Lifting Weights on a deficit

natethebait

I'm currently aiming to get leaner and lose weight but can I still lift weights to maintain muscle so I burn fat with the deficit and keep the muscle? I'm too worried about lean bulking and gaining fat back.

TavistockToad

You can't stop all muscle loss but lifting and adequate protein with an appropriate calorie deficit will help.

psuLemon

TavistockToad wrote: »

You can't stop all muscle loss but lifting and adequate protein with an appropriate calorie deficit will help.

That isn't necessarily true. If a person doesn't have that much to lose and are new, they can not only maintain their muscle mass, but also gain muscle.

OP, get on a structure lifting routine, eat adequate protein and continue to add progress.. But recognize that there is still a possibility that you may have to bulk later if you don't have the body composition you really want.

fb47

natethebait wrote: »

I'm currently aiming to get leaner and lose weight but can I still lift weights to maintain muscle so I burn fat with the deficit and keep the muscle? I'm too worried about lean bulking and gaining fat back.

That's the *kitten* part about our body, when you are on a deficit, for most people, you will lose some muscles (there are exceptions, like steroid users, newbies, obese people, etc...) and when you bulk up, muscles will be built...but so will fat. What makes a difference is lifting heavy (I usually do reps lower than 6 on big compound lifts) combined with a decent weight loss rate (I try losing no more than 1 lbs per week and then settle for 0,5 lbs per week when I am close to hitting my bf%)...and when I bulk, I try to gain weight not higher than 0,5 lbs per week on average....more of it will simply cause you to gain unwanted fat unless you're a newbie lifter, then you can go for up to 1 lbs per week.