maintain weight, gain muscle, loose fat?

ingredsmith

So, i go to the gym at least 4 times a week (useually 6 times a week). I usually do 30 minutes of cardio (burning around 200-300 calories, then work on weight machines for the rest of the time. I weigh around 99 pounds, eat 1400 -1500 calories daily. Can i gain muscle, maintain weight, and loose fat? Ive read that gaining muscle requires more calories, but how do you balance adding calories to gain muscle vs. those calories adding fat?

thanks !

kdiamond

Ive read that gaining muscle requires more calories, but how do you balance adding calories to gain muscle vs. those calories adding fat?

The simple answer is you can't. At 99 pounds, you probably have very little fat. Also, you're not going to gain weight/muscle with 1500 calories a day, you need to eat more than that.

You're at a point now where I think you could drop the cardio (maybe keeping a couple of sessions a week if you really want to), focus on weight training (as heavy as possible) and eat at least 300-400 calories more a day (to start). Look into a tried and true weight training program. Stop focusing on how many calories you burn at the gym and focus on a good program that you can put muscle on.

sijomial

While it's possible to gain muscle and lose fat slowly at maintenance (that's what I'm doing - a recomp) there's a lot of factors that are against you in particular I'm afraid....

Female, relatively lean (I'm guessing from your weight), small amount of calories per day, doing a sub-optimal weights routine.

Honestly apart from some newbie gains you aren't likely to make much progress, your youth is in your favour though!

Much better chance of success from bulking/cutting cycles for you I would have thought.

jacksonpt

Yes, you can. It's call a recomp, and there are a couple of ways to do it.

You can eat right at maintenance and lift (a lot), or you can do very short bulk/cut cycles (1-2 days at a slight surplus followed by 1-2 days at a slight deficit) also while lifting a lot.

Either way, if you want to do both cardio and weights, I'd lift first.

Also, progress will be EXCEPTIONALLY slow, so be prepared for that mentally.

.

TriLifter

I agree with sijomial--I'm also currently working on body recomp, which is what you're asking about. I'm 5'6", 122 lbs, and about 19% bf, so my LBM is your total weight.

Need to know some other stats. How tall are you? What is your current body fat perfectage?

If you do have enough body fat to lose and want to gain LBM through recomp, you need to do a few things. 1. Find your maintanence calories and eat AT that level (not below). 2. Eat at least 1 g protein for every lb of LBM you have. 3. Stop doing so much cardio--it's unnecessary for recomp. 4. Start a compound lifting routine (Starting Strength, StrongLifts 5x5, New Rules of Lifting for Women) and stop using the weight machines.

A great resource for starting out to help you understand all of this is the book "New Rules of Lifting for Woemn." Even if you don't follow the lifting program, it gives beginners a better understanding of how everything is interrelated. Good luck!

Catman50

Ive read that gaining muscle requires more calories, but how do you balance adding calories to gain muscle vs. those calories adding fat?

The simple answer is you can't. At 99 pounds, you probably have very little fat. Also, you're not going to gain weight/muscle with 1500 calories a day, you need to eat more than that.

You're at a point now where I think you could drop the cardio (maybe keeping a couple of sessions a week if you really want to), focus on weight training (as heavy as possible) and eat at least 300-400 calories more a day (to start). Look into a tried and true weight training program. Stop focusing on how many calories you burn at the gym and focus on a good program that you can put muscle on.

^^ This.
(OP) Unfortunately im a lot older than you but I was in your position 20+ years ago. Although I did weigh more as a guy, just average weight or less.
I was very active and I also used to train hard for years. A 4 day split routine & usually extra abs on Saturdays. I loved it & I got a pretty good body looking back but I never got anywhere near as big as I wanted, by a long way.

Looking back on it for the reason's why I never grew equal to the hrs and sweat & shear volume of work I put into it ?

DIET! yep .. I ate healthy definitely. But I wasn't eating anywhere near enough to pack on the muscle I craved by a huge margin looking back on it.

As sijomial says what you wish for (loosing fat and gaining muscle at the same time) is called recomp and its a very long process by all account.

Id also agree with him that a much better option for you to achieve what you wish is Bulk /cutting.

Maybe cut down your cardio a little & start a decent muscle building program.
Eat well and start to add calories, make sure your getting enough protein.
Start with manageable weights and work on your form (depending how comfortable you already are in the gym/weights dept).
Then train hard, sweat is your fat crying!
Listen to your body and work it.
GET ENOUGH REST!


The above is just my take on it at the moment as im new back and just trying to learn what I can of value and trying not to make the mistakes I make in the past. Everybody is an expert nowadays with the internet. I think you have to sift though it and hopefully find the decent information. Also try and find what works for you.

Go make yourself awesome!!

Catman50

Oh well I took so long typing my post while I cooked chicken and made my shake 2 others posted above me
But there seems to be a theme running here.

FrauMama

Agree with the above opinions of cutting cardio. Or at least incorporate it into your (heavier) weight routine, like with plyometrics or jump rope intervals, etc. Good luck!

ingredsmith

I agree with sijomial--I'm also currently working on body recomp, which is what you're asking about. I'm 5'6", 122 lbs, and about 19% bf, so my LBM is your total weight.

Need to know some other stats. How tall are you? What is your current body fat perfectage?

If you do have enough body fat to lose and want to gain LBM through recomp, you need to do a few things. 1. Find your maintanence calories and eat AT that level (not below). 2. Eat at least 1 g protein for every lb of LBM you have. 3. Stop doing so much cardio--it's unnecessary for recomp. 4. Start a compound lifting routine (Starting Strength, StrongLifts 5x5, New Rules of Lifting for Women) and stop using the weight machines.

A great resource for starting out to help you understand all of this is the book "New Rules of Lifting for Woemn." Even if you don't follow the lifting program, it gives beginners a better understanding of how everything is interrelated. Good luck!

I am 5'1'', and pretty lean, not sure exactly what my bf% is though.

ingredsmith

thanks for the feedback

lporter229

I am in a similar place as you. I am 100lb and 5 ft tall (but, oh, quite a few years older than you). I am also looking to achieve the same results as you. But I am and always have been pretty dedicated to running and am not willing to give that up. It's not about the calorie burn, it's about the enjoyment I get from it. So, where others are telling you to give up the cardio, I just opted to eat more. I eat about 1900 calories a day, with an additional surplus on days when I run over 8 miles (usually once a week). I have been doing parts of P90X for quite a while (just the strength training videos) but I recently bought NROLFW and did my first workout from that book yesterday. I am looking forward to seeing how I progress with this routine. I also want to add that people are correct when they tell you that you need to make sure you are eating enough. I lost quite a bit of weight while training for a marathon last year, and a lot of that was lean muscle. I was trying to eat enough, but still ended up with a considerable deficit, I guess.

geekyjock76

Regarding your question as to how to balance calories added to gains in lean mass vs fat mass, that has to do with ones unique Partitioning Ratio.

Consider two people, both assuming a 250 calorie surplus.
Person A adds 150 calories to lean mass vs 100 calories to fat mass.
Person B adds 100 calories to lean mass vs 150 calories to fat mass.

As you can see, Person A has a more favorable P-ratio resulting in more calories added to gains in lean mass vs fat mass. Person A will also pull less calories from muscle and more from fat mass when in a deficit.

How much lean mass do you want to gain/fat mass to lose?

Personally, I think recomping by eating a few calories above maintenance is ideal for someone who is relatively happy with their current body composition but just wants to do a minor tweak. As a previous poster mentioned, this is a very slow process. If you are looking at an appreciable improvement of lean mass vs fat mass, you're better off doing a lean gain phase followed by fat loss.

Either way you go, you will first have to establish what your actual maintenance intake is. Thus it is recommended to use a food scale to accurately weigh everything you eat during the process so you don't over or under-estimate a surplus. Eat a determined amount of calories while keeping carbs relatively stable to minimize affects of water-related weight fluctuations for a week or two before increasing calories again. Continue until your weight stabilizes.

If you do a lean gain phase, get your body fat assessed. Let's say you are 19% body fat. You can eat at a 200 to 250 calorie surplus for several months until your body fat percentage hits 23%. By this time, you could optimally gain a total of 14 lbs with 7/7 ratio. Followed by an optomistic fat loss stage, whereby you minimize lean mass loss, you could end up with a net gain of 6 lbs lean mass at the same body fat percentage.

Present:
99 lbs @ 19% bf
80.2 lean
18.8 fat

After lean gain:
113 lbs @ 23% bf
87.0 lean
25.9 fat

After fat loss:
106 lbs @ 19% bf
85.9 lean
20.1 fat

SideSteel

Edited: nvm. See above.

ironanimal

Yes, you can. It's call a recomp, and there are a couple of ways to do it.

You can eat right at maintenance and lift (a lot), or you can do very short bulk/cut cycles (1-2 days at a slight surplus followed by 1-2 days at a slight deficit) also while lifting a lot.

Either way, if you want to do both cardio and weights, I'd lift first.

Also, progress will be EXCEPTIONALLY slow, so be prepared for that mentally.

.

I did a recomp for the best part of ... 18 months? I think, and I'm not where I want to be as a result. Although I've made decent progress, I wish I could go back and start again - first with a hefty cut in my case, before moving on to a bulk cycle.

Edit; I am now in the early phases of a real 'cut'.

nebjennison

you want to eat the right kind of calories not the bad calories that take longer to burn but to take calories in with protein

giusa

Great replies! Saving for later!

Just_Scott

bump

mmapags

you want to eat the right kind of calories not the bad calories that take longer to burn but to take calories in with protein

Wha??

mumx5

bump to read later

koing

you want to eat the right kind of calories not the bad calories that take longer to burn but to take calories in with protein

Wha??

More bro science. Just eat a good balance healthy diet 80-90% of the time. Fill the other 10-20% with some treats or less treats if you are that way inclined. When I say balanced and healthy, generally if you cook things yourself and don't slam loads of salt and sugar you are going to be fine. Just don't deep fat fry everything.

Koing

ninerbuff

If you're lean already and want to add muscle, then you're not going to be able to maintain weight. A surplus (even a small one) is usually needed to put on more lean mass.
Lots talked about body recomp. Look into that.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Star_1234

read later

ndj1979

switch to a heavy lifting program that involves compound movements…starting strength and new rules of lifting for woman are great resources….

like others said, back off the cardio and strength train more …
set your macros to 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fats
increase your calories to maintenance level and see how you feel and then slowly increase to a suplus of a 100 a day …

DrWonga

If you want to gain mussels, you need to eat more calories than you burn. If you have a small surplus (250-300 kcal) you control your fat gain.

You have to increase your protein intake, and cut off some of the carbs.



-Lets do this !

shapefitter

So, i go to the gym at least 4 times a week (useually 6 times a week). I usually do 30 minutes of cardio (burning around 200-300 calories, then work on weight machines for the rest of the time. I weigh around 99 pounds, eat 1400 -1500 calories daily. Can i gain muscle, maintain weight, and loose fat? Ive read that gaining muscle requires more calories, but how do you balance adding calories to gain muscle vs. those calories adding fat?

thanks !

You might find this website useful www.fitnessfrog.com

Shock_Wave

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Shock_Wave

So, i go to the gym at least 4 times a week (useually 6 times a week). I usually do 30 minutes of cardio (burning around 200-300 calories, then work on weight machines for the rest of the time. I weigh around 99 pounds, eat 1400 -1500 calories daily. Can i gain muscle, maintain weight, and loose fat? Ive read that gaining muscle requires more calories, but how do you balance adding calories to gain muscle vs. those calories adding fat?

thanks !

1. Get a scale and check your starting weight
2. Get a sewing measuring tape and check your measurements
3. Get a digital electronic caliper calculator and check your bf#
4. Optional is to get a HRM to help measure calories burned more accurately during cardio only.

Exercise: I don't know how long you weight lift for so this puts a damper on things
Cardio 30 min cardio is still fine. Working your type 1 muscle fibers is great over all conditioning with weight lifting unless you have a problem eating those calories back. Note: Pretty sad to see a dominant type 2 person huff and puff going up 1 flight of stairs or walking across the parking lot lol.

Diet: Find your maintenance calories and add an extra 300 cals for 2 weeks and see if you gain any weight if not then up it to 500 calories if not then continue add 100 cals until you do.etc over maintenance until you start gaining. Side note here is to eat 1 gram of to 1 lb of protein to lbm. This will help adjust your macros.

Without knowing your bf% this makes it difficult to see what bf% you think you look good at.
1. Visual test Rule of thumb is if you can see your abs you can bulk until the last abs start to fade then cut.
2. Caliper bf% test is to gain weight to a certain bf% depending on how much mass you wanted to add then cut to your ideal body fat % you look good at.

Start a cutting diet repeating steps 1,2,3 after you get to your ideal bf% or maybe just satisfied visually you will have seen where you have grown, your weight, and how much lbm you have added, this will help for the next run. If your satisfied with your results then simply readjust your maintenance calories and your set.

DeterminedFee201426

1400-1500 cals is so low. to maintain weight and gain muscle 2000 cals and maybe a bit more like 2250 if your lifting heavy weights for a extended period of time .. you trying to build your body it will take a bit more than the little calories you eat .