Adding muscle while dieting
ianisgreat
Posts: 18
I'm still trying to lose about 15 or so pounds, but I'd like to gain/retain as much muscle as I can until then.
From what I understand, it is difficult to add muscle mass while dieting. I've been able to do so, but I think most of those gains have been sort of low hanging fruit. I've kind of stalled, strength-wise recently.
I try to eat less carbs and fat so that I can have more protein in my diet, but I'm not sure if that only seems like the right thing to do. I usually add whey protein to my diets on exercise days.
Any ideas on what I can be doing better? Do amino-acid supplements help?
From what I understand, it is difficult to add muscle mass while dieting. I've been able to do so, but I think most of those gains have been sort of low hanging fruit. I've kind of stalled, strength-wise recently.
I try to eat less carbs and fat so that I can have more protein in my diet, but I'm not sure if that only seems like the right thing to do. I usually add whey protein to my diets on exercise days.
Any ideas on what I can be doing better? Do amino-acid supplements help?
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Replies
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Open your diary0
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fat is good for muscle building, too.
Studies link sat-fat to increased testosterone production.0 -
bump0
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you should expect muscle GAINS while dieting-just highly unlikely for the most part. Eat ENOUGH protein, meaning 1g/lb LBM, and then split the rest between carbs/fat.
Lift weights 3x per week. Don't have a MASSIVE deficit (15-20% max).0 -
How would I calculate lean body mass?0
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If you are on a caloric deficit, you won't gain muscle, you will lose fat or some muscle depending on your training and diet. You can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time too, but most people find it hard to do, because it a very slow process. That's why lots of people are doing bulking and cutting cycles. Focusing at one goal for a certain period.
For your macros, know your TDEE, and from there you determine the caloric deficit you want (15-20%) and then get at least 1.0-1.5g protein per pound bodyweight and then the rest will be carbs and fat. You can also use a 40/40/20 split for your macros, that's a pretty good starting point and then adjust accordingly depending on your needs.
Hope that helps man. Good luck.0 -
How would I calculate lean body mass?
calipers, hydrostatic weighing, or perhaps the military calculators online
You can also estimate--i mean you can go by comparing yourself to photos...
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I'm actually a guy. Link to the site with those pictures?0
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whoops. sorry. here you go..
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I don't know how people eat so much protein... Just sitting at home eating boiled chicken breasts, sounds like. At 1.5g/lb of body weight, I'd need over 275g of protein!
Is that just for weight lifting days, or every day?0 -
I don't know how people eat so much protein... Just sitting at home eating boiled chicken breasts, sounds like. At 1.5g/lb of body weight, I'd need over 275g of protein!
Is that just for weight lifting days, or every day?
you don't need 1.5g/lb ..it's LBM and 1g/lb is 1000000% adequate. How much do you ewigh and what are your estimating your BF% at?0 -
I don't know how people eat so much protein... Just sitting at home eating boiled chicken breasts, sounds like. At 1.5g/lb of body weight, I'd need over 275g of protein!
Is that just for weight lifting days, or every day?
you dont need 1.5.. and its for LEAN body mass... so a 6ft non-athletic person weighing 230 could easily have a LBM of only 155-160... 150g of protein isnt too much to ask for.0 -
198lbs, 6ft3, estimating about 15% body fat from those pictures. Definitely less than 20%.0
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Also, is this every day, or just weight training days?0
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Goal weight is 185lb to 190lb.0
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198 * .85 = 168g of protein.
Daily is ideal but if you fall short on non lifting days then no biggie.
168g of protein = 19oz of chicken. That's not THAT much...you could conceivably eat 12 oz each meal (lunch/dinner) and exceed your needs)
alternatively:
12oz chicken = 72g
2 cups milk = 16g
1 cup greek yogurt = 20g
2 oz cheese = 14g
8oz sirloin (raw weight) = 48g
Plus your veggie/grain protein. It's really NOT that much.0 -
What do you all eat to get your protein, if you need to get it in a big chunk? I've been eating a lot more chicken breasts and whey powder since exercising and dieting.0
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whey and chicken are awesome --
2 scoops (25g per servings) and 1 cup milk = 58 grams of protein
then 12 oz chicken (72g) and 1 cup quinoa (8g) = 80 grams
You're already basically there without snacks. A protein bar can be 20g and that would finish it off for you.0 -
168g of protein = 19oz of chicken. That's not THAT much...you could conceivably eat 12 oz each meal (lunch/dinner) and exceed your needs)
Thank you, this helps a lot. Actually, it's possible I've been getting enough protein all along. I think MFP has wildly different protein amounts per 1oz of chicken. This is another stupid question, but is that amount above cooked or uncooked chicken?
This seems to be a problem with MFP in general. Do you have nutritional source for food, especially proteins?0 -
168g of protein = 19oz of chicken. That's not THAT much...you could conceivably eat 12 oz each meal (lunch/dinner) and exceed your needs)
Thank you, this helps a lot. Actually, it's possible I've been getting enough protein all along. I think MFP has wildly different protein amounts per 1oz of chicken. This is another stupid question, but is that amount above cooked or uncooked chicken?
This seems to be a problem with MFP in general. Do you have nutritional source for food, especially proteins?
1 raw ounce of chicken has 6g protein. 1 cooked ounce has more at 9g. So a pound of raw chicken= 96 grams total. Pair that with your protein shake and you've met your needs.
Just to give you an idea, 1 cup cooked = 43 grams. I can totally eat 2 cups of protein in a sitting, that's 86 grams (about 9.5 oz cooked/ 14 oz raw CHICKEN). 2 shakes a day w/ 2 scoops protein each would be 100g protein. Plus the milk adds another 16g.0 -
Also, is this every day, or just weight training days?
Generally recommended to have high protein all around. You need it on days you lift but you need it on rest days too to support that recovery. I'm about your size and I try to get minimum 175g a day, every day (with rare exception, usually on sundays). Most days I average 200, sometimes spiking to 250.
As for chicken, generally 1 ounce of uncooked chicken has about 8g of protein. You can expect it to lose a little weight when cooking so it will probably be more like .75 ounces of chicken once it's cooked (especially grilled chicken for example). This is for ultra lean chicken of course (like 99% lean). Chicken with some fat will obviously leave you with less protein per ounce. Just read the label on what you buy and enter it in that way. Most regular (not super lean) chicken is probably like 6g of protein and 2g of fat per ounce.0 -
If you watch what you're eating it's easy to get the protein in. I consume about 280gm's/day and it's not a stretch. Each meal has meat, typically some kind of grilled chicken, supplement in some whey, and then the small amounts of protein in the rest of my food make up the rest. When people eat things like cereal bars and other "low-fat" / "low-cal" snack foods, even some yogurt, they typically lack any meaningful amounts of protein so you hit your calorie goals but you miss out on the protein.0
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I'm not a big meat eater, so I really have to try with chicken. Most of the time, I don't really want to eat more than about 4 oz of meat at once.0
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I'm not a big meat eater, so I really have to try with chicken. Most of the time, I don't really want to eat more than about 4 oz of meat at once.
4oz is like 2 bites. Sounds like protein shakes will be your best friend. 3 a day --for snacks --2 scoops each.0 -
Most recreational trainers don't need any more than 200g of Protein a day but there is no harm in eating more.
Unlikely to add muscle if on a deficit unless you are very new to weight training then you might see some gains in the first 3 months or so but strength should increase.
If you want to lean up and gain muscle then carb backloading should work for you but you would need to eat at an excess - I roughly lose 1% bf a month eating 500 -1000 calories over maintenance and stay around the same weight of 89kg.0 -
Okay, different question. How long do you all rest in between sets of doing something. Let's say I'm doing 5x5 sets of something like...shoulder presses or squats. How long should I be resting between sets, ideally?0
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I usually rest 4-5 mins between the big exercises like deadlifts or squats. 2-3 between smaller exercises like rows or shoulder press.0
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Are you in a big rush to lose?
You can always microcycle bulking and cutting, from the leangains level of extreme of a every other day to a less extreme workout-cycle bulk and cut where every 4-6-8 weeks you shift between bulking and cutting, coinciding with exercise fatigue cycles.
Over time you'll gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, even if strictly speaking you aren't doing both simultaneously. When you are gaining/losing 0.5-1.0 lb/wk in shorter cycles like that it will appear that you are both losing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously. The fat gains duing bulk cycles will be minimal, bodering on irrelevant.
Th positive benefit of doing this as opposed to dieting down to a low BF% right away, is that your metabolism will be less prone to protesting. The hardest time to get to a low BF% is after you've been dieting a while, as your metabolism has been adjusting to the loss for a while. Likewise you won't have to deal with stalled out strength gains while in a deficit for long chunks.0 -
If you are training for strength then you rest as long as you need to in order to complete the next set. As you get stronger, this time will increase.0
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Interesting, so you do 5 squats...rest 5 minutes, and then do the next 5 and repeat til done.0
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