Default Can you build muscle on a calorie deficit?

just lift weights the fat will come off

If you're new to lifting, you may build a little muscle in calorie deficit, but for the general population it's very hard to do it. Even if nutrition, rest and training were spot on, the gains would be minimal. Realize that to gain muscle is to put on weight. You'd have to be in calorie surplus to gain weight.

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Do you really want to gain muscle fibers or do you want to get in better shape with better development of your muscle structure? The second can happen in a deficit. You existing muscle structure will develop. They will be a little bigger, a lot stronger and look a lot better. Most times, when someone says the want to build muscle, I think that's what they really want and don't want more muscle fibers or mass. is that the case with you? As others have said, it's not really viable to try to gain new muscle tissue in a deficit but you can get in better condition with a more developed muscle structure.

I want to do option number 2 (get in better shape with better development of your muscle structure). don't want to get bigger at all. Currently weight 193, want to be 170-175, on a calorie deficit and play hockey for cardio.

What is a good weight lifting routine to reach your option number 2? three days a week I can lift, maybe even just 2.

Do you really want to gain muscle fibers or do you want to get in better shape with better development of your muscle structure? The second can happen in a deficit. You existing muscle structure will develop. They will be a little bigger, a lot stronger and look a lot better. Most times, when someone says the want to build muscle, I think that's what they really want and don't want more muscle fibers or mass. is that the case with you? As others have said, it's not really viable to try to gain new muscle tissue in a deficit but you can get in better condition with a more developed muscle structure.

I want to do option number 2 (get in better shape with better development of your muscle structure). don't want to get bigger at all. Currently weight 193, want to be 170-175, on a calorie deficit and play hockey for cardio.

What is a good weight lifting routine to reach your option number 2? three days a week I can lift, maybe even just 2.

The 2 that are the easiest and best are Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5. They are almost the same routine the difference being 5 sets of each exercise or 3 sets. They are full body compound exercises. Very time efficient and will do exactly what you want.

BTW, just remembered, there is a group of minor league hockey players (Reading PA team) that work out in my gym and they do this type of routine.

Do you really want to gain muscle fibers or do you want to get in better shape with better development of your muscle structure? The second can happen in a deficit. You existing muscle structure will develop. They will be a little bigger, a lot stronger and look a lot better. Most times, when someone says the want to build muscle, I think that's what they really want and don't want more muscle fibers or mass. is that the case with you? As others have said, it's not really viable to try to gain new muscle tissue in a deficit but you can get in better condition with a more developed muscle structure.

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I just want to have a more toned looking body. I feel like i'm sort of bordering on skinny fat right now.

See above post! This will work for you also.

The 2 that are the easiest and best are Starting Strength and Stronglifts 5x5. They are almost the same routine the difference being 5 sets of each exercise or 3 sets. They are full body compound exercises. Very time efficient and will do exactly what you want.

BTW, just remembered, there is a group of minor league hockey players (Reading PA team) that work out in my gym and they do this type of routine.

I actually just completed my first week of starting strength. i am a little hesitant to keep up with though being on the calorie deficit.

Do the Reading players do starting strength?

They do a hybrid routine designed by thier trainer. It involves squats (they do front squats because it target the skating muscles) bench, rows, overhead and a few others I can't recall.
I've been doing strength training on a defict for awhile. Not probelms with that. Just get plenty of protein and carbs on your workout days and you'll do fine.

How big of a deficit are you on? I'm on a 500 calorie/1 lb a week and i typically don't eat back the calories on my cardio days.

although i've been cheating a bunch recently and going over. interested to see how I make out when i tighten it down and actually stay at the 500 calorie deficit

Right now I'm on 500 calorie a day deficit and eat back all exercise. I'm also a little less focused on weight loss than I am on body recomposition and fat loss. I want to retain all the lean muscle tissue and will actually do a bulk in september to get more muscle mass on my upper body. My lower body is good but not enough to work with on the upper body. Then I'll go to 400 to 500 surplus.

What's the difference between weight loss and body recomposition/fat loss.?

Don't they go hand in hand?

Not nessesarily. Weight loss is a combination of losing both fat and lean mass. Body recompostion is intentionally working to keep lean mass while reducing fat. If you are not intentional with eating sufficient protien and strength training, you could lose a substantial amoount of your weight loss as lean mass. Say 20% to 40%. So if you lost 20 lbs and it was, say, 30% lean mass, that's 6 pounds of muscle mass and 14 lbs of fat. I'd prefer to only lose 14 lbs and have it all be fat.

Got it.

I started at 208 and am down to 193. Goal weight is 170-175. A rough estimate for my body fat is 25.7% so that leaves me with about 147 lbs of lean mass. Again, rough estimate.

I usually take in about 130 to 160 grams of protein daily. sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I shoot for 1750 calories daily.

So with that along with the lifting and hockey/cardio I guess that puts me in good position for body recomp/fat loss rather than just weight loss?

It does. I'd just make sure to eat back sufficient calories. You are very active and the strength training will cause a little competition with the cardio for recovery resources if you don't. Other than that, you have a good plan.

Just out of curiosity, your TDEE is only 2250? That seems a little low. I'm 5'9" 198 and mine is 2675. You may be at more than a 500 calories deficit. That's not a problem unless you either stall or lack energy for your workouts.

what did you use to calculate your tdee?

i just put my numbers in to my fitness pal.

I lift 2-3 days in a 7 day period, I play hockey twice a week minimum. One day is an intense game, the other is a 1 hour practice and only the last 15 minutes is intense (scrimmage). I may add another light day of skating or HIIT.

Other than though i do nothing. i sit at my job all day. Then I drive 3 hours. I'm sitting any where from 9-15 hours a day 5 days a week. I do have kids and hang out with them, but nothing strenuous.

When i put my numbers in to the website here I say that I am sedentary. It says I should eat 1740 for a 1 lb. a week deficit.

I've looked on other websites and it's close to the same.

Try either fat2fitradio.com or scooby. You aren't sedentary as you are getting exercise 3 to 5 days per week. That makes you moderately active. Fat2fit doesn't factors in activity so no eating back. I forget about Scooby and how they handle it. I just plugged you data into fat2fit and it has your BMR at 1880 and give you a 2442 calorie level without eating back at a lightly active activity level. I thought your numbers seemed low. Maybe I made a mistake so check me out.

BTW, I mistakenly deleted a freind request from you. It didn't have a message and I didn't realize it was you til too late. I'm sending you one.

Cool

I did look on fat2fit and it says if I want to reach my goal weight i should eat around 2100 calories a day. That's how many I'd need to maintain 170 lbs.

so if they say I need about 2442 a day is that just to maintain my weight? I'd still need to subtract the 500 a day to lose 1 lb per week? I don't think I could eat 2442 a day and just burn off the 3500 calories a week through exercise. I just ordered a polar ft7 so i can get a better idea of how much I'm burning.

Thanks for your help.

I'd try going to the 2100 and seeing how that went. I'm guessing your TDEE is about 2600 give or take. See how it goes. If you are not losing, drop by 5% or 10% until you are. I've expereinced a funny thing over the last few months. It doesn't matter how much I eat within a range of 1700 to 2600. My weight only moves slightly but my body fat reduces. BTW, the HRM will be helpful for cardio activities but will be fairly useless for weight training. They are designed to measure heart rate and have algorithims to extrapolate calorie burn from that. The strenght training calulations here on MFP under cardio are acutually pretty close. The fat burning benefit to strength is not the burn during but the demand on your metabolism for recovery resources for some period after. Referred to as Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption or EPOC. Also referred to as afterburn!