Building muscle in calorie deficit

jaydutchie

So looking to lose maybe 5 more pounds or so to bring me to 130. I’m looking to build so muscle and start getting more defined. I’ve gotten into strength training with only 40 pounds on arms and 70 pounds leg press. I’m still doing cardio 4/5 times a week.
Is it possible to build muscle in a calorie deficit? Do i just up my protein intake? I’d still like to be around the 130s but I do understand that will fluctuate while putting on muscle.
Thoughts?

designerdiscounts

Excellent question. I’m in the same boat and would love to hear what the “experts” have to say. How many calories and how much protein are you eating daily?

NovusDies

Building muscle in a calorie deficit is minimal because it requires energy that your body is already running short on.

If you have very little left to lose and gaining muscle will obviously add to your weight you could consider recomposition:

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

jelleigh

Also keep in mind, for women, even with a progressive lifting program and your intake on point (which I understand to mean a small SURPLUS and higher protein) they can probably only gain a max of 1lb of muscle per month.

mmapags

A different take on this would be: who cares if you lose those last 5 lbs or not if you look fit and fabulous? Follow through with a good, proven resistance training program, eat at maintenance for the next 6 months while doing it and see how you look. Many people, including one post of a young woman who lost weight, strength trained and gained about 10 or 15 lbs, look great and are leaner at a higher weight than was their initial goal doing this. The difference in the before, after weight loss and after weight gain and resistance training pics was really striking!

If you are fit, lean, clothes fit great and you are happy with how your body looks, who cares what the number is on the scale. Scale weight is only one of many data points and not necessarily the most important one.

PS: if anyone has the link to the thread I refer to above, please post it. I don't have it bookmarked.

sijomial

"Is it possible to build muscle in a calorie deficit?"
Yes - the more of a newbie to strength training the more likely.
The smaller the calorie deficit the more likely as it hinders (not prevents) the process.
The more effective your training the more likely.
But be aware it's of course sub-optimal but that's not a reason not to try - whatever results you get in the range of retaining the most amount of muscle possible while cutting the last few pounds to gaining some muscle it's still the best you can achieve.

"Do i just up my protein intake?"
Muscle isn't gained because you eat more protein - it results from a training stimulus that forces your body to adapt to the new demands and supported (not driven) by an adequate diet.
Increasing or not depends on how much you are currently eating so impossible to answer beyond saying a higher than normal protein intake makes sense for people in a deficit and exercising strenuously. (1g per pound of estimated LBM is a common recommendation.)

"I’d still like to be around the 130s but I do understand that will fluctuate while putting on muscle. "
Your weight will likely fluctuate due to water retention from soreness which is common with a novel training stimulus.
Non-water related weight gain over an extended period of time still indicates a calorie surplus whether you are gaining muscle or not.

"Thoughts?"
Go for it!!

Optimise your training - don't just cobble together a random set of exercises.

There's no good reason not to try to achieve your best results. As weight training is a good thing to be doing whether gaining, maintaining or losing weight there's no reason to delay.

Take body measurements and progress photos - gaining muscle is a slow process (unless you are a teenage male new to training!) and changes are subtle.

DancingMoosie

Follow a good progressive full body program and eat a very slight deficit with adequate protein. You have to put in the work to build the muscle.

J72FIT

jaydutchie wrote: »

So looking to lose maybe 5 more pounds or so to bring me to 130. I’m looking to build so muscle and start getting more defined. I’ve gotten into strength training with only 40 pounds on arms and 70 pounds leg press. I’m still doing cardio 4/5 times a week.
Is it possible to build muscle in a calorie deficit? Do i just up my protein intake? I’d still like to be around the 130s but I do understand that will fluctuate while putting on muscle.
Thoughts?

Only possible in 2 circumstances. You are a newbie to training and or you are significantly overweight. Possible but not probable in those two situations. Not gonna happen outside of that...

cwolfman13

Meet Staci...



Believe it or not, Staci is 11 pounds heavier (142 pounds) in the picture on the right (May 2011) compared to the picture on the left (131 pounds, October 2010).

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/female-powerlifters-meet-staci-ardison/

sijomial

J72FIT wrote: »

jaydutchie wrote: »

So looking to lose maybe 5 more pounds or so to bring me to 130. I’m looking to build so muscle and start getting more defined. I’ve gotten into strength training with only 40 pounds on arms and 70 pounds leg press. I’m still doing cardio 4/5 times a week.
Is it possible to build muscle in a calorie deficit? Do i just up my protein intake? I’d still like to be around the 130s but I do understand that will fluctuate while putting on muscle.
Thoughts?

Only possible in 2 circumstances. You are a newbie to training and or you are significantly overweight. Possible but not probable in those two situations. Not gonna happen outside of that...

Disagree - that's not even remotely true.
It's really only advanced trainees close to their maximum genetic potential and/or very lean that can't add some muscle. And very advanced trainees are a tiny proportion of the general population.

On the other hand that many people don't add muscle in a deficit is very true, but that's very different that they couldn't if they actually did everything right.
The vast majority of people are a long way from their potential, could improve their training, choose an excessive deficit and are likely not to add muscle not because it's beyond the bounds of possibility but because they don't do the right things.