maintaining muscle, losing fat.

aliciab307

Ok, I know this may be a stupid question, but I must ask.

Are you able to eat at maintenance, lift heavy and lose fat at the same time?

For some reason I thought maybe by lifting heavy and eating at maintenance I could maintain my muscle mass and the muscle would, in turn, burn the excess fat I have and use my fat for the energy needed.
Thanks!

aliciab307

Ok, while this may have been passed by, I was just trying to by pass eating at a deficit :yawn: , go straight to maintenance :blushing: and have my muscles burn my fat... ...ooo well! Wishful thinking :drinker:

EvanKeel

When eating at maintenance, your body would have little reason to use your fat stores for energy because you're giving it a readily available supply of energy.

EDIT: or, put differently, if you manage to lose fat while lifting heavy, you're eating at a deficit.

mmapags

It's called a body recompostiion. It is a very, very slow process. Most opt for a calorie defict while strength training and accept that a slight bit of lean muscle mass will be lost but fat will be reduced more quickly.

Sarauk2sf

Reasonable caloric deficit, get enough protein and strength train.

aliciab307

thank you for your replies. Would "cut and bulk" cycles work for females as well? How effective would they be? And how much should more or less should my calorie goal be for each cycle? How long should each cycle be? thanks again

DavPul

It's called a body recompostiion. It is a very, very slow process. Most opt for a calorie defict while strength training and accept that a slight bit of lean muscle mass will be lost but fat will be reduced more quickly.

All of this up there. It can be done, it's just a matter of how patient you are. I'd suggest a small deficit around 300-500 daily, to speed up the process until you get very close to goal

Sarauk2sf

thank you for your replies. Would "cut and bulk" cycles work for females as well? How effective would they be? And how much should more or less should my calorie goal be for each cycle? How long should each cycle be? thanks again

I would not advise a bulk until you get to 20% BF or lower and have started a good progressive loading strength training routine. Usual parameters for women - bulk @ no more than 20% BF, cut by the time you get to 25% BF.

aliciab307

ok, so I guess I should focus on doing a strength training program and eating at a deficit. Thank you!

mmapags

I wrote a post just before bed last night and had it disappear!! Fortunatly Dave and Sara said what I was going to say. Good advice.

goodnightpillow

This may go into too much detail for you, but there's some really good info here:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981