Losing weight/gaining muscle-which direction to go in?

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Hi,


I started counting calories with the NOOM app around February of last year and following a good diet with balanced cardio and brought myself down from 82kg to 60kg. But I don't have the figure/form I'm aiming at. Flatter stomach, muscular shape, that kind of thing.


I'm 5'6'' and according to my BMI, 50kg is in my healthy range. So I'm wondering should I try to lose enough weight to get down there before trying build any muscle?


Also, I'm on the 2nd week of Stronglifts and I gained like half of pound but I'm not sure if it was muscle since I ate a lot of meat that week.


Which reminds me of how not knowing what/how much to eat makes this even more frustrating.
I read that when trying to build muscle you should create a calorie excess but when trying to lose you should create a deficit. Not sure which direction to go in.


Thanks for reading this. Sorry if it was kinda long. Any tips/help/advice would really help.

SezxyStef

If you are still eating in a deficet you are not gaining muscle esp not 1/2lb of it.

2 weeks into stronglifts it is probably water retention and gylcogen stores in the muscle.

A bulk is suggested when you have reached at least goal weight and BF% goal (18-20%) is what I have read a lot for a good place for a women to start bulking.

To find out how much you should eat figure out your TDEE and substract a decent percentage off that. With 11kg to go I would suggest 10-15% deficet.

Hit your goal weight, maintain for a bit while still lifting and getting your protien and try recomp for a while and if you are not happy try a small deficet again..5-10% and once you get to a good BF% do a bulk then.