Gaining muscle without putting on fat

kelsium33

Hi,
I've recently reached my weight loss goal and would now like to shift my focus to putting on muscle/gaining strength. I have been eating 1500 cals/day. Should I continue with this or increase my calories? Any suggestions to do this and maintain a "lean" look?... really don't want to gain fat.

sardelsa

What are your stats? 1500 is very low to gain unless you are very petite/underweight.

Unfortunately you won't be able to gain without any fat at all unless you maintain your weight. But you can keep fat gain minimal if you keep the surplus small, and make sure your lifting programming is adequate (progressive and suited to your goals). If you become too afraid of fat gain, it can set you back in the end from reaching your goals.

kelsium33

1500 cals is what I've been eating to lose weight, but now I'm focused on muscle gain. I'm currently 120lbs, 5'5".

sardelsa

Ok so do you want to gain weight.. or maintain (recomp). What are your specific goals, are they more aesthetic, only strength, etc?

MichaelK1007

This can be challenging but certainly possible. My best suggestion is to look for a muscle building program that you can stick with. Also diet is key. Many people look to simply bulk up but gain more fat then they want and then have to diet again to lose the fat they gained creating a never ending cycle. For me I will reverse diet by adding about 100-200 cal per week until I slowly begin to gain weight all while transitioning to more of a muscle building program and continuing with at least 20-30 min of cardio per day. Cardio for me consists of both HIIT and LISS. To do it right takes patience and the dedication to track your nutrition to determine the right macros to achieve your goal. If you don’t track everything your eat it will be very difficult to slowly increase your cal each week. Good luck.

sardelsa

mkgoodson1007 wrote: »

This can be challenging but certainly possible. My best suggestion is to look for a muscle building program that you can stick with. Also diet is key. Many people look to simply bulk up but gain more fat then they want and then have to diet again to lose the fat they gained creating a never ending cycle. For me I will reverse diet by adding about 100-200 cal per week until I slowly begin to gain weight all while transitioning to more of a muscle building program and continuing with at least 20-30 min of cardio per day. Cardio for me consists of both HIIT and LISS. To do it right takes patience and the dedication to track your nutrition to determine the right macros to achieve your goal. If you don’t track everything your eat it will be very difficult to slowly increase your cal each week. Good luck.

This is pretty typical of bulk/cut cycles, unless you are maintaining your weight or are ultra lean running a very very small surplus (which is sounds like you were doing with small cal increases plus cardio). While I don't think it's optimal to gain too much fat, I don't think it's a bad thing to gain some fat then cut down. I have run 3 bulk/cut cycles total, I am about 12lbs heavier than my original starting weight and I look completely different (in a good way) so that tells me I did it right, despite gaining some fat each time and having to cut down.

MichaelK1007

Totally agree. I am on my 3rd bulk/cut cycle and each time my baseline starting BF is less going into the bulk and coming out, however each year it also becomes more challenging to put on muscle. That’s great that you have been able to gain 12lbs of lean muscle

sardelsa

mkgoodson1007 wrote: »

Totally agree. I am on my 3rd bulk/cut cycle and each time my baseline starting BF is less going into the bulk and coming out, however each year it also becomes more challenging to put on muscle. That’s great that you have been able to gain 12lbs of lean muscle

Yea I hear ya! That first bulk was golden I don't think I'll ever make as much progress again. But each time I become more in tune with my goals and what works, so that helps

CrystalApril

I'm in the same boat and unsure how much to increase by or just go to maintenance and recomp

AnvilHead

CrystalApril wrote: »

I'm in the same boat and unsure how much to increase by or just go to maintenance and recomp

https://bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/muscle-gain-math.html/