Newbie gains in a deficit.

neanderthin

Just though I'd give my thoughts without the science jargon on the subject as to what they are and why they happen. I posted this in another reponse but it's a long thread and will probably die soon, so I thought I'd repost it here.



It's in relation to our basic instincts for survival and connected to our feast and famine response. When we don't eat enough (deficit) the body will automatically start burning body fat to adjust for that calorie deficit and if this condition persists, metabolic adaption can occur and our metabolism can slow to help compensate for the deficit of the impending famine and some muscle mass is also sacrificed to manufacture glucose and supply amino acids for prioritized function where required which also extends our fat stores to ultimately extend life.

Newbie gains are in response to a new danger (lifting) we've inflicted upon our body during or at the same time the body saw a slow down in calories and nutrients. Basically the body has two problems going forward to deal with. The weight resistance is seen as a danger because it requires calories to maintain but also could cause injury if muscle mass continues to be sacrificed as a substrate (source) for energy simply because the lifting is seen as a new duty and the body doesn't know it's just you lifting weights, but see's it as a large rock that could crash upon your head and cause serious injury or immediate death, lol, true. We've created a conflict of interest where the body needs to prioritized over a timeline.

The adjustment made for just the deficit is calculated over a timeline and will flucuate depending on the nutrients coming into the body, small deficit the timeline is longer, bigger deficits uses more muscle as energy to extend that shorter timeline. Introducing that immediate danger (lifting) has changed the length of that timeline to survival, remember the rock, so now to survive it either maintains muscle or builds muscle if it can, which is also influenced by the amount of weight, intensity, and time your lifting and calories. The more weight and time you lift, more muscle maintenance or building is going to take place, until the point of diminishing return happens. In other words as time goes on and we haven't been killed by that rock, the body will start to stop building or maintaining and begin using that muscle for fuel to ultimately extend our life....the rock becomes less significant and survival in relation to time takes place.

Keep in mind that this is the reason protein requirements increase in a deficit, either to help maintain muscle mass or supply amino acids, and glucose and more so when extra stress is applied like lifting. The topic of increasing muscle mass in a deficit is really overblown. yes it happens but when looking at your our timeline which should actually be a lifestyle change it's but a very short time.....maybe a few months.