Confused :/

raqalex

Hi guys,

I am quite confused while reading up on all these whether i need weight loss and thus a calorie deficit or muscle gain by eating more.

The thing is i am happy with my weight i weigh about 100 pounds or so now, however i have a high body fat percentage, so do i eat more so i can gain muscles and lean out and thus reduce the body fat or do i eat at a deficit?

I am recovering from a rotator cuff injury and tore my acl ( both on the left side) so i can do only light weight lifting eg. pilates and light weights.

Any suggestions or how i can go about this? Thanks

Spindigo1

I think you should probably find out what your maintenance TDEE is and eat at that or a little bit over and continue with your weight training.

Iron_Lotus

Yes eat a calorie surplus to build muscle

Ainar

I think you should just stay on maintenance for now and lift some light weights. Going in calorie deficit doesn't make sense when you are injured and especially when you wanna build muscle, and are happy with your current weight...

If you can not train right I think it's better to just stay on maintenance while you heal. You could build some muscle with little and weak exercises if you are beginner and weak but it really won't be that optimal. Let yourself heal completely first and then go and build muscle.

Joocey

Gaining muscle/lean mass will reduce your bodyfat PERCENTAGE while not actually reducing your bodyfat -- and most likely will increase your bodyfat. To explain, assume you weigh 100 lbs right now, but 20 lbs of that is fat.

A. 100 lbs w/ 20 lbs of fat = 20% bodyfat.

Now, if you increase your weight by adding 5 lbs of muscle, what happens?

B. 105 lbs w/ 20 lbs of fat = 19% of bodyfat. LOOK! Your bodyfat percentage decreased... but you didn't actually lose any fat! You only added lean mass which changed the ratio.

Even more misleading is if you add both lean mass and fat. For example:

C. 110 lbs w/ 22 lbs of fat = 20% bodyfat. Here, you actually GAINED 2 lbs of fat... but your bodyfat percentage stayed the same because you also gained lean mass.

None of the above accounts for health though. And none of the above accounts for what your bodyfat percentage actually is... but if your problem is that you have too much fat, then the only real solution is eating at a caloric deficit. If the problem is that you have just enough fat... but not enough lean mass (e.g. Situation B above) , then you should eat more and exercise more. Without knowing your height or bodyfat percentage, and without being too presumptuous, at 100 lbs it would seem likely that your situation isn't that you have too much fat, but instead too little lean mass.

So... eat more and lift more!

Hi guys,

I am quite confused while reading up on all these whether i need weight loss and thus a calorie deficit or muscle gain by eating more.

The thing is i am happy with my weight i weigh about 100 pounds or so now, however i have a high body fat percentage, so do i eat more so i can gain muscles and lean out and thus reduce the body fat or do i eat at a deficit?

I am recovering from a rotator cuff injury and tore my acl ( both on the left side) so i can do only light weight lifting eg. pilates and light weights.

Any suggestions or how i can go about this? Thanks

ElizabethKalmbach

I would increase your protein and keep your calories at maintenance and lift as heavy as you are able to without causing injury to yourself. Resistance training will help you with bone density as well.

raqalex

Thanks everyone for all the messages. It finally made sense. Guess ill be trying to eat more and start lifting slowly. Oh and im a shortie of 5'2