Question

coffeymug8888

35 YO male, 6 ft 261lbs. Good chunk of fat around my stomach, some muscle, nothing crazy. Just started inputting my food and setting goals. Question. I want to put on muscle, should I lose a chunk of body fat first, or just start eating to build and see where I end up. Any response would be appreciated, I’ve tried to read up on it but there are so many different things out there idk. Thank You!

Retroguy2000

My 2c, focus on weight loss. About 1-2 pounds per week, so around 5,000 weekly deficit. Until you are satisfied with your waist size and body fat. That could be 40-60 pounds.

You can lift too, and keep protein high, to help protect the muscle you have while losing weight.

williamsonmj1

I think if you already have a significant amount of fat around your waist, start cutting. That's a potential health risk- not just for heart disease but at a certain level the fat around your waist also causes low-grade inflammation, which is linked to lots of other health issues.

I am not an expert on cutting, but I see videos recommending 400 calorie a day deficit as the upper end of what is sustainable- above that you are more likely to feel tired, have terrible hunger etc. But individuals vary a lot, some people can manage more.

The only thing I would add is not to use the default formula/macros in MyFitnessPal. I don't think they are designed for lifters and athletes. I took my formula from Lyle McDdonalnd, who is a nutrition and diet expert who works with a lot of high level lifters. And his formula has me eating more protein and less fat than MyFitnessPal. I think MFP wanted me to eat 130g a day while LM's formula has 1.2g per lb of lean body mass, which came in at 182g per day.

Retroguy2000

williamsonmj1 wrote: »

I am not an expert on cutting, but I see videos recommending 400 calorie a day deficit as the upper end of what is sustainable- above that you are more likely to feel tired, have terrible hunger etc. But individuals vary a lot, some people can manage more.

I don't know if that's true for cutting, but it's worth noting that cutting is just one facet of weight loss. Cutting is for competitors and bodybuilders focusing on getting very lean while retaining muscle, shedding the fat they picked up during a bulk phase. Weight loss in general for regular people, especially starting from an obese state, can absolutely sustain a larger deficit than 400.

AnnPT77

Retroguy2000 wrote: »

williamsonmj1 wrote: »

I am not an expert on cutting, but I see videos recommending 400 calorie a day deficit as the upper end of what is sustainable- above that you are more likely to feel tired, have terrible hunger etc. But individuals vary a lot, some people can manage more.

I don't know if that's true for cutting, but it's worth noting that cutting is just one facet of weight loss. Cutting is for competitors and bodybuilders focusing on getting very lean while retaining muscle, shedding the fat they picked up during a bulk phase. Weight loss in general for regular people, especially starting from an obese state, can absolutely sustain a larger deficit than 400.

Replying to both of you, Retro and Williamson: Absolute number of 400 would maybe work for the OP, and for other decent-sized guys. Given that most sources would estimate my sedentary maintenance calories at around 1500 calories, maybe more like 1600 if I were age 25, and strength training wouldn't add a lot to that, I'm thinking a fixed 400 calories daily would be too big a cut for quite a wide range of women hoping to preserve muscle mass.

williamsonmj1

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Replying to both of you, Retro and Williamson: Absolute number of 400 would maybe work for the OP, and for other decent-sized guys. Given that most sources would estimate my sedentary maintenance calories at around 1500 calories, maybe more like 1600 if I were age 25, and strength training wouldn't add a lot to that, I'm thinking a fixed 400 calories daily would be too big a cut for quite a wide range of women hoping to preserve muscle mass.

I am very very far from an expert... but that sounds right to me!