Calorie deficit or Calorie surplus ?

ashishjaincs

Hi,
I am a 37-year-old male and have been hitting the gym for about 7 months now, 4-5 days a week. But even after this much time, I see little to no change in my body. My body fat is still at around 27-28 % and little to no gain in lean muscle mass. I weigh around 148-150 and I want to maintain this weight only as I am only about 165 CMs. Hence do not want to reduce or gain weight. I see a lot of articles where some say, a calorie deficit is a must and some say to gain muscle, Calorie surplus is a must. My MFP stats say to eat a daily calorie of 1900 + my workout calories.
Whenever I read an article or watch a video, I find that I am doing everything that they are saying but still see no results.
I am starting to lose my patience. Please guide me what is the correct way for reducing body fat and gaining muscle.

Thanks much!

cwolfman13

Reducing bodyfat and gaining muscle are opposing goals. Recompositing is a thing, but it is a very slow process and typically done when already at a healthy and relatively low BF%. If you are 27-28% bodyfat, you are classified as medically obese and should probably lose weight. You aren't really going to have much luck recomping at that BF% level.

To lose bodyfat, you need to be in a calorie deficit. In a calorie deficit, you're not really going to put on muscle, particularly as you've been lifting for 7 months and are outside of any potential noob gains. You would not want to be in a calorie surplus at your current BF%...you'll just put on more fat. People who bulk (calorie surplus) to pack on muscle typically start doing so at 10-12% BF as you will put on fat in addition to muscle in a calorie surplus.

sijomial

"My body fat is still at around 27-28 %" - then you need to diet away a lot of that fat, calorie deficit and continue training as you lose.

sbalzer

How do you know you are at 27% - 28% BF?

If you are using biometic scales, then these are innaccurate and unreliable in determining your BF%.

ashishjaincs

Hi sbalzer, yes, I am using one of those smart scales to measure that. Is there any other effective way to measure the BF%?
As I mentioned earlier, I am doing everything that I find online, but I still don't see any significant change in my body. Strength traning, calories tracking, proper sleep, water intake.
Do you think, I should reduce my calorie intake from 1900 to even less?

Thanks!

sbalzer

Either a DEXA scan or hydrostatic weighing are the two most reliable. DEXA being the gold standard.

As for MFP and your 1900 calories, there are a couple of thing here;

1. Don’t eat back your exercise calories, again the measurement of calories burned during exercise can be very inaccurate?
2. What activity level have you set in MFP? This will change your daily caloric intake number.
3. Are you weighing all your food or guesstimating? If you are not weighing your food your could easily be under or over recording what you eat.

Retroguy2000

Without a DEXA scan, you're not going to know for sure that's your actual body fat %.

It may be lower than you think. Comparing pictures of yourself from before to now may show some differences. You may have done some recomp in that time.

You may need to increase workout volume, especially if you're still doing the same sets/reps/weight as when you started.

Are you getting enough protein?

My suggestion is increase the workout volume, and decrease your calories by ~100-200 per day.

watts6151

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Without a DEXA scan, you're not going to know for sure that's your actual body fat %.

It may be lower than you think. Comparing pictures of yourself from before to now may show some differences. You may have done some recomp in that time.

You may need to increase workout volume, especially if you're still doing the same sets/reps/weight as when you started.

Are you getting enough protein?

My suggestion is increase the workout volume, and decrease your calories by ~100-200 per day.

Why does work out volume need to be increased?
Surly a structured periodised routine would be more beneficial. Simply adding volume is asking for overuse issues

JBanx256

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Without a DEXA scan, you're not going to know for sure that's your actual body fat %.

Even WITH a DEXA, you're still not gonna know FOR SURE what your actual bf% is....just sayin'.

watts6151

JBanx256 wrote: »

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

Without a DEXA scan, you're not going to know for sure that's your actual body fat %.

Even WITH a DEXA, you're still not gonna know FOR SURE what your actual bf% is....just sayin'.

Roughly 5% either way with dexa .
Just look in the mirror, a lot cheaper option

Retroguy2000

watts6151 wrote: »

Why does work out volume need to be increased?
Surly a structured periodised routine would be more beneficial. Simply adding volume is asking for overuse issues

Overuse, even if the current workouts are too light?

watts6151

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

watts6151 wrote: »

Why does work out volume need to be increased?
Surly a structured periodised routine would be more beneficial. Simply adding volume is asking for overuse issues

Overuse, even if the current workouts are too light?

100% overuse is an issue in people who don’t even resistance train, repetitive movements even at extremely light weights can cause joint and ligament issues. Unless you know their current occupation, training status and a whole host of other variables then you should not be giving out random training advice

GaryRuns

And your lifts haven't increased? Honestly, the only reason I can think of for you not having made any progress, as a new lifter and at a high body fat percentage, is either a really insufficient protein intake or a poor program.

Make sure you're using a well structured, progressive, program. There are a ton of them listed in the post https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

As for protein intake, it's a little rough to say if you're actually obese. The general recommendation would be to ingest about 1 gram per pound per day of your lean mass goal. If you're not obese it's easy to just use your body weight as the value and eat about 1 gram per pound of body weight per day of protein. But that's already an overestimate and if you're obese that becomes a huge overestimate. My best recommendation would be to find a reasonably accurate estimate of your bf%, calculate your lean mass, and use that to get a protein intake goal.

And the other assumption here is that you've ruled out some sort of health problem. If you're using a well structured, progressive program and eating a good amount of protein and you're not making gains after 8 months I'd probably recommend seeing a health care professional. Even a good dietician might have some insight if it's tough for you to see a doc.

There's not a super accurate way to get a body fat percentage value, short of a full post-mortem dissection. While I LOVE numbers, I don't love them that much. The best thing to do is a visual comparison. Here's an example:

SnifterPug

You've been hitting the gym, but what have you been doing in the gym? I spun my wheels in the gym for some 10 years. To change your physique you need to undertake resistance training and push for progression. I agree with the advice not to eat in a surplus. If you don't want to lose weight then as well as proper training you need to eat sufficient protein and eat at maintenance or a small deficit (say 300 calories per day max). This should enable you to recomp but as has been pointed out, recomp is slow. Boy, is it slow. Also, take measurements. If your torso is getting smaller and your chest/arms/legs or whatever else you are working hard on is staying the same or getting bigger while your weight remains static then you are succeeding. But it may take a long while before those measurement changes result in something you like seeing in the mirror.