Receiving mixed signals.

Dedshot

People tell me that, in order to gain muscle mass, I should not be eating at a deficit.
People tell me that, in order to obtain a flat stomach and lose body fat in general, I need to eat at a deficit.

I am attempting to accomplish both of these things with my diet/exercise regimen. I am eating at a deficit currently because I don't know what is right to do, and doing cardio/weight training every day.

Someone straighten this out for me? Thank you!

I_Will_End_You

You can't really do both at the same time. Eat at a slight deficit and lift heavy to retain as much LBM as possible while losing fat.

iamMLH

I have never understood why you can't do both. If energy is energy, why can't you eat and lift enough to build muscle and not go over so much that you put on extra fat?

It seems like people put on fat and muscle all the time (bulking), lose fat and muscle (atrophy), and lose fat and maintain muscle (cutting). Wouldn't it just be a matter finding the right calorie intake? Depending on the body fat of the OP, which I don't know, I would think the window could be rather wide since for every pound of fat, there is an extra 3,500 calories in the body to play with.

notwithoutsalt

You can lose fat and build muscle! Absolutly. I think this myth comes from the fact that when you exercise, you build muscle. A pound of muscle doesn't take as much volume as a pound of fat. So even if the scale doesn't go down, your clothes size and waist measure will go down.

Dont eat too little calories, because you'll be too tired to keep up the exercise.

Dedshot

I have never understood why you can't do both. If energy is energy, why can't you eat and lift enough to build muscle and not go over so much that you put on extra fat?

It seems like people put on fat and muscle all the time (bulking), lose fat and muscle (atrophy), and lose fat and maintain muscle (cutting). Wouldn't it just be a matter finding the right calorie intake? Depending on the body fat of the OP, which I don't know, I would think the window could be rather wide since for every pound of fat, there is an extra 3,500 calories in the body to play with.

According to bmi-calculator.net, my body fat % is 24.95. Does that narrow it down in terms of calorie intake?

iamMLH

I'm not the most knowledgable person on here, and I probably don't have the most experience. But, this thread hasn't gotten a ton of traction, I want you to leave with something. So, take this for what it's worth:

If you want to lose weight, you need to have a caloric deficit. However, if you want to build muscle, you need to have enough energy to power through your workouts and really push it in the gym. I would use a calculator to estimate your caloric goals, and I would go with a very small deficit. Focus on having good workouts. Measure your Body Fat Percentage with a method that will allow you to be consistent and see how that changes over time. If your BFP is staying the same, you can probably drop your calories down. Just make sure you have enough energy for your workouts or else you won't be able to build muscle.

I hope that's helpful.

ElliottTN

You can do both but the process is so incredibly grueling slow almost anyone would agree it is not worth it. I am guessing you are a guy? You can have your cake and eat it too but it is going to suck at first getting there. Continue to do what you are doing (deficit and workouts) until you are down to around 10% body fat (if you are a guy)

Once you get there you can toggle with bulks up to 13 or 14% depending on your genetics and enjoy putting on some good muscle mass while still having a flat stomach. The you cut back down to 10 and start over again

It just sucks getting down to that low bf % the first time and building up from there for awhile.

Dedshot

You can do both but the process is so incredibly grueling slow almost anyone would agree it is not worth it. I am guessing you are a guy? You can have your cake and eat it too but it is going to suck at first getting there. Continue to do what you are doing (deficit and workouts) until you are down to around 10% body fat (if you are a guy)

Once you get there you can toggle with bulks up to 13 or 14% depending on your genetics and enjoy putting on some good muscle mass while still having a flat stomach. The you cut back down to 10 and start over again

It just sucks getting down to that low bf % the first time and building up from there for awhile.

I am a lady Although I do have very good genetics for muscle building. Thank you for your advice!

Dedshot

I'm not the most knowledgable person on here, and I probably don't have the most experience. But, this thread hasn't gotten a ton of traction, I want you to leave with something. So, take this for what it's worth:

If you want to lose weight, you need to have a caloric deficit. However, if you want to build muscle, you need to have enough energy to power through your workouts and really push it in the gym. I would use a calculator to estimate your caloric goals, and I would go with a very small deficit. Focus on having good workouts. Measure your Body Fat Percentage with a method that will allow you to be consistent and see how that changes over time. If your BFP is staying the same, you can probably drop your calories down. Just make sure you have enough energy for your workouts or else you won't be able to build muscle.

I hope that's helpful.

Very helpful! I will continue to work out hard every day while eating at a small deficit. Makes a lot of sense to me. Thank you

Beckilovespizza

I don't understand it either and am gonna read the comments to get tips! What I am personally doing is trying to lose weight to get to my goal, am then gonna try maintaining and lifting to build the muscles with the thought I will be putting on weight (but muscle weight). That was the plan but I will eagerly watch out for replies which may give a better method. good luck! :flowerforyou: