When to change from diet to calorie increase

gazpainter

Hi all

I have been on restricted diet and exercising 6 times a week, strength and cardio and have dropped 16 lbs in two months. I've lost around 6 inches which is great.

I still have some belly fat and man boob fat to lose however elsewhere such as legs, arms etc have no fat what so ever.

I'm currently on 1750 calories a day diet.

Shall I stick to this for another few months or should I be upping calorie to help create muscle to help burn the fat.

I'm torn. I want to build abs and arm muscles but want to lose fat from waist too.

I know resistance training is important but I only have body weight to use at home I don't have access to a gym. I do have Les Mills weight set and I do either attack, grit or pump 6 times a week for an hour.

I just didn't want to up calorie to get muscle and all it does is just stop the fat loss but on other hand don't want to not be eating enough to not be building muscle...its as clear as mud lol

gazpainter

My goal is belly and chest fat gone and I want bigger arms and some ab muscles to show...

sijomial

"create muscle to help burn the fat" - that's not really a thing.
It harks back to very flawed ideas about how many calories muscle tissue burns, unfortunately each pound of muscle only burns about 6cals / per pound / per day at rest.
Actually using your muscles is what burns calories (both activity and exercise).

You are really IMHO missing the middle ground between fast weight loss and maintenance.
If you don't have much to lose and still want to reduce your body fat level I would suggest switching to a small deficit/slow rate of loss. With sub-optimal training I definitely wouldn't even consider switching to a surplus if that's what you are thinking of. It's not a calorie surplus that builds muscles, it's effective training supported by your diet.

You do realise that you can add some muscle in an appropriate calorie deficit? Especially if you are new or returning to training.

Dogmom1978

Lifting while cutting is great for strength loss purposes. Building muscle though won’t reduce your fat.

Some questions: are you increasing weight, reps, or sets as you progress through your current program? How much protein are you eating in your current deficit?

And, some areas (like the abdomen) are stubbornly where fat is hardest to get rid of.

gazpainter

I'm doing les Mills pump with the weight sets so high reps low weight but I always try to add a little more weight each time...

I try for around 1750 calories and 180g protein a day.

I'm currently 13 stone 1 so need to lose about 7 lbs still at least.. Just lost 12 in 2 months...

Dogmom1978

A bunch of that 12 was probably water weight which is why you lost rapidly. I wouldn’t expect that rate of loss to be sustainable if you only have 7 lbs left to lose. Your weight loss with so little left to lose should be set to .5 lbs a week.

Also, that was a really vague weight lifting description. I can tell you the weight, reps, and sets for every exercise I do and my progression from the time I started lifting. Do you have an app that you enter your weights, reps, sets into?? Or does it just vary so wildly each time that you don’t keep track?

briscogun

gazpainter wrote: »

My goal is belly and chest fat gone and I want bigger arms and some ab muscles to show...

There's a saying: "Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym."

The only way to lose belly fat is to eat at a deficit. I lose weight the same as you do: in my extremities first (face, arms/hands, legs, etc) and my torso last. It's like a wet sponge left out on the counter that dries out from the edges first and the middle last! That's why I really have to buckle down and make sure I'm tight with my tracking and calories, to get that stubborn torso/belly fat gone!

Working out is great while in a deficit because you will preserve muscle mass while you are losing weight, so as the weight comes off you will have something to show off underneath! There are lots of theories and ways of going about this, but in my experience, I would eat at a deficit like I am losing weight while doing my workouts, and as I got closer to maintenance and upped my calories I would focus more on a slow recomposition type plan.

Another way to look at it is: calorie deficit for weight loss, exercise for health benefits.

Congrats on the loss already! Sounds like you are well on your way! Good luck!

AnnPT77

gazpainter wrote: »

I'm doing les Mills pump with the weight sets so high reps low weight but I always try to add a little more weight each time...

I try for around 1750 calories and 180g protein a day.

I'm currently 13 stone 1 so need to lose about 7 lbs still at least.. Just lost 12 in 2 months...

That would be a pretty fast rate of loss, more than a pound a week - sounds like a pound and a half a week on average.

Dogmom is right that water weight may be part of that, but usually that sorts itself out in a couple of weeks at the start. How fast were you losing, on average, for the last 6 weeks of that two months?

If you were still losing at about a pound and a half a week on average, but only have 7 pounds to go, you *should* slow down, IMO. At a pound and a half a week, adding 250 calories daily would take you to about a pound a week loss (still fast-ish when so close to goal), 500 more would take you to half a pound a week (which may lead to some deceptive stall-like weeks even while still truly losing, but it might be a good idea anyway, if you can tough out the mental side of it). Eating more calories might help with workout energy a bit, too, if you're lucky, as a side benefit.

Redordeadhead

Dogmom1978 wrote: »

Also, that was a really vague weight lifting description. I can tell you the weight, reps, and sets for every exercise I do and my progression from the time I started lifting. Do you have an app that you enter your weights, reps, sets into?? Or does it just vary so wildly each time that you don’t keep track?

I think the OP means they are doing the Les Mills Body Pump group class, which is primarily cardio using some light weights with high repetitions, rather than traditional strength training and weight lifting.

Dogmom1978

Redordeadhead wrote: »

Dogmom1978 wrote: »

Also, that was a really vague weight lifting description. I can tell you the weight, reps, and sets for every exercise I do and my progression from the time I started lifting. Do you have an app that you enter your weights, reps, sets into?? Or does it just vary so wildly each time that you don’t keep track?

I think the OP means they are doing the Les Mills Body Pump group class, which is primarily cardio using some light weights with high repetitions, rather than traditional strength training and weight lifting.

Then I’m even more confused since OP said they want to build arm and ab muscle. Although they did also say they wanted to build said muscle to help burn fat...

OP as others have said, the muscle won’t burn the fat. If you really only have a few lbs to lose as you said, I would start body recomp. There’s a whole section of the forum dedicated to that discussion where you can find some great information.

Best of luck!