Maintain my weight while lifting and eating at maintenance?

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ObsessedMonster
ObsessedMonster Posts: 150 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I made a work out plan consisting of upper and lower body resistance training exercises that I'm willing to do 3 times a week. I do 10 mins of cardio beforehand and spend one hour lifting weights (including breaks and stretches between sets). My goal is to become more "toned", but maintain my current weight because losing more would be unhealthy. Can I maintain my weight while becoming more toned and eating at maintenance? And what would happen if I didn't eat enough protein? Would I lose weight, stay the same or what? I'm so confused. If anyone could help steer me in the right direction, that would be appreciated. Thanks.

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  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Q/ Can I maintain my weight while becoming more toned and eating at maintenance?
    A/ Yes. It's often called a "recomp". It's what I'm doing, slowly losing fat and gaining lean mass.

    Q/ Would I lose weight, stay the same or what?
    A/ Maintenance of weight is a function of calorie balance - eating enough to stay in a fairly small weight range to allow for normal fluctuations.

    Q/ And what would happen if I didn't eat enough protein?
    A/ Your chances of muscle growth (and post exercise recovery) will be harmed if you don't eat adequate amounts of protein. I aim for the fairly typical 1g per 1lb of lean body mass as a minimum.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
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    ^^ Agree with the above.

    I have been successfully eating at maintenance and lifting weights for 9+ years. I have my couple times a year I gain a few pounds, like around the holidays or after a vacation, but then I just spend 2 weeks stepping it up and eating a little less to get back to where I want to be.

    Its pretty much all a game of numbers! I've done a recomp over 4 months time (very short recomp) and lost ~3% body fat while maintaining my weight. The good thing about that was, my maintenance calories are way higher than they used to be. Of course, you have to stay the course and continually weight train, a progressive weight training program would be ideal.

    Or you can just do a mini bulk for a few months and then a cut!

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