You Can Gain Muscle On A Calorie Deficit!!

MJ7910

There's quite a difference between putting on new lean muscle and just strengthening / maintaining what you already have. It takes calories to "bulk up".

You can add muscle aswell. The only exception is when you reach a very low BF%

what would that be for a man or for a woman? if you are at 24% bf like i am, is it possible to gain muscle while in a deficit?

19danno77

@ Shannon: You're welcome! Continued success to you and you WON'T be able to with any honesty say you're just a fat housewife...you'll live a longer more vigorous life in the smaller, stronger & healthier body you're building!

psuLemon

Crap, I didn't read and Haybales beat me to it. But you definitely can, it's just much easier at maintenance or a surplus.

Scott613

Too late, lol.


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/447514-athletes-can-gain-muscle-while-losing-fat-on-deficit-diet

Jeff92se

If he stayed the same size but lost weight, he'd have to gain muscle. Because as you lose fat, you lose a small % of muscle with it.

Mentioning "you retained muscle and lost fat" illustrates this. Retaining the same muscle would be "gaining" technically.

If you cannot gain muscle while in a deficit, then he'd have to look like he "lost" muscle also.

Yes, but technically this was the case of "newb gains" if he had been a seasoned exerciser or hadn't been over weight to start, this would have been very difficult for him to do. There is a lot of grey matter here.

There's no mention if he was lifting before or not. He wouldn't have had to gain much to maintain or slightly gain muscle. Point he's trying to make is he did

19danno77

There's quite a difference between putting on new lean muscle and just strengthening / maintaining what you already have. It takes calories to "bulk up".

You can add muscle aswell. The only exception is when you reach a very low BF%

what would that be for a man or for a woman? if you are at 24% bf like i am, is it possible to gain muscle while in a deficit?

Depends on your caloric deficit on the intake/food side...if you're north of 1200 there's nothing standing in your way from building healthy muscle/lean body mass. Taken another way: if you're losing 2 lbs per week OR LESS then you're not truly in deficit. You'll know when you're in true global deficit: you'll feel weak, cranky, dizzy, tired, etc...it means you're using sugar to stay warm and your brain is being shorted the glucose that it needs to function...your body's telling you to eat more because it's having to catabolize muscle to survive...that's bad...hence the crankyness & malaise.

Ambrogio1

I lost 30 lbs and added weight to everyone of my lifts. The only thing I can say that confused me a bit was muscle memory. Once upon a time I was in real good shape, the I took a shot at being the fat guy but came back to the fit guy.

I love how health and fitness is so open. Nooone knows whats right whats wrong and everyone is different.
There is only 1 thing that can prove anything.

YOUR PHYSIQUE!
The personal training certificate should just be an office you walk into and take off your clothes!
BOOM YOUR HIRED!

Trail_Addict

If he stayed the same size but lost weight, he'd have to gain muscle. Because as you lose fat, you lose a small % of muscle with it.

Mentioning "you retained muscle and lost fat" illustrates this. Retaining the same muscle would be "gaining" technically.

If you cannot gain muscle while in a deficit, then he'd have to look like he "lost" muscle also.

His pics are not scientific evidence of anything but lost fat, exposing what muscle lays underneath (we all have that). And without prior body scans or other means of testing muscle mass, we certainly can't determine just how much muscle he lost along with the fat during his dieting/ lifting process.

I was really hoping someone was going to post peer-reviewed scientific articles, and not just opinions. *sigh*.

OP... good job on the body transformation, either way.

Jeff92se

What you are saying makes no sense at all. Why would bodybuilders go through cut/bulk cycles if this were true? You are grossly misinformed.

Because that's the most EFFICENT way of gaining mass. Not because it's impossible to do it otherwise

UponThisRock

If practical experience means anything, It seems that the people that look like that have experience building some muscle have a different opinion than those that look like they haven't built much muscle.

At the risk of getting a warning, that's all I'm gonna say.

rachmaree

I still don't really see the 'skinny fat' from the pics you posted. I would just say you were a bit overweight...

but, whatever

joejccva71

OP,

There are 4 ways to gain new muscle tissue.

1. Eating a calorie surplus.
2. Being obese where you can use some of your fat stores as CALORIES to build SOME new tissue but VERY minimal gains.
3. Newbie lifting gains, but again this is very minimal gains.
4. Steroids

You probably turned a little of your fat stores instead some muscle tissue, but alot of what you are seeing in your pics is muscle that you already had.

You cannot gain new muscle tissue beyond that. I can guarantee you that you won't make NEW gains unless you eat a calorie surplus. Your body does not create NEW TISSUE without providing energy above what you burn. It's biologically impossible, unless of course you have found a way to be supernatural?

Jeff92se

If practical experience means anything, It seems that the people that look like that have experience building some muscle have a different opinion than those that look like they haven't built much muscle.

At the risk of getting a warning, that's all I'm gonna say.

Does that apply to me? I've lifted years ago and completed in powerlifting years back

Jeff92se

I wouldn't recommend deficit eating if your only goal is to gain muscle mass. It's an inefficent way of going about it.

watboy

Here we go again lol

Huge difference between maintaining muscle mass and gaining muscle mass.. dude, you're wrong. For the vast majority of people, muscle mass gains will not occur without a calorie surplus and a lot of very hard work.

dudett, your wrong, please look at the pics I just posted 2 posts above.

BondBomb

OP you look great. I mean it. But honestly it doesn't look like you 'gained' muscle from the pics.

joejccva71

OP you look great. I mean it. But honestly it doesn't look like you 'gained' muscle from the pics.

Honesty is a beautiful thing.

Elizabeth_C34

What you are saying makes no sense at all. Why would bodybuilders go through cut/bulk cycles if this were true? You are grossly misinformed.

Because that's the most EFFICENT way of gaining mass. Not because it's impossible to do it otherwise

Huh? How is spending 3x as long cutting/bulking more "efficient"?

Jeff92se

OP you look great. I mean it. But honestly it doesn't look like you 'gained' muscle from the pics.

He'd have to gain muscle just to look like he didn't gain any muscle. Or else you'd say, it looks like you lost some muscle mass

NewVonnie

Wheeeeeeeeee!!! The fun thing about threads like these is that I learn or reinforce what I know to be true. You see, what I find helpful is just scrolling through to find the comments of people I respect and that have PROVEN time and again that they are educated and up to date on research into these things.

At the time of my comment that would be Joe and Taso...and if in fact Acg or Sidesteal comment..them too.

:flowerforyou:

kateroot

What you are saying makes no sense at all. Why would bodybuilders go through cut/bulk cycles if this were true? You are grossly misinformed.

Because that's the most EFFICENT way of gaining mass. Not because it's impossible to do it otherwise

I don't think anyone is saying it's impossible. Or maybe someone did, and I missed it. It's not impossible, but it IS very unlikely. The point that was being made in the thread the OP referred to is that when someone sees a gain or no change on the scale, so many people's automatic response is to say "oh, you must be gaining muscle!" That's simply not reality for most people.

Jeff92se

What you are saying makes no sense at all. Why would bodybuilders go through cut/bulk cycles if this were true? You are grossly misinformed.

Because that's the most EFFICENT way of gaining mass. Not because it's impossible to do it otherwise

Huh? How is spending 3x as long cutting/bulking more "efficient"?

Because it is? What's a more effiecent way of bulking and cutting?

joejccva71

What you are saying makes no sense at all. Why would bodybuilders go through cut/bulk cycles if this were true? You are grossly misinformed.

Because that's the most EFFICENT way of gaining mass. Not because it's impossible to do it otherwise

Huh? How is spending 3x as long cutting/bulking more "efficient"?

Because it is? What's a more effiecent way of bulking and cutting?

Taking Dinabol. :P

lol kidding

19danno77

4. Steroids

Not quite true here...steroids are a hormone that trigger muscle growth...they do not build it themselves. You still need to eat the calories (or have them stored on your body) plus exercise to stimulate the growth.

Jeff92se

What you are saying makes no sense at all. Why would bodybuilders go through cut/bulk cycles if this were true? You are grossly misinformed.

Because that's the most EFFICENT way of gaining mass. Not because it's impossible to do it otherwise

I don't think anyone is saying it's impossible. Or maybe someone did, and I missed it. It's not impossible, but it IS very unlikely. The point that was being made in the thread the OP referred to is that when someone sees a gain or no change on the scale, so many people's automatic response is to say "oh, you must be gaining muscle!" That's simply not reality for most people.

There's more than one here that said it's "impossible" or allowed himself just enough leeway to wiggle out of the all or nothing view.

If you lost inches in your waist, lifted thoughout your process, while on a defict and ended up weighing the same in the end, what would your conclusion be?

cal1973

so, just to clarify - who is correct?

joejccva71

4. Steroids

Not quite true here...steroids are a hormone that trigger muscle growth...they do not build it themselves. You still need to eat the calories (or have them stored on your body) plus exercise to stimulate the growth.

Well true, good catch. You knew where I was getting at though. :P

izerop

This is why its important to measure your body fat not your weight.... In the end all that matters is how much body fat you lost.

Elizabeth_C34

If you lost inches in your waist, lifted thoughout your process, while on a defict and ended up weighing the same in the end, what would your conclusion be?

Not going to happen on a calorie deficit except in cases already discussed above. Period.

This guy did not put on 30 lbs of muscle and simultaneously lost 30 lbs of fat.

odusgolp

I just want to hang out in here