Simultaneously Gaining and Losing?

YourLittleFitPal

Hi! I just downloaded this app today and I'm wondering if anyone can suggest a good macronutrient ratio for gaining muscle while still losing fat? (if that's possible)

I recently lost 80 lbs within less than a year (from august 2015 - may 2016). Now, I want to build more muscle, i'm doing 2 hours of strength training a day, 6 times a week,
but I'm hesitant to eat/have a calorie surplus because I'm afraid of gaining back the weight (from fat) that I worked so hard to lose. Hope someone can help!

SCoil123

If you are not looking to lose more weight than I'd suggest eating at maintenance instead of surplus and doing body recomposition through training

SideSteel

Congrats on your losses so far!

Generally speaking, and this is really somewhat vague but this is probably a reasonable starting place for you:

1) Make sure your training program is intelligently designed and you're getting stronger, methodically, over time. If it's just a list of exercises with sets and reps but no defined progression from week to week and/or month to month, it's probably crap.

Training performance matters a LOT. It's the stimulus that provides the need for adaptation to occur.

2) I would set your calories roughly to maintenance. You've lost 80lbs so I'll assume you've got a good handle on maintenance calories.

3) I would set your protein to about 1g/lb bodyweight. I would set fats somewhere around .3 to .4g/lb bodyweight or around 25-35% total calories. I would stick the remaining calories in carbohydrates.

I would time your meals primarily around adherence and training performance. Beyond that, if you can do so without compromising performance I would then make sure that you're at least somewhat evenly distributing protein into about 3 or 4 doses per day. I would attempt to get some protein within a couple of hours on both ends of the training bout. These latter points are much less important than the numbered items on the list but still worth mentioning if you can do these things without compromising adherence/performance.

trigden1991

"Re-comping" is a very slow process and requires meticulous tracking/planning. Personally I would reduce bodyfat until you are happy then slowly add calories to build muscle.

sardelsa

Congrats you look fantastic!

I would also recommend recomping especially if you are hesitant to bulk. @SideSteel made some solid guidelines in his post.
Deliberately eating in surplus to gain can a very scary process for some. I think it's something you can consider in the future but you have to be mentally ready for it for sure.

trigden1991 wrote: »

"Re-comping" is a very slow process and requires meticulous tracking/planning. Personally I would reduce bodyfat until you are happy then slowly add calories to build muscle.

Can you explain this? I keep reading that nutrition has to be on point when recomping. I am currently recomping but not tracking anything. Am I missing something?

sijomial

trigden1991 wrote: »

"Re-comping" is a very slow process and requires meticulous tracking/planning. Personally I would reduce bodyfat until you are happy then slowly add calories to build muscle.

@trigden1991
No it's actually not "very slow" for everyone and you don't have to be meticulous in your tracking - that's a choice for optimal results and speed but by no means "required".

Recomp is just the body's natural reaction to a training stimulus and supported by an adequate diet, doesn't have to be any more complex than that.

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@YourLittleFitPal
Great post from SideSteel up-thread.

Well done on your remarkable progress to date.

Worth a read or skimming this thread if you want to see other people's recomp experience....

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

cgvet37

One suggestion, back off the weight training a bit. Two hours a day is overkill. Quality over quantity.