Building Lean Muscle

marisaleib5086
marisaleib5086 Posts: 16 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Do you need to be in calorie surplus to build lean muscle? I don’t want to bulk and then have to cut. I’m only 110 lbs and 5’1, but I want to be able to build lean muscle so that I looked toned.

Replies

  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    You can maintain your weight and recomp
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

    Keep in mind it can take a long time, and if you are already fairly lean and lower in bodyfat your results may not be as significant.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Am I mistaken or didn't you post almost the exact same question a few days ago?
  • ecjim
    ecjim Posts: 1,001 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    You can maintain your weight and recomp
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

    Keep in mind it can take a long time, and if you are already fairly lean and lower in bodyfat your results may not be as significant.

    Good Advice
    Follow a solid program like Strong Curves - Starting Strength - Grey Skull - aim for 100 gms of protein per day & 30 -40 gms fat - start with eating calories at a maintenance level - after a while you may have to increase your food intake to maintain your weight. You may want to eat enough to gain 1 - 2 lbs per month
  • MeganTaylor29
    MeganTaylor29 Posts: 2 Member
    I agree with @pinggolfer96.
  • MeganTaylor29
    MeganTaylor29 Posts: 2 Member
    B)
  • SeaBreeze4
    SeaBreeze4 Posts: 8 Member
    The "clean bulk" is always an option. Try only consuming a surplus of 200 calories/day targeting 1/2 pound per week. I don't think this method is any slower than the bulk & cut approach if you are just starting since you will be able to capitalize on "noob gains". The best part of the clean bulk is that you always have a great physique B)
  • GreatApe2017
    GreatApe2017 Posts: 15 Member
    pinggolfer96 wrote: »
    Have fun spinning your wheels then. Bulk then cut it’s the most optimal way

    Even for beginners?

    I've managed to put on 20% on all my lifts in my first month and done so without adding any body weight. If I had to guess I would say I have lost 1-2 pound of body fat and added equivalent of muscle in the first month.

    I'm tempted to go for maintenance calories for another month if I could add another 20% to my lifts in a month while not adding body weight I would be very pleased. Although the plan is to do +200 calories for the next 4 weeks and see what the results are
  • GreatApe2017
    GreatApe2017 Posts: 15 Member
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    pinggolfer96 wrote: »
    Have fun spinning your wheels then. Bulk then cut it’s the most optimal way

    Even for beginners?

    I've managed to put on 20% on all my lifts in my first month and done so without adding any body weight. If I had to guess I would say I have lost 1-2 pound of body fat and added equivalent of muscle in the first month.

    I'm tempted to go for maintenance calories for another month if I could add another 20% to my lifts in a month while not adding body weight I would be very pleased. Although the plan is to do +200 calories for the next 4 weeks and see what the results are

    Almost all strength gains for a very new “beginner” are CNS adaptations and not gains in muscle mass. He’s talking about gaining size through hypertrophic response. It’s very unlikely you recomped at a 1:1 ratio at that high a rate in a month.


    I'm fairly sure I've added at least 1-2 pound of muscle and since my weight hasn't gone up I must have lost roughly 1-2 pounds of fat this is over a 4-5 week period so it's not all that amazing

    Although yes I do suspect a lot of the strength gains were mostly CNS adaptations as some lifts are up nearly 30% while my total lean muscle mass certainly can't be up by 30% in a month.

    One contributing factor might be that I used to lift a very long time ago. 15 years ago but nothing since and I'm still not at the levels I was 15 years ago. Some places seem to suggest 'muscle' memory is a factor but I'm not sure if that's just nonsense. Also I did a 3 month cut first so must have lost muscle during the 30 pounds cut so this month might have been regaining some lost muscle mass from the cut.

    Either way whatever is going on I'm happy with my results for my first month lifting and if the next few months are like the first month I'll be very happy
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    pinggolfer96 wrote: »
    Have fun spinning your wheels then. Bulk then cut it’s the most optimal way

    Even for beginners?

    I've managed to put on 20% on all my lifts in my first month and done so without adding any body weight. If I had to guess I would say I have lost 1-2 pound of body fat and added equivalent of muscle in the first month.

    I'm tempted to go for maintenance calories for another month if I could add another 20% to my lifts in a month while not adding body weight I would be very pleased. Although the plan is to do +200 calories for the next 4 weeks and see what the results are

    Almost all strength gains for a very new “beginner” are CNS adaptations and not gains in muscle mass. He’s talking about gaining size through hypertrophic response. It’s very unlikely you recomped at a 1:1 ratio at that high a rate in a month.


    I'm fairly sure I've added at least 1-2 pound of muscle and since my weight hasn't gone up I must have lost roughly 1-2 pounds of fat this is over a 4-5 week period so it's not all that amazing

    Although yes I do suspect a lot of the strength gains were mostly CNS adaptations as some lifts are up nearly 30% while my total lean muscle mass certainly can't be up by 30% in a month.

    One contributing factor might be that I used to lift a very long time ago. 15 years ago but nothing since and I'm still not at the levels I was 15 years ago. Some places seem to suggest 'muscle' memory is a factor but I'm not sure if that's just nonsense. Also I did a 3 month cut first so must have lost muscle during the 30 pounds cut so this month might have been regaining some lost muscle mass from the cut.

    Either way whatever is going on I'm happy with my results for my first month lifting and if the next few months are like the first month I'll be very happy

    weight loss and fat gain is not going to be a 1:1 ration so whatever you lost in fat you arent going to gain in muscle . you arent going to gain 1-2 lbs in muscle and lose 1-2 lbs a fat in the same amount of time. and losing muscle can happen but building it back is going to be harder to do once its lost for most people.
  • GreatApe2017
    GreatApe2017 Posts: 15 Member
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    pinggolfer96 wrote: »
    Have fun spinning your wheels then. Bulk then cut it’s the most optimal way

    Even for beginners?

    I've managed to put on 20% on all my lifts in my first month and done so without adding any body weight. If I had to guess I would say I have lost 1-2 pound of body fat and added equivalent of muscle in the first month.

    I'm tempted to go for maintenance calories for another month if I could add another 20% to my lifts in a month while not adding body weight I would be very pleased. Although the plan is to do +200 calories for the next 4 weeks and see what the results are

    Almost all strength gains for a very new “beginner” are CNS adaptations and not gains in muscle mass. He’s talking about gaining size through hypertrophic response. It’s very unlikely you recomped at a 1:1 ratio at that high a rate in a month.


    I'm fairly sure I've added at least 1-2 pound of muscle and since my weight hasn't gone up I must have lost roughly 1-2 pounds of fat this is over a 4-5 week period so it's not all that amazing

    Although yes I do suspect a lot of the strength gains were mostly CNS adaptations as some lifts are up nearly 30% while my total lean muscle mass certainly can't be up by 30% in a month.

    One contributing factor might be that I used to lift a very long time ago. 15 years ago but nothing since and I'm still not at the levels I was 15 years ago. Some places seem to suggest 'muscle' memory is a factor but I'm not sure if that's just nonsense. Also I did a 3 month cut first so must have lost muscle during the 30 pounds cut so this month might have been regaining some lost muscle mass from the cut.

    Either way whatever is going on I'm happy with my results for my first month lifting and if the next few months are like the first month I'll be very happy

    weight loss and fat gain is not going to be a 1:1 ration so whatever you lost in fat you arent going to gain in muscle . you arent going to gain 1-2 lbs in muscle and lose 1-2 lbs a fat in the same amount of time. and losing muscle can happen but building it back is going to be harder to do once its lost for most people.

    I'm not saying I definitely lost 2 pounds of fat and put on two pounds of muscle. If for no other reason than the weight scale has a margin of error and there is a margin of nearly 2 pounds for weight fluxation from hydration etc. It's too short a time frame and too few a sample set to make this assertion.

    However everything I've read seems to suggest for new lifters you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

    In my case I think that is what has happened. I think I've been in a ~100 calorie daily deficit which would result in about 1 pound fat loss over a month and I must have added some muscle mass over the month as my arms legs and chest are looking bigger than a month ago and all my lifts are up

    Anyway I'm not suggesting anyone aim to lose fat and giant muscle at the same time. The next 4 weeks I'm going to try and put on weight and muscle. I'm going to aim for +200 calories and to get +3 pounds of weight hoping for +2 pounds muscle and no more than +1 pound of fat.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    GreatApe2017 wrote: »
    pinggolfer96 wrote: »
    Have fun spinning your wheels then. Bulk then cut it’s the most optimal way

    Even for beginners?

    I've managed to put on 20% on all my lifts in my first month and done so without adding any body weight. If I had to guess I would say I have lost 1-2 pound of body fat and added equivalent of muscle in the first month.

    I'm tempted to go for maintenance calories for another month if I could add another 20% to my lifts in a month while not adding body weight I would be very pleased. Although the plan is to do +200 calories for the next 4 weeks and see what the results are

    Almost all strength gains for a very new “beginner” are CNS adaptations and not gains in muscle mass. He’s talking about gaining size through hypertrophic response. It’s very unlikely you recomped at a 1:1 ratio at that high a rate in a month.


    I'm fairly sure I've added at least 1-2 pound of muscle and since my weight hasn't gone up I must have lost roughly 1-2 pounds of fat this is over a 4-5 week period so it's not all that amazing

    Although yes I do suspect a lot of the strength gains were mostly CNS adaptations as some lifts are up nearly 30% while my total lean muscle mass certainly can't be up by 30% in a month.

    One contributing factor might be that I used to lift a very long time ago. 15 years ago but nothing since and I'm still not at the levels I was 15 years ago. Some places seem to suggest 'muscle' memory is a factor but I'm not sure if that's just nonsense. Also I did a 3 month cut first so must have lost muscle during the 30 pounds cut so this month might have been regaining some lost muscle mass from the cut.

    Either way whatever is going on I'm happy with my results for my first month lifting and if the next few months are like the first month I'll be very happy

    weight loss and fat gain is not going to be a 1:1 ration so whatever you lost in fat you arent going to gain in muscle . you arent going to gain 1-2 lbs in muscle and lose 1-2 lbs a fat in the same amount of time. and losing muscle can happen but building it back is going to be harder to do once its lost for most people.

    I'm not saying I definitely lost 2 pounds of fat and put on two pounds of muscle. If for no other reason than the weight scale has a margin of error and there is a margin of nearly 2 pounds for weight fluxation from hydration etc. It's too short a time frame and too few a sample set to make this assertion.

    However everything I've read seems to suggest for new lifters you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

    In my case I think that is what has happened. I think I've been in a ~100 calorie daily deficit which would result in about 1 pound fat loss over a month and I must have added some muscle mass over the month as my arms legs and chest are looking bigger than a month ago and all my lifts are up

    Anyway I'm not suggesting anyone aim to lose fat and giant muscle at the same time. The next 4 weeks I'm going to try and put on weight and muscle. I'm going to aim for +200 calories and to get +3 pounds of weight hoping for +2 pounds muscle and no more than +1 pound of fat.

    then what you are doing is a recomp and you dont have to be a newbie to lifting to lose fat and gain muscle in a recomp. as for your lifts going up strenght alone can do that. it doesnt mean its muscle growth,not saying its not that but its not a guarantee, becoming stronger can happen without new growth.

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