Fat vs muscle mass?

Jocmc631942
Jocmc631942 Posts: 22 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I hope I am posting this in the right forum.

Since I am overweight now, will I gain muscle mass from lifting my own body weight, like in push ups... chin ups... etc? I know to gain muscle you need 500 cal more a day, but I am over weight and need to loose weight so obviously eating less calories daily. Now with knowing that though, just because my body mass is so high wouldn't it be like heavy weight training to do sit ups at 187lbs. That would be similar to bench pressing 187?

Next question is: Now I am down to 168 and hoping to loose more and more.... so what does that do to the muscles?

My goal is to be a sleek 115lbs with tones muscles. But I have read a few articles that made these questions pop up in my mind.

Thank you,
Jo

Replies

  • phjorg
    phjorg Posts: 252 Member
    you gain muscle mass through progressively overloading your muscles through maximal force movements, combined with rest and an excess of calories.

    If lifting your own bodyweight is a maximal force movement, then yes it counts. If you can do it for more than 15 or so reps, then it's not.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    You generally don't gain muscle mass while in a deficit, however, there are exceptions - those new to strength training and people who are "overfat" (although it isn't specified what qualifies as "overfat").

    So yes, possibly, if you are overloading your muscles. However - any gains will be very small. It is difficult for women to naturally bulk up while specifically training to and eating at a surplus. It is impossible to add a huge amount of muscle mass without even trying.

    Basically I wouldn't worry about it. You aren't going to get huge.
  • Jocmc631942
    Jocmc631942 Posts: 22 Member
    The max push ups I can do is 15 and I can only do 5 pull ups. But I understand better now, so thanks for the information.
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    15 push ups and 5 pull ups is awesome. I lifted hard (heavier than I ever have following Starting Strength protocol) while making my latest cut from 201 lbs to 188 lbs. Had a BodPod done before and after.

    Before:

    201.7 lbs Total weight
    44.58 lbs fat
    157.12 lbs Lean Body Mass (LBM)
    22.1 % Body Fat (GF)

    After:

    188.3 lbs Total weight
    31.6 lbs fat
    156.7 lbs LBM
    16.8% BF

    With all that heavy lifting, I managed to lose 0.42 lbs of LBM. That's within the error range of a BodPod, so that doesn't worry me. But dropping almost 13 lbs of fat while maintaining LBM made a huge difference in how I look. I have an ab (next step is to add an s to that ab).

    So, for me, I can't add muscle mass while cutting. But I can maintain LBM while losing fat. That makes me happy.

    I wish I could say this was true for everyone. I am also curious to know if I don't lift weights, will I lose LBM. I do cardio 3x a week as well, so I would be curious what the numbers would have looked like with just cardio.

    Tom

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