female lose fat/gain muscle question. How much is enough?

jenna762001

A few stats...
Female, 37, 5'6, 141 lbs
I would like to lose a bit of fat and tone up. I read a lot about weight lifting and strength training for women but I really don't know the extent of the training one is expected to do to see results. I've been a runner for several years and also have done crossfit for a couple. I've had to take time off for marathon training and family obligations. Anyhow, I'm back at it and this time I'm trying to get things right (or closer to right- I'll never be perfect in there) in the kitchen too. I have a history of overeating and undereating, and just a generally unhealthy relationship with food. My current goals would be to shave 5 more pounds I gained over this miserable winter and start rebuilding muscle where I've lost it and adding more. So my question is can you gain muscle on a calorie deficit? Perhaps a small one maybe? Or is it necessary to have no deficit? The other question I have is... how much lifting and strength training is enough? I don't know if I should be doing more or what...
My general regime is running 30-40 miles a week, 3 crossfit classes and 1 home core and strength workout. I'm not super strong. I'm not the weakest person out there but definitely not the strongest either. At crossfit I excel on the endurance aspect, but stink at lifting heavier, though I'm trying.
My exercise and food diaries are open. I started logging again 3 1/2 weeks ago and have lost a couple pounds for sure. This week I went up one but attribute that to female "stuff". The diary is relatively accurate (i also have an unhealthy relationship with my food scale- obsessive personality) and my crossfit workouts are recorded in the notes. My calorie is set at BMR with the intention of eating back exercise calories. I don't eat them all though because I'm afraid of them being overinflated. I drink LOTS of water. I have started using my hrm again to help verify calories burned a little. Feel free to tell me where you think I'm going wrong, if you think I'm screwing something up. Do I need to be doing even more strength workouts? If so, how much? And I know some people knock too much cardio, but I love distance running and don't plan to give it up. I just want to also gain muscle. Thanks for taking any time to read and give pertinent support!

dmpizza

I am not a trainer or anything, but it's great that a mother of 6 makes time to keep herself healthy and happy. Good for you.

LoveMyLife_NYC

You cannot gain muscle while eating at a deficit. Eating at a deficit will, however, cut your body fat percentage. Lifting at a deficit will help you retain lean body mass (muscles) and have a fitter looking body when all is said and done. If you're not happy with your body fat percentage, I'd cut calories first and get started with a progressive weight lifting routine. New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women, Stronglifts, and 5/3/1 are very popular programs to check out. Once you cut for a while and get closer to goal weight, you might want to reevaluate your goals. Maybe eat at maintenance if you're happy, or at a surplus to help build more muscle mass. I'd count crossfit as strength training, and generally you don't want to do that more than 3-4 days/week as your muscles need days off to recover. On the off days, you can run, but you should also have a day or 2 where you do nothing at all to let your muscles heal. Strength gains happen more when the muscles are recovering, and the days off prevent injury.

Samby_v1

So my question is can you gain muscle on a calorie deficit? Perhaps a small one maybe? Or is it necessary to have no deficit? The other question I have is... how much lifting and strength training is enough? I don't know if I should be doing more or what...

Cutting to the chase... Remember, you're only 5lbs away from your goal weight, weight loss from calorie deficit alone is going to slow down, esp as having muscle speeds up your metabolism. I'm eating at my maintenance calories, minus 300 calories, making it a minimum of 1661 when not doing my kettlebells workout.

There is so much to say for the benefits of strength training. I read 'New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women' and it spells it all out, but the important thing to remember that with strength training your body continues to repair muscle long after you've worked out, which speeds up your metabolism, which burns more calories. And you only have to workout three days a week to do this! And you can eat loads! If you absolutely have to run, do it on a lifting day, preferably after you've done your strength training, so you can give it your best and maintain good form.

Hope this helps.

Oh, and I've lost 1% of fat and gained 1% in lean muscle in three weeks (I lost my first week to pure cardio), while losing 3lbs - so while I can't claim to have seriously gained muscle at least I haven't lost any. You're doing fantastically well, but it's time to kick it up a notch!

jenna762001

Thank you for the responses and information. I will definitely look at these strength training resources!

supermodelchic

I looked at your diary and there are several things you can change, stop eating processed food, eat more fresh veggies , lean protein, complex carbs, at dinner just have 4oz of lean protein, 2 cups veggies ,( spinach, greenbeans asparagus ect ) raw almonds for a snack 24 almonds will do, eat more protein during the day at every meal. Check out my meals and get some ideas , I follow a high protein diet and have a decent amount of muscle, I weight train & cardio 5-6 days a week, I like to target train 16-20 sets per bodypart once a week, I am 5'6" weigh 131...