Muscle Growth/Fat Loss

leew88

Hello
Wonder if anyone can help me with my confusion as I have a holiday coming up I want to burn my excess fat in order to see my 6 pack but at the same time I dont want to burn my muscles away and ideally would like to develop my muscles..
Confusion is whenever I am using these TDEE calculators, I am not sure what my goal should be... As there is either fat loss which is a calorie deficit or a muscle gain which is a calorie surplus.. I briefly understand that if you are gaining muscle then fat loss will occur naturally, just aslong as the surplus isnt too great.
Which brings me to the question, what would you suggest be best?
I am 29, Male, 5FT 10.5, 196lbs/14Stone, 20% BF

jemhh

If it were me I'd eat in a deficit at that bf level.

leew88

Me too but cant decide, as mentioned dont want to lose muscle but I guess when building muscle aslong as you dont eat too much to gain fat.. if on deficit, aslong as you dont eat too little you may not lose muscle either? Hm

rileysowner

Eat at a deficit, but don't go higher than 1 pound per week goal. Getting sufficient protein and lifting heavy will minimize muscle loss. When you get lower in body fat, reduce the deficit to half a pound a week and continue with the protein and lifting.

jemhh

leew88 wrote: »

Me too but cant decide, as mentioned dont want to lose muscle but I guess when building muscle aslong as you dont eat too much to gain fat.. if on deficit, aslong as you dont eat too little you may not lose muscle either? Hm

If you eat sufficient protein and continue to do resistance exercise at the same intensity, your muscle loss will be minimal. If you want a flatter stomach by vacation, you need to cut. You have too much fat for any other option.

leew88

Just read this article, seems to make sense.
http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/
BMR is 1979 @ 3-5workouts a week TDEE is 3068, 10% calorie deficit as suggested is 2761.
Still seems fairly high.. especially when doing macros as its telling me to eat 1g per lb bodyweight in protein, no higher than 30% fat.. so the rest has to be carbs which seems high

jemhh

Pick a calorie level, eat it for 4 weeks, and adjust up or down based on results. That's my normal advice.

When is your vacation? 20% bf with a 10% deficit is not going to get you to visible abs very soon.

LonsyBoy

My opinion with shred + muscle retention is;

- Reduce calorie intake just below average
- Keep protein high and drop carbs low
- Cardio is a daily ritual (30mins medium inclines)
- Heavy reps (10-12) with sets to failure

Cardio + calorie/carb reduction will shred excess water + fat off (vein show)
Protein helps muscle retention/growth

People here will disagree heavily... get onto some bodybuilding forums and the tips and tricks will reflect my suggestions ^^^

few weeks of hard shred and work will show the results

trigden1991

At 20% bodyfat as a male you are overweright. It is also likely that you are underestimating how much fat you are carrying!

Work out your TDEE, subtract 500 calories, eat about 160g of protein and lift weights.

leew88

Ya'll making me feel obese saying how high 20% BF is haha
I am far from obese and can already see some definition on my stomach... 20% value has come from the tanita scales... probably not accurate, I do have fat I want to lose but I am definitely not fat

jemhh

leew88 wrote: »

Ya'll making me feel obese saying how high 20% BF is haha
I am far from obese and can already see some definition on my stomach... 20% value has come from the tanita scales... probably not accurate, I do have fat I want to lose but I am definitely not fat

Don't get your feelings hurt about it. It's not obese but reality is that 20% high fat if your goal is visible abs. In general, people underestimate the amount of fat they need to lose in order to achieve the look they want. Then they end up getting discouraged when they don't meet their goal on their timeline. It's better to be realistic. At 20% bf, hands down the best choice is to focus on losing fat. If you want to post a picture the guys who've posted so far can probably give you a better idea of your actual bf and whether or not they still think you should focus on that. (I bow out at that point as I am terrible at visual estimates.)

leew88

I already have semi visible abs at 20% BF, Im either not 20% BF or you guys are mistaken at how apparently fat 20% body fat is...... maybe abit of both, 8-20% is the recommended BF for males

leew88

jemhh wrote: »

leew88 wrote: »

Ya'll making me feel obese saying how high 20% BF is haha
I am far from obese and can already see some definition on my stomach... 20% value has come from the tanita scales... probably not accurate, I do have fat I want to lose but I am definitely not fat

Don't get your feelings hurt about it. It's not obese but reality is that 20% high fat if your goal is visible abs. In general, people underestimate the amount of fat they need to lose in order to achieve the look they want. Then they end up getting discouraged when they don't meet their goal on their timeline. It's better to be realistic. At 20% bf, hands down the best choice is to focus on losing fat. If you want to post a picture the guys who've posted so far can probably give you a better idea of your actual bf and whether or not they still think you should focus on that. (I bow out at that point as I am terrible at visual estimates.)

Nah its cool, I am going to do a deficit thats for sure, not surplus. Made my decision there, thats all I was asking really and you all helped with that choice
So thanks

jemhh

leew88 wrote: »

I already have semi visible abs at 20% BF, Im either not 20% BF or you guys are mistaken at how apparently fat 20% body fat is...... maybe abit of both, 8-20% is the recommended BF for males

Your quoted range has 20% as the upper limit, which means it would be "just this side of overfat." When you see a guy with visible abs, or what you refer to as a 6-pack, is he only slightly less than overfat or very lean?

psuLemon

The percentage at which get abs is largely going to depend on where you store your fat. But like others said, have a slight deficit, moderator protein and a good progressive overload lifting program, like found in the below.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

psuLemon

LonsyBoy wrote: »

My opinion with shred + muscle retention is;

- Reduce calorie intake just below average
- Keep protein high and drop carbs low
- Cardio is a daily ritual (30mins medium inclines)
- Heavy reps (10-12) with sets to failure

Cardio + calorie/carb reduction will shred excess water + fat off (vein show)
Protein helps muscle retention/growth

People here will disagree heavily... get onto some bodybuilding forums and the tips and tricks will reflect my suggestions ^^^

few weeks of hard shred and work will show the results

Why would you keep carbs low if you are looking to gain muscle? Carbs are anticatabolic and prevent protein degradation/breakdown? Going low carb is more of a technique to shed water to make your muscles look grainy precontest prep. It also can make it harder to increase loads while lifting (especially if you aren't "supplemented").

If you actually look at LCHF studies, they generally support the assertion of muscle retention, but don't support muscle growth.

And rep range isn't as important as total volume. Muscle gains have been shown in a few recent studies to be equal whether or not you did 7x3 or 3x7.