Calories, current fat, and gaining.

Jw0287

I'm 6ft 2 178lbs.

I have some fat on my stomach / abs but I can still see my abs. Not as good as I could when I was thinner.

If I eat 3400 cals on most days and 3000 on non lift days will I burn any of that fat?

Possible to burn fat and gain? I read about maintenance / recomp.

What about those that are like 250lbs high fat content. Will they use the fat energy with protein to make muscle?

I'm 29.

Jw0287

I say 3400 cals cuz the app has me at 3050 cals for gaining .5lb per week. I think that is low. I haven't gained anything for a month now. I haven't logged my cals on here often as I have a scale and counter I use at home.

I don't think 3050 is enough. But I have more fat then before

I follow 5x5 string lifts program religiously for 1.5 months and did some elementary lifting before that.

edickson76

Jw0287 wrote: »

I'm 6ft 2 178lbs.

I have some fat on my stomach / abs but I can still see my abs. Not as good as I could when I was thinner.

If I eat 3400 cals on most days and 3000 on non lift days will I burn any of that fat?

Possible to burn fat and gain? I read about maintenance / recomp.

What about those that are like 250lbs high fat content. Will they use the fat energy with protein to make muscle?

I'm 29.

Will you burn some of the belly fat? Sure, some, at some point.

Burn fat and gain? Muscle? Yes.
Burn fat and gain? Weight? Not really. Recomp is a slow process and you aren't really gaining weight or significant muscle mass. If you want faster gains, then the bulk/cut cycle is the way to go, which is what this forum is geared toward. The maintaining forum is more geared toward recomping (I think).

Unsure what you mean in the last question. I'm going with a person who weighs 250lbs and has a high body fat %. No, the fat is not turned into muscle. Yes, the fat stores are stores of energy than can be used to do work (like lifting weights), which, if done properly, would stimulate muscle growth.

As to how much you should eat: if you haven't seen gains at 3050 calories per day, and you want to go the bulk/cut cycle route rather than recomp, you should bump your daily intake up 250 calories and see how that goes for a few weeks. If you want recomp, then stay with 3050 and get some body fat calipers to track your body fat %. You should see a slow trend toward lower percentages.