Lifting and nutrition

mich1902
mich1902 Posts: 182
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi People

I've just started doing some resistance work with weights and have my calorie defecit at tdee -20%. My goal is to lose some body fat while keeping muscle(that's there somewhere under that fat). Questions.

1). I have my macros set to include 45% protein to help keep said muscle. Does everything else have to be clean to get results? I would like the occaisional savoury rice with my meat and so on and i'm struggling for ideas..I hate dry, boring food.

2) I'm currently not doing any cardio. I was thinking along the lines that i'm not trying to earn calories back as i'm already on a defecit, and I don't want to burn muscle doing too much cardio..I also don't like cardio very much. But should I maybe be doing some hiit to help with fat burn? Or will that just earn me more calories?

As a side note, I do eat pretty well 80% of the time.

thanks in advance.

Replies

  • BreakingOath
    BreakingOath Posts: 193 Member
    Hey. Doing cardio doesn't burn muscle. People say that cardio burns muscle because they do not enough calories while doing insane amounts of cardio.
  • mich1902
    mich1902 Posts: 182
    Hey. Doing cardio doesn't burn muscle. People say that cardio burns muscle because they do not enough calories while doing insane amounts of cardio.

    Ahhh I see. I would never do insane amounts of cardio anyway, there is no reason for me to be pounding away for ages on a treadmill or the like. different scenario if I enjoyed it or was training for a run. HIIT has got some good reviews but was worried i'd have to spend time eating a whole load of calories back when it takes me all my time sorting my macros for the calories I have just now! It was the fat burning part I was intrigued by. thanks for your response.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
    You have to adjust your macros to suit you but 45% protein is a little on the high side. Regarding cardio, I listened to a webcast were yrs of research was done regarding cardio and hypertrophy(gaining muscle size). Long durations of cardio blocked the protein synthesis. HITT cardio on the other hand was shown to be effective for fatloss and retaining muscle size.
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
    Eat about 1 g protein per lb of lean body mass. Set the rest of your macros accordingly.

    Eating clean is a personal choice - it is not required at all for weight loss. Eating less than you burn off in a day is what is going to drive weight loss.

    Cardio doesn't burn muscle per se, or fat for that matter. It burns calories. Where those calories come from depends on a variety of factors, such as your food intake, genetics, fat vs muscle pools, use of said muscles etc. If you are on too large of a deficit, then your body will (in general) use existing muscle and fat to sustain you. Doing weight training will help stave this off - your body won't want to get rid of what you are using regularly. So lifting weights + a deficit will cause a reduction primarily in fat.

    However, cardio is also good for, well, your cardiovascular system, and shouldn't be ignored completely. I do 15-30 minutes of HIIT on an elliptical/cross trainer about 3 times a week after my weights. Just make sure you maintain a sustainable deficit (around TDEE -20%) - which means you'd want to eat most of those calories back.
  • mich1902
    mich1902 Posts: 182
    You have to adjust your macros to suit you but 45% protein is a little on the high side. Regarding cardio, I listened to a webcast were yrs of research was done regarding cardio and hypertrophy(gaining muscle size). Long durations of cardio blocked the protein synthesis. HITT cardio on the other hand was shown to be effective for fatloss and retaining muscle size.

    I currently weigh around 145 pounds and 45% sits this at 154 grams. I will reduce it and go for 40% I think then. thanks
  • mich1902
    mich1902 Posts: 182
    Eat about 1 g protein per lb of lean body mass. Set the rest of your macros accordingly.

    Eating clean is a personal choice - it is not required at all for weight loss. Eating less than you burn off in a day is what is going to drive weight loss.

    Cardio doesn't burn muscle per se, or fat for that matter. It burns calories. Where those calories come from depends on a variety of factors, such as your food intake, genetics, fat vs muscle pools, use of said muscles etc. If you are on too large of a deficit, then your body will (in general) use existing muscle and fat to sustain you. Doing weight training will help stave this off - your body won't want to get rid of what you are using regularly. So lifting weights + a deficit will cause a reduction primarily in fat.

    However, cardio is also good for, well, your cardiovascular system, and shouldn't be ignored completely. I do 15-30 minutes of HIIT on an elliptical/cross trainer about 3 times a week after my weights. Just make sure you maintain a sustainable deficit (around TDEE -20%) - which means you'd want to eat most of those calories back.

    I do brisk walk every day for 30 minutes and then strength train 3 times per week. My calorie intake is set at tdee -20% which is 0.7 of a pound per week but i'm trying not to focus on the scale figure but on my body fat percentage. My protein maybe aimed too high so i'll perhaps reduce that by 5% and that means i'll match it to refelct a pound for every pound of body weight I have(or should it be per pound of lean body mass?)

    I think i'll try some hiit on the says i don't train and see what my heart rate monitor says in terms of calorie burn.. thanks again
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
    I think it is 1 g/lb of LEAN body mass, or ~0.8 g protein per lb of total body mass. But it's virtually impossible to eat too much protein, so if you are somewhere around there, it's all good.
  • chymerra
    chymerra Posts: 212
    as long as you're within your caloric range, you can eat whatever you want. keep in mind that rich foods are caloric dense so you may go over your caloric target. this is why it's necessary to eat clean since the calories are lower and the foods keep you full longer, promoting a caloric deficit.

    i hate cardio but i LOVE lifting however, i do both because you can lift all you want but if there's a layer of fat on top, you will not see any definition.

    alternate between lifting and HIIT cardio every other day to get the most of your workouts and lose the fat faster.
    Hi People

    I've just started doing some resistance work with weights and have my calorie defecit at tdee -20%. My goal is to lose some body fat while keeping muscle(that's there somewhere under that fat). Questions.

    1). I have my macros set to include 45% protein to help keep said muscle. Does everything else have to be clean to get results? I would like the occaisional savoury rice with my meat and so on and i'm struggling for ideas..I hate dry, boring food.

    2) I'm currently not doing any cardio. I was thinking along the lines that i'm not trying to earn calories back as i'm already on a defecit, and I don't want to burn muscle doing too much cardio..I also don't like cardio very much. But should I maybe be doing some hiit to help with fat burn? Or will that just earn me more calories?

    As a side note, I do eat pretty well 80% of the time.

    thanks in advance.

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