Weight lifters, calorie help! Please!

I am still learning too. One thing I was told (probably not by an expert, but it did come from more than one person) is that you can't build muscle and lose weight at the same time. When I have weighed in at the club on the Tanita, that has borne itself out...times that I have lost any sort of significant weight, I have lost some muscle too. The time my weight was up slightly (by about 2-3 lbs) I had gained 2 lbs of muscle and lost a pound of fat. When that happened, I had been going several weeks without restricting calories, just eating when hungry (but still relatively clean). So it seems to have borne itself out with experience.

Now that I am trying to lose again, I am expecting to lose some of that muscle again. Again, I was told the answer to this dilemma is to alternate periods of time trying to lose by eating at a deficit with periods of time eating at maintenance or slightly above to try and build muscle. I am still trying to figure out how that should work!

I am interested in faber's reply to you, and will take his advice into consideration for my own use as well. I too have gotten conflicting numbers that seem high from sources like yours. It seems the recommendations you have gotten are relatively close. My guess is that you will have to choose one idea (from him or other sources), try it for a few weeks, then adjust calories slightly up or down according to your results.

Thanks for your post!!!

Muscle doesn't weigh more then fat..a lb of feathers is the same as a lb of bricks..easy now to visualize which one takes mor e space ..you might gain weight with strength training but your clothes will fit better and your body fat % will drop..which to me is the truest number of your health not your weight

i lift 3xs a week with a trainer. Since my nutrition was so bad, she had me start with writing down everything I ate. She would look at it and tweak the mistakes. Example was carbs in the morning such as oatmeal (you need the carbs for energy if you want to lift)/ but then you don't want to keep adding carbs all day long. maybe with dinner a small potato. I'm not counting calories at all but I do watch my portions. Palm sized protein and fist size carbs. I started with her Arpril 8 and had only lost 4 lbs in all that time. Once I finally got it through my head how to jockey things around to counteract too many carbs or fats, I lost 3 lbs in 1 week. I am 5'4" and started at 198 lbs.

Mary Ann