Lifters? I lost the fat...now ready to gain muscle

jayb0ne

3. will it help with my loss if im not gaining muscle...aka...whats the point?

If you lose a pound a week and it's half fat and half muscle, you've only lost half a pound of fat. If you maintain your muscle through lifting while in a deficit, that pound you lost will be much closer to a full pound of fat.

"I lost a pound of fat" is more impressive than "I lost a pound of weight"

Jay

sruffin9834

Yep basically this, losing weight is easy, its gaining LBM that is hard.
[/quote]

This is a very upsetting statement! Are you serious??? That just ruined my day!

HeidiMightyRawr

When gaining muscle, you will gain fat. It comes with the territory and you have to accept that.
It's not as bad as it sounds though, once you feel you are getting bigger than you like, you can stop and focus on "cutting" which is basically losing weight (body fat) while maintaining the muscle you've built. You don't have to keep building muscle and fat for ages. Many people only go up like 10lbs if they want to keep in the same size clothes and stay reasonably slim.

I've just finished "bulking" to gain muscle. I'm the same weight as I was pre-MFP but around 5-6% less body fat, and I fit into clothes better than I did then too My clothes from my lightest weight are now quite tight hence why I've just started cutting.

Good luck!

jamaicanlady

Here are some universal truths about gaining muscle - although I'm sure someone will disagree with me directly:

- You'll need to get over the scale number.

- You can't gain muscle without gaining weight.

- You can't gain significant muscle in a caloric deficit.

- When gaining muscle, you'll gain some amount of fat.

- You can limit the amount of fat you gain by eating clean.

- If you shy away from the caloric surplus, you'll risk not getting the best growth results from your lifting.

- To find the right surplus you'll first need to find out your maintenance number. Ignoring the estimates on MFP, find YOUR maintenance level.

- Well timed nutrition and supplementation will go a long way.

Think of it in cyclic terms. You're either in a growth phase (bulk) - eating a surplus, lifting to grow - or a fat loss phase (cut) - eating a deficit, lifting to maintain muscle and to ensure as much of the weight loss as possible is fat loss. Try not to half do it and jump between the two. If you're bulking, commit to it for a period - say, 3 months - and embrace the extra weight, accepting that some of it will be fat. Then cut for as long as it takes to get your BF down to where you want it. Lather, rinse, repeat until happy with your muscle mass and/or body shape.

It's really a game of holding your nerve as the scale number grows and having confidence in your training and nutrition that the weight is going on the right places.

Feel free to add me if you like. I'm on the same journey

Jay

Thanks for this. I'm creating a calorie deficit because I have a lot of fat to lose, but I'm also lifting to try to prevent as much muscle loss as possible.

bluefever

When I did the NROL4W I ate an extra 200cals on lifting days. I lost 3lbs over the whole program but more than 3 inches off my waiste. Don't worry about the extra calories, you are gonna need them and be starving on lifing days.

Jeff92se

When I did the NROL4W I ate an extra 200cals on lifting days. I lost 3lbs over the whole program but more than 3 inches off my waiste. Don't worry about the extra calories, you are gonna need them and be starving on lifing days.

You gain muscle? Great job!

carrie_eggo

Here are some universal truths about gaining muscle - although I'm sure someone will disagree with me directly:

- You'll need to get over the scale number.

- You can't gain muscle without gaining weight.

- You can't gain significant muscle in a caloric deficit.

- When gaining muscle, you'll gain some amount of fat.

- You can limit the amount of fat you gain by eating clean.

- If you shy away from the caloric surplus, you'll risk not getting the best growth results from your lifting.

- To find the right surplus you'll first need to find out your maintenance number. Ignoring the estimates on MFP, find YOUR maintenance level.

- Well timed nutrition and supplementation will go a long way.

Think of it in cyclic terms. You're either in a growth phase (bulk) - eating a surplus, lifting to grow - or a fat loss phase (cut) - eating a deficit, lifting to maintain muscle and to ensure as much of the weight loss as possible is fat loss. Try not to half do it and jump between the two. If you're bulking, commit to it for a period - say, 3 months - and embrace the extra weight, accepting that some of it will be fat. Then cut for as long as it takes to get your BF down to where you want it. Lather, rinse, repeat until happy with your muscle mass and/or body shape.

It's really a game of holding your nerve as the scale number grows and having confidence in your training and nutrition that the weight is going on the right places.

Feel free to add me if you like. I'm on the same journey

Jay

Good advice