Lifting at deficit/maintenance/surplus

Zoe_lifts

Okay, i know that if you lift at a calorie deficit that you will preserve the muscle you already have, lose fat and maybe have some newbie muscle gain.
And i also know that if you want to gain muscle you have to eat at a surplus.
But what happens when you lift at maintenance?

(edited for spelling

sijomial

But what happens when you lift at maintenance?

Depends! Speaking in generalisations and ignoring any genetic gifts....

It's likely if you are fully trained you will stay roughly the same unless your training program has also changed.
If you are under trained (new to lifting, recovering from a lay off) you will slowly build muscle and lose fat. Known as recomp.

Factors such as age, training years, gender, diet and of course your training program all have an impact on what's possible for you.

Two ends of the spectrum would be a chubby 18 year male new to training and a lean, older female at her peak after years of training.

CrusaderSam

It's like dividing by 0 just cant be done. You will die if you do this, your muscles will explode. Your body just wont know what to do. Still after a billion years of evolution the body just is not designed to lift weight and maintain. Sorry but you got to be bulking or cutting or be mocked by every meathead on the internet!

On a serious note most people call it a recomp now. There is nothing magic about a surplus per day that makes it so you can gain muscle. Like what if a surplus is over 26 or 22 hours instead of 24. As long as your body fat % is high enough you can keep gaining muscle. If you had to be at a surplus at all times, things like tall skinny people couldn't happen and people on diets couldn't heal from cuts or other wounds.