When I hit weight loss goal

donjtomasco

I am a 56 yo male and in good shape. I am losing weight at my goal. When I hit 180 (a little light for me) that is when I plan on hitting the gym and would like to add back weight that is muscle. I have lifted before during losing weight and this time just want to hit my weight goal first then build back up.

Is there a realistic weight gain number that would be muscle that I would gain back? Is there a guess as to pounds per week/month up to a plateu (top) weight? I am not looking to be too serious in the gym, but I will be using a program with free weights and machines on upper and lower body, enough to stay strong and hopefully add back some muscle and look better.

I am looking for some 'number' of muscle weight gain so that let's say I hear on this thread that I could gain back 10# in muscle, then I won't be thinking it is fat coming back.

180 will be light for me as in the past 185 has felt too light and I feel low in energy at that weight. But....I have no problem losing down to 175 to gain back in muscle, but I am thinking 185 then building back to 185-190. I can't imagine adding back more then 5-10 pounds in muscle at my age, but you all here are the pro's, so I am looking for your thoughts.

Thanks!

sardelsa

Just to clarify, are you losing weight right now without any kind of resistance training? If not I would highly recommend you start NOW to retain muscle as you lose, your body composition will be much better off when you get to your goal weight. If not, you will lose even more muscle than necessary and then you will basically have to build up what you lost which will be counterproductive to your goals. Before starting a bulk you want to have a lower bodyfat% and be lean, lifting while losing can help you get there.

Anyhow when you gain weight back, it will be impossible to gain only muscle. You can keep the gain rate slow (so around 0.5lb per week or less) to keep fat gain at bay but keep in mind you will limit your muscle gain that way as well, so you just have to bulk longer and have patience. I would say the upper limit would be 1lb per week for males, any more than that and your fat gains can start to overpower your muscle gain.

In order to reach your goal it could take several bulk cycles, you won't gain 10lbs of muscle in one go (and if you do you will be bulking for a really long time with just as much fat gain, which you will have to cut). It can take years.

mmapags

sardelsa wrote: »

Just to clarify, are you losing weight right now without any kind of resistance training? If not I would highly recommend you start NOW to retain muscle as you lose, your body composition will be much better off when you get to your goal weight. If not, you will lose even more muscle than necessary and then you will basically have to build up what you lost which will be counterproductive to your goals. Before starting a bulk you want to have a lower bodyfat% and be lean, lifting while losing can help you get there.

Anyhow when you gain weight back, it will be impossible to gain only muscle. You can keep the gain rate slow (so around 0.5lb per week or less) to keep fat gain at bay but keep in mind you will limit your muscle gain that way as well, so you just have to bulk longer and have patience. I would say the upper limit would be 1lb per week for males, any more than that and your fat gains can start to overpower your muscle gain.

In order to reach your goal it could take several bulk cycles, you won't gain 10lbs of muscle in one go (and if you do you will be bulking for a really long time with just as much fat gain, which you will have to cut). It can take years.

Excellent advice. Also, if you don't do resistance training now to preserve muscle mass you have, then you will gain muscle and fat and have to cut fat again. That doesn't make much sense and is way more work.

Eta: For clarification, bulking for men takes place when you get under 15% body fat. Usually 10 to 12%. Are you planning on getting that lean? You other option in getting at or below 20% body fat and recomp. Resistance training while eating at maintenance. You gain muscle and lose fat sllloooowwwwlly doing that.

middlehaitch

Agree with @sardelsa and @mmapags,
Start lifting now to preserve muscle.

You don't mention your macro split. Ina deficit a higher level of protein also will help preserve muscle, aim for 0.8-1.2g LBM, or mid range BMI at 'normal' weight.

This may be an interesting read.
https://bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/muscle-gain-math.html/

Cheers, h.