Maintaining (building?) muscle mass...

journey_man

...while losing fat. I've read around and tried to do my homework but remain confused:

I started MFP very recently and have been losing pounds at a prodigious rate without too much effort (12 lbs in 2 weeks, currently at 348lbs). I know this will slow down at some point, but I am worried about making a significant dent into my rather substantial muscle mass.

(1) Is there a clear consensus that you can't build muscle on a calorie deficit? Or have some experienced otherwise?

(2) When I resume the gym, should I focus on muscle building routines, or strength building routines? Is the former useless on a calorie deficit?

(3) Would increasing my protein intake help? If so, how much protein should I be consuming?

Thanks.

jmoneycgt

Consume 1g of protein for every pound you weigh. Your other macros (carbs/fat) are not as important. If you are trying to get super lean (six pack, etc), going lower on carbs will be more important towards the end. It is very important that you set yourself up for NO MORE than half a pound a week weight loss. If you cut too hard, you WILL lose muscle.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

1. You are obese, you might be able to build muscle while on a deficit.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html


2. Strength

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/weight-training-for-fat-loss-part-1.html


3. Generally 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. If you have 50% body fat, that be about 170grams.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/protein-intake-while-dieting-qa.html

Francl27

Consume 1g of protein for every pound you weigh. Your other macros (carbs/fat) are not as important. If you are trying to get super lean (six pack, etc), going lower on carbs will be more important towards the end. It is very important that you set yourself up for NO MORE than half a pound a week weight loss. If you cut too hard, you WILL lose muscle.

He has a lot of weight to lose. 1-1.5lb a week is fine.

jmoneycgt

Sorry I somehow missed how much he weighed. 300+ grams of protein would literally have you pooping bricks. The other person was correct about 170g of protein will do ya. Also you could set your weight loss goals higher. 1-1.5 pounds a week. I would day once you hit 30 pounds from your goal weight, trim you goals back down to .5lb a week.

journey_man

LOL @ pooping bricks. Yeah we don't want that.

Great replies, thanks guys. Off to find a good weight-lifting routine. Right now Stronglift 5x5 is looking good and seems rather simple. Haven't done any substantial lifting in years. I miss it!

Mr_Knight

At that weight, you can safely lose more than 2 lbs per week.

journey_man

One more question:

As long as I keep the total within my calorie limits, is there anything wrong with getting the extra protein from whey protein supplements?

psuLemon

One more question:

As long as I keep the total within my calorie limits, is there anything wrong with getting the extra protein from whey protein supplements?

nope.. but like others said, you will probably get some newb gains and gains from being obese.

allen_ac

A good recommendation of protein intake is 1g per lean body mass, not per pound, even a lot of research would consider 1g per lean body mass even higher than you need, but that would be to ensure you definitely get what you need

Fat intake should also be about 0.5g per lean body mass, it's important for hormone production and such, going too low on dietary fats may be harmful to health

The thing that you should look to drop over time is carbs, you don't need carbs to survive, but they are still the best energy source. Like the others said, you could definitely lose 2lbs +++ a week.

It's important that you find the sweet spot in caloric intake , which you are able to lose a good amount of weight, but not having to drop your calories like crazy, your body will adapt faster than you know it and that's when you will plateau

___________

The consensus is that you cannot build muscle while burning fat unless you generally meet the criteria of
1) New to training or haven't trained in a looooong time
2) Something along the lines of obesity, where you would probably react very well to any training introduced
- Pretty much similar in nature but you get the idea

If you are fairly new to the gym, you should probably focus on strength training, being able to lift as heavy as you can, you will build muscle regardless since you are new to the stimulus from training. Building muscle is about progressive tension overload, meaning if you are continually improving in your training and this can be in any aspect (whether it be weight you lift, more reps, sets, total training volume, less rest time etc.).

Anyhow, the key to the health and fitness is patience and consistency, good luck with everything, hope you achieve your goals

journey_man

A good recommendation of protein intake is 1g per lean body mass, not per pound, even a lot of research would consider 1g per lean body mass even higher than you need, but that would be to ensure you definitely get what you need

Fat intake should also be about 0.5g per lean body mass, it's important for hormone production and such, going too low on dietary fats may be harmful to health

The thing that you should look to drop over time is carbs, you don't need carbs to survive, but they are still the best energy source. Like the others said, you could definitely lose 2lbs +++ a week.

It's important that you find the sweet spot in caloric intake , which you are able to lose a good amount of weight, but not having to drop your calories like crazy, your body will adapt faster than you know it and that's when you will plateau

___________

The consensus is that you cannot build muscle while burning fat unless you generally meet the criteria of
1) New to training or haven't trained in a looooong time
2) Something along the lines of obesity, where you would probably react very well to any training introduced
- Pretty much similar in nature but you get the idea

If you are fairly new to the gym, you should probably focus on strength training, being able to lift as heavy as you can, you will build muscle regardless since you are new to the stimulus from training. Building muscle is about progressive tension overload, meaning if you are continually improving in your training and this can be in any aspect (whether it be weight you lift, more reps, sets, total training volume, less rest time etc.).

Anyhow, the key to the health and fitness is patience and consistency, good luck with everything, hope you achieve your goals

Thanks, this is great, but what does "per lean body mass" mean? That phrase needs a unit of mass to make sense. Might you mean "per pound of lean body mass"? You did say not pounds, so I'm not sure. Not being pedantic, just confused. I appreciate the help.

allen_ac

Yes my mistake haha, i'm surprised i missed it several times loll, maybe I'm just not use to your metric system