maintenance toning?

JaydedMiss

so iv been losing weight for almost a year now (95 pounds gone in 11 months tells me i likely lost a fair bit of muscle)

I know from forum surfing you need to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle. However im wondering if i just want to sort of tone and get a little stronger and leaner will i need to eat much above my maintenance or is it possible on maintenance?

im 10-15 pounds off my goal of 125-130 and then i want to swap to toning but im worried mentally how it will effect me and want to plan as soon as possible to make it smoother so i wont freak out and sabotage myself. I have been okay over the past year turning to my weight loss numbers and math as a coping technique and i love it, Accurately predicting and monitoring my bodies natural long/short term sways and Change and how what i do effects them. Its going to be hard on me so i need to plan for it any and all info will be greatly appreciated.

I have found fitbit to be 0.87253 % accurate which puts my maintenance at 2100-2500 a day. I ate 1200-1400 for 9 months and last 2 iv been upping it and my activity i now eat 1400-1700 average which is still a fair bit off my maintenance even. Not sure i can handle a big surplus Iv added very basic muscle exercises to my routine and upped protein alot to atleast sort of get me into a routine and avoid much more muscle loss in the meantime.

How did you transition? Any tips? Specifically on if i need to be in a big surplus to see the toning results and build the lean muscle.

jessiefrancine

Sounds like you may want to recomp. This thread is a super great primer on the subject.

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

psuLemon

If you still have 10-15 lbs to lose, I would do that first and the recomp. The big question is, what is your current lifting routine (reps, sets, moves, ... overall scheme)?

sardelsa

I would think about recomp (see the link Jessie posted above) if I were you vs. surplus, at least based on what you said.. "sort of tone and get a little stronger" I mean, not to say you can't bulk, but I would spend some time at maintenance and really focus on recomposition where you can build muscle and lose fat over time. When you come to the point where you are very lean and want to add more mass/size/weight, then perhaps you can think about eating in surplus if that is something that you want to do.

ndj1979

any idea what your current body fat % is?

trigden1991

The best plan is always to get as lean as possible, transition to maintenance for 1-2 weeks then increase calories into a slight surplus.

middlehaitch

Start lifting now. It's never too early.

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

Choose a beginners programme that fits you now- you can change it when you out grow it.
Concentrate on form. Once you have that then the weight (you lift) increases will come.

Give yourself a maintenance range and aim towards the bottom of it. You will put on a couple of pounds once you switch to maintenance- more food to digest, more retained water.

If you find you don't want a sudden bump on the scale increase your calories weekly rather than in one fell swoop.

Recomp is probably the way to go. If after a few months of it you think you would like to do bulk and cut cycles go for it.

Cheers, h.

Oh don't panic if you add some water weight when you start lifting- it is water.

richardgavel

I also agree on recomposition. My experience as a noob was that after cutting I went into a small surplus. Problem was most of my gains were neuromuscular first, not muscle mass. So most of the extra calories went to fat. If I were to do it over I'd have spent time at maintenance (really I'd have lifted during the cut, but that's a different story).