If you can't gain muscle on a calorie deficit then...

XxSarahKatexX
XxSarahKatexX Posts: 120
in Fitness and Exercise
What happens when you get sore from strength exercises? I know you need to be on a calorie surplus to gain muscle and that you lose muscle while on a calorie deficit. Also that it is important to do strength exercise while on a deficit so you don't lose muscle mass.. But if you prevent the loss doesn't that kinda mean you are gaining muscle as it goes away? Meaning you can gain muscle on a deficit? I've also heard stories if anorexics getting like a 6 pack from their excessive exercise ( granted most of that its from super lack of fat but still..) not saying I am. Just an example. That's like a super calorie deficit... I dunno I'm just confused xD; do your muscles just simply repair and go nowhere when you are on a deficit? Be great if someone could clear this up for me. Haha

Replies

  • XxSarahKatexX
    XxSarahKatexX Posts: 120
    Bump :P
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    When you get sore from strength exercises, the muscles are storing glycogen and water to repair themselves. The more that you do strength training, the more the muscles get used to the exercises and then don't get as sore anymore.

    Also, excessive exercise does not cause a 6 pack. 6 packs are reveled by a lack of body fat and nothing else.

    When people talk about "gaining muscle", they mean building new muscle tissue, which on a calorie deficit is near impossible. If you are new to strength training, obese when starting or coming back to it, you can gain a bit of muscle.. but those gains stop pretty quickly.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
    People do tend to get overexcited about things. It's not like if you skip a meal all your muscles will dissolve and you'll go from Pumpy McSwole to Sir Noodlearms overnight.

    But yeah. Your body can get energy from any of the macronutrients. If you're repeatedly injuring your muscles (resistance training), your body will figure that it needs those muscles to survive, and it will try to use the protein you eat to make your muscles bigger/stronger to deal with that instead of burning it for energy. There's only so much it can do, though - at some point it's going to hit the limit of "there just isn't enough, what do you want me to do?", and you'll just get sore and sick all the time. That's what people mean when they say you can't gain on a deficit - at best you'll only be keeping what you have (and probably not even that, you're just trying to avoid losing as much as you can).

    As far as the other thing, everyone has a 6-pack, it's just the fat over it that determines if you can see it or not. Anorexics don't "get" one from exercise, what muscles they have just show because there's nothing between them and the skin.
  • juliekins64
    juliekins64 Posts: 125 Member
    I am calorie restricting and lifting.
    I did this to avoid losing muscle while losing bodyfat. It is working great. I've heard that when you are losing weight 1/3 of that is muscle and lifting can reduce that a lot so that when you are losing weight you are mostly losing fat and preserving muscle. I did notice that my muscles seem more prominent/bigger, I believe this is due to less bodyfat so I can see it easier as well as newbie gains. I do not expect to continue growing/building muscle on a calorie deficit. You cannot build something out of nothing, I agree with dad106 that anorexics have lost enough body fat to show their 6 pack, that's all.

    Having a 6 pack because because you starved yourself enough is like having big boobs because you're fat, ****ty.
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
    I wouldn't be so overly concerned with muscle loss, as most of us here on this web-site have led very sedentary life styles which has led to being overweight with very little muscles to begin with.
  • RonandDi
    RonandDi Posts: 120 Member
    Dont know about all the technical stuff, but I am losing weight and getting stronger. Meets my goals, so I'll continue what I'm doing.
  • marc_s_johnson
    marc_s_johnson Posts: 107 Member
    I'm eating my 2200 calories to maintain but not eating my 500-1300 exercise calories per day and I'm finding that I'm becoming lean with muscle cutting through.

    Saying that I'm doing the 30 Day Shred and Kettlebells so hoping that its accelerating the process.
  • anonymousllama
    anonymousllama Posts: 29 Member
    So if i'm trying to lose weight should I not be doing any resistance training? Everyone always says you need muscle to burn fat and you should focus more on weight training than cardio for this. I'm doing 5-7 days of cardio right now and on a calorie deficit. If i added that Body Revolution program would I still build some muscle? I'm an out of shape fatty so I feel like there is only room for improvement.
  • RHSheetz
    RHSheetz Posts: 268 Member
    I wouldn't be so overly concerned with muscle loss, as most of us here on this web-site have led very sedentary life styles which has led to being overweight with very little muscles to begin with.

    I don't know about that. I seem to have a LOT of muscle under this fat, I needed it to move 437 lbs around on a daily basis.
  • bokodasu
    bokodasu Posts: 629 Member
    So if i'm trying to lose weight should I not be doing any resistance training? Everyone always says you need muscle to burn fat and you should focus more on weight training than cardio for this. I'm doing 5-7 days of cardio right now and on a calorie deficit. If i added that Body Revolution program would I still build some muscle? I'm an out of shape fatty so I feel like there is only room for improvement.

    What? No! Always do resistance training. Your options are building, maintaining, or losing muscle. You don't want that last one, but that's what you get when you constantly eat at a deficit and cardio it up. Gaining strength is another good thing, and you can do that with either of the first two options. (This is why people are always saying, "but I'm stronger, I must have built muscle at a deficit!" There's other stuff that goes into strength besides muscle fiber size/number.)

    Your body doesn't want to carry around a bunch of metabolically expensive muscle - if it did, everyone would look like a bodybuilder. You have to convince it that you need that stuff, and you do it by using those muscles to the limits of their abilities.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
    So if i'm trying to lose weight should I not be doing any resistance training? Everyone always says you need muscle to burn fat and you should focus more on weight training than cardio for this. I'm doing 5-7 days of cardio right now and on a calorie deficit. If i added that Body Revolution program would I still build some muscle? I'm an out of shape fatty so I feel like there is only room for improvement.

    You should DEFINITELY do resistance training if you're losing weight! Otherwise you lose your muscle and bone along with the fat. Resistance training ensure that it's mainly just fat that you lose.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
    What happens when you get sore from strength exercises? I know you need to be on a calorie surplus to gain muscle and that you lose muscle while on a calorie deficit. Also that it is important to do strength exercise while on a deficit so you don't lose muscle mass.. But if you prevent the loss doesn't that kinda mean you are gaining muscle as it goes away? Meaning you can gain muscle on a deficit? I've also heard stories if anorexics getting like a 6 pack from their excessive exercise ( granted most of that its from super lack of fat but still..) not saying I am. Just an example. That's like a super calorie deficit... I dunno I'm just confused xD; do your muscles just simply repair and go nowhere when you are on a deficit? Be great if someone could clear this up for me. Haha

    Unless you've been doing resistance training for awhile, you actually can gain some muscle on a caloric defecit provided that you're also getting plenty of protein. However, it's just not an "efficient" way to build muscle. So your muscles will get stronger and a little bigger, but not much bigger.

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