'm new on here and I'm wondering if someone could help me out! I'm a 20 year old, 202lb male. I'm active, I workout 4 days a week with heavy weights, but I want my abs to be more defined. I don't want to lose weight, but body fat. I know to burn fat but keep muscle I have to eat more protein and create a calorie deficit, but can someone help put me in the right track??
what program are you following for heavy weights?
compound lifts?
abs are made in the kitchen...to see that definition you need to lose the fat covering them and that is from the calorie deficit.
To keep as much muscle as possible while doing a cut you need to do a progressive load lifting program and eat at least 0.8 grams of protein for each lb of body weight.
How much scale weight are you looking to lose?
Not much scale weight. I mean if I have to I'll drop to 195 but I don't really want to. A workout buddy of mine told me he lost 2 inches on his waste in a month in a half without losing mass or muscle. Is that possible? I've been lifting since I was a freshman in high school, we did a lot of Olympic lifts for football our coaches were super experienced in that stuff. I've wrote my own workout but to but it's based off the 5x5 for my main lifts and try to go heavier every week for last set. How do I figure out the calorie deficit needed for me?0 -
Hi! I'm new on here and I'm wondering if someone could help me out! I'm a 20 year old, 202lb male. I'm active, I workout 4 days a week with heavy weights, but I want my abs to be more defined. I don't want to lose weight, but body fat. I know to burn fat but keep muscle I have to eat more protein and create a calorie deficit, but can someone help put me in the right track??
what program are you following for heavy weights?
compound lifts?
abs are made in the kitchen...to see that definition you need to lose the fat covering them and that is from the calorie deficit.
To keep as much muscle as possible while doing a cut you need to do a progressive load lifting program and eat at least 0.8 grams of protein for each lb of body weight.
How much scale weight are you looking to lose?
Not much scale weight. I mean if I have to I'll drop to 195 but I don't really want to. A workout buddy of mine told me he lost 2 inches on his waste in a month in a half without losing mass or muscle. Is that possible? I've been lifting since I was a freshman in high school, we did a lot of Olympic lifts for football our coaches were super experienced in that stuff. I've wrote my own workout but to but it's based off the 5x5 for my main lifts and try to go heavier every week for last set. How do I figure out the calorie deficit needed for me?
Not sure I would go with a self made program...but that's me if you are confident have at.
As for calories it's hard to say but you are about the same size as my son who is 6 ft 2 same weigh and close to same age. He trains hard as well.
He maintains on about 3700 a day...so to lose he eats about 3500 as he doesn't want to lose much either.
But either enter stats here into MFP (without exercise) or try
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
ETA: as for losing inches yes...you can lose inches without losing weight happens all the time...recomp.
Building muscle while losing fat.
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Hi! I'm new on here and I'm wondering if someone could help me out! I'm a 20 year old, 202lb male. I'm active, I workout 4 days a week with heavy weights, but I want my abs to be more defined. I don't want to lose weight, but body fat. I know to burn fat but keep muscle I have to eat more protein and create a calorie deficit, but can someone help put me in the right track??
what program are you following for heavy weights?
compound lifts?
abs are made in the kitchen...to see that definition you need to lose the fat covering them and that is from the calorie deficit.
To keep as much muscle as possible while doing a cut you need to do a progressive load lifting program and eat at least 0.8 grams of protein for each lb of body weight.
How much scale weight are you looking to lose?
Not much scale weight. I mean if I have to I'll drop to 195 but I don't really want to. A workout buddy of mine told me he lost 2 inches on his waste in a month in a half without losing mass or muscle. Is that possible? I've been lifting since I was a freshman in high school, we did a lot of Olympic lifts for football our coaches were super experienced in that stuff. I've wrote my own workout but to but it's based off the 5x5 for my main lifts and try to go heavier every week for last set. How do I figure out the calorie deficit needed for me?
Not sure I would go with a self made program...but that's me if you are confident have at.
As for calories it's hard to say but you are about the same size as my son who is 6 ft 2 same weigh and close to same age. He trains hard as well.
He maintains on about 3700 a day...so to lose he eats about 3500 as he doesn't want to lose much either.
But either enter stats here into MFP (without exercise) or try
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
ETA: as for losing inches yes...you can lose inches without losing weight happens all the time...recomp.
Building muscle while losing fat.
Awesome site, thank you! This is just weird because I've never had thought to lose fat/weight. Doing football is just all about gaining strength and weight. I feel I'm in a different world now lol0 -
This is all done in the kitchen. To lose body fat you have to keep your body in a calorie deficit. Given that you lift already you not likely to gain any muscle as you do this. When you are in a deficit your body will take muscle and fat, it's just how it's done. What you can do to minimize this is eat lots of protein. I eat 1.2 grams per pound of protein about the same in carbs and the rest in fats. Weigh your food!!! You need to know exactly what you are putting in your body. I stay in about a 20% calorie deficit, you will figure out over time how much is exactly right for you to lose. Eat lots of protein, lift heavy and you will minimize your muscle loss while you lean out.0
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CasperNaegle wrote: »This is all done in the kitchen. To lose body fat you have to keep your body in a calorie deficit. Given that you lift already you not likely to gain any muscle as you do this. When you are in a deficit your body will take muscle and fat, it's just how it's done. What you can do to minimize this is eat lots of protein. I eat 1.2 grams per pound of protein about the same in carbs and the rest in fats. Weigh your food!!! You need to know exactly what you are putting in your body. I stay in about a 20% calorie deficit, you will figure out over time how much is exactly right for you to lose. Eat lots of protein, lift heavy and you will minimize your muscle loss while you lean out.
why 20% deficit he doesn't want to lose weight? And 20% is for those who have a significant amount to lose...
5 or 10% max.
As well the protein might be a bit high as well as the carbs. Fats are good.0 -
After doing the site you listed, I should maintain 3263 calories a day for 10% deficit. MFP shows 286g carbs/day, 449g protein/day, and 36g fat/day does this sound good? So just stay in these parameters??0
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After doing the site you listed, I should maintain 3263 calories a day for 10% deficit. MFP shows 286g carbs/day, 449g protein/day, and 36g fat/day does this sound good? So just stay in these parameters??
MFP is notoriously low on macros...giving minimum daily requirements.
You can change it to what you want...for example...using 0.8gram of protein for lb of bodyweight for you that is 162 grams of protein..
I eat about 115 so that sounds reasonable for you.
71 grams of fat
Rest carbs.0 -
why 20% deficit he doesn't want to lose weight? And 20% is for those who have a significant amount to lose..
deficit because you have to be in one to lose fat which is the only way he will get his abs to show, lower body fat. I guess I don't see 20% as huge, but he could adjust to whatever fit his lifestyle and plan.
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