What to eat when you lift weights?

nirsky

So we all know that calories in V. calories out will make you lose weight. (plus cardio)

So far I am eating 1200-1400 cal per day and burning about 2000 calories while running per week.

I started to lift weights which should increase my metabolism, and in order for the muscles to grow it need fuel.

I am 5'-10 182lb male.
I still want to lose 7lb and be at 175 so my BMI will not tell me I am overweight.

How much calories and what should I eat?
Should I eat more protein, more carb?
Should I lift 4 days and run 2, or 3 day run 3 day lift?

Thx.

scarecrow41

So we all know that calories in V. calories out will make you lose weight. (plus cardio)

So far I am eating 1200-1400 cal per day and burning about 2000 calories while running per week.

I started to lift weights which should increase my metabolism, and in order for the muscles to grow it need fuel.

I am 5'-10 182lb male.
I still want to lose 7lb and be at 175 so my BMI will not tell me I am overweight.

How much calories and what should I eat?
Should I eat more protein, more carb?
Should I lift 4 days and run 2, or 3 day run 3 day lift?

Thx.

To be quite honest your muscles can't grow when eating at a caloric deficit.

Aside from that you are going to want to increase protein. In particular, if you are looking to gain muscle mass you should be eating around 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass.

wmjrigo

Well...you can't grow muscle and loss weight at the same time. You can build muscle and loss body fat. So I would be focused on the scale if your trying to build some muscle but rather on inches and what not. Whoops...ran out of time!

mrphil86

So we all know that calories in V. calories out will make you lose weight. (plus cardio)

So far I am eating 1200-1400 cal per day and burning about 2000 calories while running per week.

I started to lift weights which should increase my metabolism, and in order for the muscles to grow it need fuel.

I am 5'-10 182lb male.
I still want to lose 7lb and be at 175 so my BMI will not tell me I am overweight.

How much calories and what should I eat?
Should I eat more protein, more carb?
Should I lift 4 days and run 2, or 3 day run 3 day lift?

Thx.

To be quite honest your muscles can't grow when eating at a caloric deficit.

Well said.

I'll tell you what works for me. I eat a ratio of 45/30/25. Carbs/Protein/Fat. It works for me and I run and lift.

However, I take in 2400 calories and I try to eat all my exercise calories. I'm not trying to loose weight. Which usually I do a pretty good job of it. As a good friend put it to me. If you want mass, you got to eat for mass. You can't really gain muscle mass very well when you are down in the calories.

reepobob

What is your body fat percentage? I am trying to shed fat while doing P90X and part of that is strength and conditioning training. I have my macro nutrients set up at 50% protein, 30% carbs, and 20% fat to shed fat and gain muscle. I eat most of my carbs in the morning and lunch. I eat a ton of chicken, turkey, fish, etc. and supplement with protein powder shakes and the occasional meal replacement protein bar to keep my protein gram up there. I struggle to get my carbs below, but I am maintaining at least a 45%, 35% and 20% ratio and shoot for 50/30/20.

This is what works for me...but I have about 23% body fat and am trying to get it to 10-15% so I got a ways to go...

Good luck...

dawnemjh

bump

nirsky

My body fat is +/-18.5%
I am 5-10 , in 25 days I lost 7lb from 188 to 181.
I want to be 175 with lean muscles.
Per this site my rest calories need is 2200, so I eat 1400 and work out in order to have 7000 cal negative in a week => 2lb lost in a week.

I read that lifting weight will help my metabolism be high, which will burn more fat.

To face it, I am a skinny guy with a pop-belly, so I want to flatten the belly, maybe get 4 pack, and also to get some inches of muscle......not looking to be the next Terminator.

How does the 50/30/20 works?
Lets say 2000 cal intake for easy math.
1000 cal from protein food like fish, chicken
600 cal from carb food like bread
400 cal from fat food like ????

Am I on the right track?
How do I know how to classified the cal to what category for other items....like fruit, vegetable, power bar etc....

Thx for all your info
I appreciate it.

xraychick77

to grow muscles you need to eat a calorie surplus. most of us cut and bulk..old skool terms, but hey.

so you cant diet and build muscle at the same time (except in cases of noob gains)..any real muscle that is -that will affect your metabolism. muscle doesnt incinerate fat like is touted by fitness gurus etc. 1 lb of muscle may burn 20 more calories a day. but to put on a lb of muscle you must work very hard and eat lots..and for anyone..man or woman if specifically training to put on muscle..may put on 1-2 lbs in a few months. thats if you are very dedicated and work hard. like losing weight, eat over maintenance..most suggest 500 a day over.

to build muscle..lose the cardio..there is no need..it burns those needed cals to build muscle. there are tons of workout programs out there..splits or all body, HST vs stronglifts vs 5x5 etc. you pick one you like. get plenty of rest..personally i do all body 3 times a week, no cardio.

4theking

to grow muscles you need to eat a calorie surplus. most of us cut and bulk..old skool terms, but hey.

so you cant diet and build muscle at the same time (except in cases of noob gains)..any real muscle that is -that will affect your metabolism. muscle doesnt incinerate fat like is touted by fitness gurus etc. 1 lb of muscle may burn 20 more calories a day. but to put on a lb of muscle you must work very hard and eat lots..and for anyone..man or woman if specifically training to put on muscle..may put on 1-2 lbs in a few months. thats if you are very dedicated and work hard. like losing weight, eat over maintenance..most suggest 500 a day over.

to build muscle..lose the cardio..there is no need..it burns those needed cals to build muscle. there are tons of workout programs out there..splits or all body, HST vs stronglifts vs 5x5 etc. you pick one you like. get plenty of rest..personally i do all body 3 times a week, no cardio.

Not to be the all knowing mr. right here but 1lb of muscle only burns 6 calories so it isn't significant at all. Its totally blown out of porportion that building muscle will speed up your metabolism.

Building muscle while losing fat can be done but is quite complicated. I believe what you want to accomplish can be done through diet alone. Up your protein and run a little less. Too much cardio on that level of calories will not be beneficial for the body composition you desire.

knovello82

You shouldn't always depend on the BMI index. It is not taking into consideration your body fat %. At your height your weight sounds like it is where it should be, especially if you are building muscle. Try to find a way ( a trainer at the gym??) to get your body fat % and what % you should be at. My brother is a trainer, he is a little taller than you and around 185...but he is at 7% body fat.

nirsky

I cannot run less, I am training to half-marathon, so I must run

Agglaki

to build muscle..lose the cardio..there is no need..it burns those needed cals to build muscle. there are tons of workout programs out there..splits or all body, HST vs stronglifts vs 5x5 etc. you pick one you like. get plenty of rest..personally i do all body 3 times a week, no cardio.

A lot of what has been said in this thread is true, you cannot build muscle and lose weight. But you can build muscle and lose fat. It is difficult, it is hard and it is slow, but it is healthier than bulking and cutting.

And personally I would have a good, albeit smaller physique all through the year, and remain fit, as opposed to being huge for 9months of the year and then trying to strip the fat away for 3months of the year or whatever the bulk / cut period each individual follows is.

Now the reason why I quoted this particular reply is because I do not agree with this at all. The benefits of cardio are far too many to strip out of a workout routine. Furthermore, the amount of cardio that one needs to do to burn muscle is an insane amount that people usually will not do in a regular workout routine.

Many of the negative views on cardio is coming from people who follow a bulk/cut mentality, the mentality which in itself is usually coupled with drastic diets and cardio in their effort to "cut" after "bulking". As you can imagine the drastic caloric reduction that is responsible for the muscle loss, not the cardio!

As already mentioned if you don't eat enough protein and enough calories you will destroy muscle (the body needs to survive). Proper nutrition while dieting is key to insuring you don't lose muscle mass.

A good workout regime if you want to use just weights would be the idea of super-setting and while many different names exist for these workouts they all have one thing in common, you are doing weightlifitng exercises over and over again and this repetition leads to a cardio workout, often supersets are done in intervals. These workouts can build muscle and give you a cardio workout at the same time, meaning you technically don't have to touch a cardio machine.

I can't stress this enough cardio does not burn muscle mass, crash diets and bad nutrition burn muscle mass!

But cardio can burn muscle when, you have no fat in the tank so to speak. Fat is our bodies energy storage. If you crash diet, and your bodyfat is low you body has no choice than to burn muscle in order to get the necessary energy to keep you warm and alive.

Also another pitfall of bad diets is the reduction in protein from the diet. No protein means no food for the muscle, which again means your body will start to burn muscle to survive since the make up of muscle is...protein based.

There have been studies in the field of cardio and the effect on muscle, and even over large distances and extreme training conditions the muscle loss was actually from the legs of the runners instead of the upper bodies simply because the runner was over training their legs and not allowing enough time for the muscle to repair itself.

Though this is the same as any workout routine. Work your biceps day in day out at the gym and they will get smaller as you are not allowing them to rest. Your body uses fat, and carbs before attacking your muscle. You need to be on a low calorie diet or doing silly amounts of cardio for this to happen.

I've maintained some form of cardio training all the time in my workout routines, and I usually stop weight training for a few months every year and focus solely on cardio workouts because at the end of the day stamina and endurance will help get that one last rep when you need it.


----EDIT----

Before I forget, to answer the question proposed.

it depends on how you want to train. You mention you are going for a half marathon. You can train in a number of ways:

Do weights and cardio separately on different days so you can hit both intensively.

Train weights and cardio together in one sitting

Do weights in the morning followed by cardio in the afternoon or vice versa depending on your time.

Personally, I go for a weight session first, then follow up with a cardio session of at least 30min. I do this 4 days a week and train boxing 2 days a week.

Ideally, a cardio session in the morning would be great, following by a weight session in the afternoon following several hours rest, but with a full time job this is not an option.

And to train weights and cardio on their own on different days again is not an option for me as I already spend 6 days a week closed off in the warehouse that passes itself off as a gym

Weight training will help strengthen and grow the muscle, the cardio will lend to the endurance and stamina you need for the marathon. Make sure you are fuelling up with enough protein all through the day, try to eat a heavy carb based breakfast, and throughout the day start limiting your carb intake.

You need fat so don't eliminate that from your diet, but ensure you are eating as much as you can healthy fats.

Hope that helps, and most importantly best of luck with the training. Leave your ego at the door, and if you need to train with baby weights, train with baby weights. Injury will be the worst possible thing that can happen and will only lead to stalling your training.

Agglaki

So we all know that calories in V. calories out will make you lose weight. (plus cardio)

So far I am eating 1200-1400 cal per day and burning about 2000 calories while running per week.

I started to lift weights which should increase my metabolism, and in order for the muscles to grow it need fuel.

I am 5'-10 182lb male.
I still want to lose 7lb and be at 175 so my BMI will not tell me I am overweight.

How much calories and what should I eat?
Should I eat more protein, more carb?
Should I lift 4 days and run 2, or 3 day run 3 day lift?

Thx.

Just to add to my previous response on the importance of cardio.

You say you're eating 1200-1400 calories a day. Did you work out the minimum amount of calories your body needs to survive in the first place? The Basal metabolic rate?

1200 calories, even 1400 calories a day seems very low to me. I've been averaging 1600 - 2200 calories a day and I'm still losing weight. You have to be very careful not to drop your body into a starvation mode, that will force it to start storing anything you put into your system, or as mentioned in my previous post that may in fact force muscle cannibalisation.

Furthermore, I think the recommended loss of weight is 1lb a week. Going for 2lb a week might be a bit excessive. Just a thought.

In your initial post you're asking if you should train for 6 days a week. That is going to put a lot of stress on your body. Without the correct nutrition your body will break down.

If you want an idea of what I'm doing by all means have a look at my diary (however that is achieved on this site). The reason i say this is because using the 1lb loss a week, I'm told to eat 1500 cal a day. When I'm training however I eat above this figure because of the training. Depriving yourself of the food after training is not good. The muscles need their nutrients and the actual growth is achieved outside of the gym when you are resting and properly fuelling yourself