WHICH ONE IS RIGHT!?!?!?
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kinglou92
Posts: 5
I am new to fitness pal but not new to working out. Since high school I've been taught that if you want to lose weight you need to be at a caloric deficit. If you want to gain muscle you need to take in more calories. You cant do both! I have gotten to 200 pounds and 26 percent body fat so my first guess was to lose the weight then build the muscle back, but i just read somewhere that if youre already overweight then your body is holding calories and fats that your body would need to build muscle. So if i do my strength training but keep myself at a caloric deficit my body will just use the fat stored to feed the muscle. So i should be able to burn body fat but still build muscle at the same time.
It sounds like a dream come true but i dont know if its true or if i just read some B.S. So now i dont know which to do, lose the weight then build all my muscle back up, or keep training but put myself at a caloric deficit everyday.
Someone point me in the right direction please!
It sounds like a dream come true but i dont know if its true or if i just read some B.S. So now i dont know which to do, lose the weight then build all my muscle back up, or keep training but put myself at a caloric deficit everyday.
Someone point me in the right direction please!
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Replies
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It depends on how long you've been training, how lean you are, age, genetics, how fast/slow you lose, nutrition, recovery, training intensity and programming, ancillary training/exercise, how cute your girlfriend is, the phase of the moon, and probably 50 other things. My guess is, you will make some gains initially, but will plateau after a while.
It's fine to think about this, and believe me I have. But the truth is the answer doesn't matter. It makes sense to strength train whether you are bulking or cutting. If you manage to gain muscle during your cut, great. If not, it helped you retain the muscle you have.0 -
when u cut from 26% to 13%, u will look like u put on 20 pounds of muscle. u will also make strength gains. good luck on ur cut.0
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I am new to fitness pal but not new to working out. Since high school I've been taught that if you want to lose weight you need to be at a caloric deficit. If you want to gain muscle you need to take in more calories. You cant do both! I have gotten to 200 pounds and 26 percent body fat so my first guess was to lose the weight then build the muscle back, but i just read somewhere that if youre already overweight then your body is holding calories and fats that your body would need to build muscle. So if i do my strength training but keep myself at a caloric deficit my body will just use the fat stored to feed the muscle. So i should be able to burn body fat but still build muscle at the same time.
It sounds like a dream come true but i dont know if its true or if i just read some B.S. So now i dont know which to do, lose the weight then build all my muscle back up, or keep training but put myself at a caloric deficit everyday.
Someone point me in the right direction please!
Always weight lift during a deficit. Whether or not you gain muscle depends on many factors. What we know is that strength training WILL help preserve muscle during a cut.
If you don't strength train you will lose much more muscle during your cut than if you were strength training. I learned this the hard way by starting weight training too late only after I had reached my goal on the scale. Now I am lifting regularly to build my strength back up.0 -
You can accomplish both, but you'll need to make sure that you are getting enough protein to build the muscle. The fat stores are good for energy, but not the building blocks for muscle.0
