Maintain weight, lose fat, gain muscle?

s4232806

Hi all,

I have a question about my personal diet and exercise and I was wondering if anyone has any information, thoughts or advice. All comments welcome (although negative comments are less desired)

Firstly, my stats. I'm 22 (female), 158cm (around 5'2/5'3) and am 53.5kgs (118 pounds). Body fat percentage is around 25%.

I started exercising just over a year ago (after a particularly macaroon and poutine heavy 6 months abroad in Montreal) and now exercise for 1 hour 6 times a week doing a combination of cardio and weights.
An average work out consists of something along the lines of (it varies obviously, this is a leg heavy day, but I try mix it up so it's a combination of legs/arms every work out):
15 treadmill warm up - level 6.5
15 x 6 squat - around 25-30kgs
15 x 3 - weighted lunges 20 kgs
15 x 3 deadlift - 20 kgs
15 x 3 bench dips - with around 15 kgs on my lap
A few others weighed exercises (like barbell curls, rows, clean and press etc)
Then some body weighted toning exercises to make up the remaining hour.

I aim to eat around 1500 calories per day (have to estimate as I am currently eating at a dorm and have no access to cooking facilities). I'm living in Korea for the next month or so (and have been since Feb '14) so my diet is fairly white rice heavy but I think my calorie estimates are accurate and I eat as healthy as possible given my limited options (ie load up on the very infrequent green veg, eat at least a little kimchi every meal - no matter how much it hurts my soul, and avoid the fried (and often soggy and cold) dumplings, spring rolls, fries etc).

So my concerns:

Firstly, I'm worried I might not be eating enough food. I'm happy with my weight at the moment but still have stubborn belly and inner thigh fat to lose so basically my goals right now are 'lose fat, maintain weight, gain a bit of muscle' and i'm worried that my current calories are hindering these efforts. I don't want to accidentally damage my metabolism and keep slogging away when i'm actually doing it wrong. Does anyone have any advice on this?

Secondly, I think maybe I should be implementing a little more cardio into my workouts since it's predominantly weight exercises (my issue is I have quite weak joints (knees, ankles and wrists) so can only really do cardio that doesn't involve high impact). Thoughts on this?

I will be leaving Korea soon and will finally have access to a kitchen again and will revert back to my clean eating lifestyle. My goal while in Korea (knowing I would be eating dorm food) was not to worry too much about my weight knowing that as long as I maintained my muscle mass I could get the weight off pretty easily once I had control over my food again. I think i've managed to do this as my weight has stayed the same, so what I want to do soon is start getting rid of that belly and thigh fat - any advice on exercises (I know there is no such thing as spot reducing) and lifestyle, diet tips would be great.

Thanks!

myfitnesspale3

You probably won't achieve three goals of the subject simultaneously because building muscle requires more calories and protein, and Increasing calories beyond TDEE always adds some fat. So you are looking at phases of adding muscle, then cutting fat. You seem well-equipped tomanage that.

Love your vignette: after a particularly macaroon and poutine heavy 6 months abroad

You'll find a lot builder's guidance in "fitness and exercise" rather than "maintaining".

Brad23232323

I don't need to read any of what you posted to answer this. Its impossible to lose fat and gain muscle, to lose fat you need to be in a state of caloric deficiency, and to gain muscle you need to be in a state of caloric excess, to say you will do both is like saying your cup is full AND empty at the same time. Nuff said. YES there are exceptions but unless you have heavenly genetics handcrafted by GOD himself to be the most amazing specimen the world has ever seen....pick one goal and stick with it because your not going to do both at once. Trust me, years of experience here, and take my advice and gain muscle first, before the artist carves his masterpiece he first needs to start out with a big block of granite

charlieibeling

you can lose fat and gain muscle at (virtually) the same time but in all likelihood you will fail without outstanding coaching and very blessed genes. you have the advantage of being a new trainer. muscle will increase quickly and with the added muscle your metabolism will burn more fat. the safe play is to lose fat first then add in muscle. the body bulks up better in a lean condition than a fattier one.
but if you want to try to add muscle and lose fat here is your best bet
1) train harder with weights and use heavier weights under 15 reps.
2) limit cardio to 2-3 HIIT sessions. no jogging or slower cardio
3) eat t least 150g of protein a day.
4) eat around your maintainance calories
5) take bcaas during training
6) have 80% of your carbs in your pre and post workout meals to start with
7) never train without a proper pre and post workout meal
8) treat your workout and the pre and post meals as you would treat your children

plouff87

Try Javita