Lose weight first and then concentrate on building muscle?

giusa

Thank you Whierd. Saving this for reference.

Thank you for starting this thread, I just turned 50, and having a rough time with the last 15 lbs. The weight, unfortunately, is condensed in the most difficult area to lose as a women (thighs and hips). My plan is to use a cardio base program (Insanity) to lose some of the weight, and then move to a weight base program to maintain bone mass and ultimate tone (ChaLEAN Extreme).

Best of luck everyone.

waldo56

It is actually very simple! If you are new to weight lifting, you may see a small increase in muscle mass at first, even while eating in a deficit. After that initial period, your body will stop producing muscle mass. Lifting while eating in a deficit is very beneficial. By stressing your muscles, your body stops converting muscle into fuel for it's critical functions and focuses more on fat stores. By doing this you are preserving your lean muscle in a deficit.

Once you reach your fat loss goals, you will need to begin eating a caloric surplus to begin building muscle mass. You will also begin adding a bit of fat as well during this bulking period. What most people do is cycle a Bulk and Cut period to continuously build muscle and reduce fat.

How do you cycle the Bulk and Cut period? How many more calories/day does one need to ingest to build muscle?

Shorter cycles (bulk 2-3 months, cut 1-2 months) at a moderate-slow pace tends to keep you leanest and will drop your BF% over time (assuming you always cut to leaner than your starting point last cycle)

Bulking is just cutting in reverse. Eat under your maintenence to cut, eat over your maintenence to gain. Eat enough to gain 0.5-1.0 lb week, women tend to do better on the lower end of that scale, men better on the higher end.

And 1g/lb bodyweight protein, bulking or cutting.

Doing this tends to make it quite easy to get to lower BF%'s, it just takes time. The first month of cutting after a bulk is very easy and efficient, the weight just drops off you without issue.

Its also a good idea to include two weeks of maintence between bulking and cutting so that you don't rock your system with huge calorie swings, it helps to harden gains and normalize your hormones before switching.

erinsueburns

I did the lose weight first then work on muscles thing and I really wish I hadn't. Strength training while on a deficit is supposed to preserve muscle mass (terribly unlikely to build much if any), which means you don't have as much of the slow agonizing work that is building new or regaining muscle mass.

So start lifting now.

Also, make sure you are NETTING your goal calories, ie eat back a good bit if not most of your exercise calories (the reverse is true though, make sure you are accurately logging your activities). Don't think of it as that whole alarmist starvation mode thing. Think of it this way. Eating too few calories severely decreases your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT)-when you under feed you are like a cranky, sleepy hibernating bear. You slow down to conserve. You don't do it consciously, but it happens.