Am I really doing anything at all?

zsaoosh

If I eat over maintenance then I will gain muscle while lifting but also a little fat. If I eat below then I am supposed to loose fat but maintain my muscle if I lift. I seem to not loose fat unless I eat a strict 1300 cals but everyone tells me to eat more because I only have about 5 lbs of fat to lose. I haven’t lost for a month, since I started lifting. What should I eat to maintain my muscles and loose fat? Here are my stats.

Cardo - 3 hours at least a week
Weights - 3 days a week
Cals 1350 (don’t eat back but eat pretty clean)
I am 135 pounds and 5'6.5''
At 152 lbs I was 33% bf, pretty high so I was told to eat less

Thank you so much for your help! Any success stories of your own would be great motivation as well.

ifiwasurvampire

Are you eating back those calories burned?

zsaoosh

No because I dont have an HRM and when I went to get my body fat % from the bod pod, health and welness told me because my body fat was so high, there was no need to eat back cals lost unless its a little protein drink.

seekingstrengthX2

You definitely need to be eating more. I've seen how much you are lifting. 1300 calories is not enough to support that sort of weight routine.

seekingstrengthX2

You're doing NRLW, right?

persilcolours

My trainer told me to back off the cardio while I'm building muscle -- I was running 4-5 miles at least 4 times a week. Now, I don't run at all and I lift 3 days a week. Haven't gained. And I think I'm eating way more than I was when running.

She said running is the quickest way to lose muscle mass -- at least running for more than 30 minutes at a time. Might be the same for other cardio?

We do HIIT on the treadmill, though. Not the same as endurance cardio. I've read a lot of the threads on here that seem to support what she says. And my muscles are peaking through for the first time in my life!

Also, I eat carbs in the morning (with protein still!) and then slowly taper down so that I'm not eating any at dinner. (I mean..when I'm being perfect...if you look at my diary, I haven't been perfect in about two weeks!). And consuming 1 gram of protein per pound of my weight.

It felt wrong to stop running when I want to lose weight, but in the past month, I've lost more than I had with running. BUT I've only been doing this one month.

Good luck!

persilcolours

I lost 2.5 kilos in a week (probably water) by just lifting and eating between 1500-1700 calories (mostly protein).
And I've lost about .5 - 1 kilo per week since then on this regimen. But of course it will slow when I have less to lose.

I have about 15 pounds to lose and you said you have just 5, so...it could be slow going.

Argent78

If I eat over maintenance then I will gain muscle while lifting but also a little fat. If I eat below then I am supposed to loose fat but maintain my muscle if I lift. I seem to not loose fat unless I eat a strict 1300 cals but everyone tells me to eat more because I only have about 5 lbs of fat to lose. I haven’t lost for a month, since I started lifting. What should I eat to maintain my muscles and loose fat? Here are my stats.

Cardo - 3 hours at least a week
Weights - 3 days a week
Cals 1350 (don’t eat back but eat pretty clean)
I am 135 pounds and 5'6.5''
At 152 lbs I was 33% bf, pretty high so I was told to eat less

Thank you so much for your help! Any success stories of your own would be great motivation as well.

I do exactly the same routine as you, but eat 1800 cals at least! You body weight is really good for your height... you should measure your body fat% first.
What I've been suggested to build muscle and not gain fat, is to eat veru clean, HIGH prot (40%), and low fat diet. Eat only the good fats: avocado, olive oil, nuts.
With your body weight, probably, you are going to see results of body fat lost very slow... but you will notice built muscle pretty quick!
You are doing great.. I would just increase the cals, adding lots or prot

Azdak

No because I dont have an HRM and when I went to get my body fat % from the bod pod, health and welness told me because my body fat was so high, there was no need to eat back cals lost unless its a little protein drink.

That was then, this is now. You were at 33% body fat, now you are probably closer to 23%. The body's response to a calorie deficit changes as your body composition changes. What was appropriate for 33% may not be so now.

When body fat is high, the biggest problem is fat oxidation -- there is plenty of fat available, but the ability to burn it is impaired. For that problem, the best solution is a calorie deficit. When body fat is nearer "ideal", then the problem becomes fat mobilization, and that's a lot trickier.

This is where a shift in focus from endurance cardio/light to medium lifting to HIIT and heavier lifting might prove beneficial. Don't eliminate endurance cardio, but just make sure you are doing a couple of interval/metabolic type workouts per week. And that your are lifting in the 6-9RM intensity range.

And it's going to be tough mentally, but I would consider gradually eating more calories. On paper, you could increase by as much as 300-500/day. At the very least, try taking a "diet break" and eat at maintenance for a week while you are changing your fitness program and see how you feel.

Scale changes at this point are likely going to slow to a crawl. You may see more changes in muscle definition/appearance than actual scale weight. Good luck.

zsaoosh

You're doing NRLW, right?

No I dont have that book. I have just been lifting alot.

zsaoosh

Thank you everyone! I actually dont care what the scale says but my mid section fat bothers me! I will go up to 1500 cals. I have my bod pod test again at the end of this month so I will see what I really did with my fat vs muslce mass. I CANT WAIT! Thank you for the advice everyone!

ssamy14

Hi!!! just curious. What is NRLW?

zsaoosh

Hi!!! just curious. What is NRLW?

I am pretty sure she was talking about New Rules for Lifting for Women...I dont even know if I got that exactly right :happy:

kmorris246

Hi!!! just curious. What is NRLW?

I am pretty sure she was talking about New Rules for Lifting for Women...I dont even know if I got that exactly right :happy:

Yup! New Rules of Lifting for Women- its a great resource which discusses the benefits of heavy lifting for women. It provides both a nutrition, strength and conditioning regime as well as recipes and such. The author provides great detail about how a woman's body can benefit greatly from heavy lifting.

mturgeon05

I would definitely up your calories as well. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but if you are lifting and doing cardio your body certainly needs more fuel!

I just upped to 1800 and I'm going to try that out for a couple of weeks now that I started NROL4W. It's all about trying something for a while and making adjustments if it is not working. Gotta give it some time, though