Athletes can gain muscle while losing fat on deficit diet

Matt_Wild

Elizabeth_C34 is bang on the money. Good luck with those lean gains whilst dieting... :laugh:

suwonfish

When I started to "transform" (i.e. lose the 30 extra lbs I was carrying) I hit the gym EVERY DAY for 90 days. Not easy with injuries, party offers etc...

I lost 12 lbs fat and gained 6 lbs muscle based on body composition. This was done with no regard to nutrition other than adding protein shakes/supps to my wifes cooking.

Since there was a net loss there must have been a calorific deficit, right?

Funny thing, since joining MFP my weight loss has become much more rapid but I'm also seeing muscle/strenght loss too

I've been on a 1,000 calorie deficit for a month.

So, I believe the premise but getting the nutrition right to do it is hard as H#ll...

darrensurrey

I've been on a mild deficit (c. -100 calories a day) for the last 5 months and have slowly been gaining strength and growing muscle. It's grindingly slow, of course, and I'm not taking any supplements which doesn't help matters. My aim is to have a good physique but enjoy normal living (barring having to log everything ).

Matt_Wild

Can I see anyones muscle gain or do we just have to believe you?

jazee11

bump for later reading. Thanks for the post.

Thundermtn

bump

BinaryPulsar

bump (I'm not dieting, just always curious about these topics)

Corsetopia

bump

januadiaboli

Bump ... to read later when the kids aren't having a light sabre battle in my office.

californiagirl2012

This worked for me!

heybales

When I started to "transform" (i.e. lose the 30 extra lbs I was carrying) I hit the gym EVERY DAY for 90 days. Not easy with injuries, party offers etc...

I lost 12 lbs fat and gained 6 lbs muscle based on body composition. This was done with no regard to nutrition other than adding protein shakes/supps to my wifes cooking.

Since there was a net loss there must have been a calorific deficit, right?

Funny thing, since joining MFP my weight loss has become much more rapid but I'm also seeing muscle/strenght loss too

I've been on a 1,000 calorie deficit for a month.

So, I believe the premise but getting the nutrition right to do it is hard as H#ll...

And there is the huge difference between the study and your results, and what the majority on MFP are doing, and what you later did.

And that is accepting that MFP truly knows what your real maintenance or TDEE is to take a deficit from.

The study they knew what it was, and while the deficit seems steep (0.7% of bodyweight), it's a deficit off true maintenance.

Many on MFP think they are taking a mild deficit, and compared to 2 lbs are indeed, but it's still possibly much bigger than they know, hence the difficulty of obtaining these results.

Matt_Wild

Can I see some noticeable gains please people? Would be interesting to see

L00py_T0ucan

bump

suwonfish

When I started to "transform" (i.e. lose the 30 extra lbs I was carrying) I hit the gym EVERY DAY for 90 days. Not easy with injuries, party offers etc...

I lost 12 lbs fat and gained 6 lbs muscle based on body composition. This was done with no regard to nutrition other than adding protein shakes/supps to my wifes cooking.

Since there was a net loss there must have been a calorific deficit, right?

Funny thing, since joining MFP my weight loss has become much more rapid but I'm also seeing muscle/strenght loss too

I've been on a 1,000 calorie deficit for a month.

So, I believe the premise but getting the nutrition right to do it is hard as H#ll...

And there is the huge difference between the study and your results, and what the majority on MFP are doing, and what you later did.

And that is accepting that MFP truly knows what your real maintenance or TDEE is to take a deficit from.

The study they knew what it was, and while the deficit seems steep (0.7% of bodyweight), it's a deficit off true maintenance.

Many on MFP think they are taking a mild deficit, and compared to 2 lbs are indeed, but it's still possibly much bigger than they know, hence the difficulty of obtaining these results.

I agree that we're mosty using guesstimate tools.

I'm tired of losing strenght and muscle so I'm going to a 300 cal deficit with 200 gms protein.

I'm going to apply starting strengh logic to my old 5 day split since my form has gone to *kitten* struggling to push the weights I used just a month ago...

My gold standard will be my waist measurement now. If it grows I'll drop cals but I'm now happy to see my weight go up.

Let's see if this idea flies ^^

Jstash88

Bump

suwonfish

It's very early days but....

I've been running a 300 cal deficit for a week now with a target of 200 gms protein. Most days I've only gotten 150 but 200 is the target. Tuna gets dull

I've lost 1/2 inch for my waist since last week and only lost 0.3 lbs. That looks VERY promising to me.

As I say it's early days. I'll record my results here next week and see if the trend continues.

BigGuy47

Everyone that qualifies as an elite athlete please raise your hand.

suwonfish

Hmmmm, weight went up 0.7 kgs this week and my waist shrank by slightly over 1/2 inch...

Definate strengths gains even if modest...

Pleased with this high protein, 300 cal deficit. Will maintain till 10% BF.

vodkoffee

Bump.

heybales

Hmmmm, weight went up 0.7 kgs this week and my waist shrank by slightly over 1/2 inch...

Definate strengths gains even if modest...

Pleased with this high protein, 300 cal deficit. Will maintain till 10% BF.

Great results for such a short time.

I'll bet the weight gain is just more muscle and better trained to store glucose now because of the way you are using it.. 500 cal of stored glucose with required water weighs 1 lb.

So even if you say 0 gain or loss, but dropped inches, then LBM increased. I doubt it was tendons and cartiledge and bone weight, so that leaves muscle and what it stores.
Well, did brain get bigger? Maybe that was it.