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LOSE the FAT .. KEEP the MUSCLE

MACnificence
MACnificence Posts: 419 Member
edited February 1 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi

So I'm looking for advice on losing the fat while keeping as much muscle as physically possible ,
I am 121.6 IBs my goal weight was always 120Ibs but I think maybe I might want to drop another maybe 7Ibs but I want to do this while preserving as much muscle as I can. I already strength train 4 days a week , I lift as heavy as I can doing compound movements like deadlifts squats bench press etc .. Thing is I'm not gaining much strength and I don't know is because I'm in too high of a calorie deficit , I have my calorie goal set to 1700 calories a day , but burning quiet abit through cardio according to my HRM 1000-1100 5-6 days a week , I do a hour cardio in the gym 5 mornings a week and walk my dog an hour and a half daily aswell , I take Sunday as a rest day
Now the weight has been dropping off but I am terrified of losing muscle mass because I want to keep my metabolism fired up
Any advice /tips / personal experience with this topic I'd very much appreciate

Replies

  • mountaingirl1961
    mountaingirl1961 Posts: 75 Member
    Here.


    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1953489.Burn_the_Fat_Feed_the_Muscle

    Very awesome read.
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  • MACnificence
    MACnificence Posts: 419 Member
    Here.


    http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1953489.Burn_the_Fat_Feed_the_Muscle

    Very awesome read.



    Thanks for the link , page is currently down for maintainance will check it out at soon as its up and running again :)
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  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Way too big a calorie deficit. You aren't gaining strength because you don't have the raw energy to do so. You're spending it all on cardio. Either cut way back on the cardio, or eat about 600-800 more calories a day.

    This is mostly a fatigue/potential starvation issue, if you're eating 1700 calories a day but burning off 1100 due to cardio, that leaves your body with only 600 calories to fuel your strength training, plus to also just run basic organ function and repair and maintenance of your body systems. The brain alone uses about 500 calories a day, so you're leaving yourself 100 calories per day for everything else.

    That's dangerous.
  • MACnificence
    MACnificence Posts: 419 Member
    Way too big a calorie deficit. You aren't gaining strength because you don't have the raw energy to do so. You're spending it all on cardio. Either cut way back on the cardio, or eat about 600-800 more calories a day.

    This is mostly a fatigue/potential starvation issue, if you're eating 1700 calories a day but burning off 1100 due to cardio, that leaves your body with only 600 calories to fuel your strength training, plus to also just run basic organ function and repair and maintenance of your body systems. The brain alone uses about 500 calories a day, so you're leaving yourself 100 calories per day for everything else.

    That's dangerous.






    Hi
    Thanks for your reply , that's what I was afraid of , I'm just addicted to seeing the calorie burn on my HRM when I do cardio hence the overdoing it , what do you think an optimal amount of cardio is when still trying to lose a few pounds.
    I know there's so much talk about net calories but I've been steering clear of eating back ALL exercise calories because of being afraid of the margin of error that there's with calorie estiamations. Plus I like to have a cheat meal once a week and I feel like oh I've burned X amount of calories this week so my cheat meal is now ok
    Like I mean my weekly calorie burns were 6000 calories in the past 2-3 weeks from doing cardio , way to much right ?
  • MACnificence
    MACnificence Posts: 419 Member
    Looking for as much advice on this as possible please ! :)
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Ultimately it's all about food. How much you exercise really makes no difference, you just need to eat to support it. Look at elite athletes. Michael Phelps, when training for competition, eats up to 12,000 calories a day, due to the amount of calories he burns while swimming and weight training. You can burn all the calories you want doing cardio, you just need to eat enough to support it.
  • stefjc
    stefjc Posts: 484 Member
    LOL - just don't try eating the same foods Phelps, Bolt etc eat when competing. They go for kcal rich foods to refuel, they'd spend far too long eating to train, sleep or compete if they ate only healthy foods.

    But do up your kcals - and protein levels for recovery. You don't have to go mad. Just add some back in and see how you feel, add more if you need to. But you certainly won't add muscle mass without more of both.
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  • MACnificence
    MACnificence Posts: 419 Member
    Thanks for yer replies :)

    So what do ye think is a good calorie deficit to have ? That I'm not losing muscle but still losing fat and ill work my cardio/food intake around that
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  • sokkache
    sokkache Posts: 220 Member
    I would do HIIT training instead of hour cardio workouts, it really speeds up the fat burn and works well with strength training routines rather than jogging at 6mph for an hour. I find that my cardio is usually no longer than 30 minutes now and I burn just as much calories or more as when I worked out for nearly 2 hours.

    If you already do that, then it may be your diet, just eat good stuff. I'm not an expert with diet/exercise but that's what is working for me.
  • dailytammy
    dailytammy Posts: 49 Member
    my personal trainer says HIIT workouts
  • KellySue67
    KellySue67 Posts: 1,006 Member
    Bump for later- want to check out the good reads link, but it's blocked at work
  • MACnificence
    MACnificence Posts: 419 Member
    Well it's not that my workouts aren't working , the IBs are dropping off its just that I'm afraid that some of that is muscle , I was doing HIIT till I was told sprinting develops your calves and that is something I do not need help with , I have genetically muscly calves so I want to keep them as trim as possible !! I am very conscious of my calves being muscular def something I don't want to add to ..
    So that completely turned me against doing HIIT
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  • HacheraTsarine
    HacheraTsarine Posts: 278 Member
    bumpity bump for later
This discussion has been closed.

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