Caloric maintenance or caloric surplus for muscle building?

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mauridaher
mauridaher Posts: 55 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been losing fat for a while now. I've definitely slimmed down, but I've also shrunk a bit on size overall, muscle wise. I stopped going to the gym, and focused on my cardio instead.

If I'm not wrong, what I've learned from Fitness 101 is that:

Burn fat/Calorie deficit
Gain muscle/Calorie surplus

Now my question is, wouldn't it make more sense to eat up to MAINTENANCE while lifting, thus keeping body fat at a steady level while constantly building muscle? Or do I really need to add a surplus?

I'm not quite there yet, but I want to know for when I reach my ideal weight. I realize this question may be stupid, and I'm sure there are logical reasons that I just don't know yet:) Thanks.

Replies

  • rejectuf
    rejectuf Posts: 487 Member
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    Your extra mass has to come from somewhere. If you're burning all your calories, where's that muscle going to come from?

    Note that you can still build strength while on a cut or maintenance. And also realize that you may end up building some muscle on maintenance because it's essentially a guess. Your metabolism varies from day to day and 'maintenance' is just a guess at a number that will average out to no gain or loss.
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
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    It depends on your current bodyfat percentage and your training age. If your a very lean person, you'll have trouble building muscle at maintenance or below. If you bf% is higher, you MIGHT be able to build at maintenance or below. IF you have been training for a while then your rate of gain will be much slower than someone who is new to weight training or has been training improperly/lacking intensity etc. In summary, it depends

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