Newbie gains and eating to make the most of them
ferocityturbine
Posts: 110 Member
Hi!
Background:
I'm pretty much at my target size and my next goal is body recomposition. I'm thrilled with my body fat percentage but have very little muscle mass. My goals are not ambitious. I'm not looking to gain a lot of muscle, but I am borderline underweight at this lovely body fat percentage. My goal is to gain enough muscle to put myself in a healthy weight range but at the same body fat percentage. Beyond that, I'd be happy with strength gains. I'm planning on starting All Pro's beginner routine, adapted for dumbells in a couple of weeks time (once I've moved into my new place and unpacked my dumbells!).
My question is...
Would it be better for me to eat at TDEE for a while when I start lifting as I'd likely achieve newbie gains anyway, or should I go straight into a bulk eating about 250 calories over TDEE?
Is there any benefit to eating at a surplus during a period where you'd expect to experience some gains anyway? Or would a calorie surplus maximise these potential gains even more?
I won't lie: like most women I'm scared of the necessary fat I'd gain on a bulk and I really do wince at the prospect of another 'cut'. When I originally joined MFP my goal was 'the last ever diet'. I was tired of yo-yoing. I wanted to lose weight slowly and healthily and learn to maintain so I'd never have to do another damn diet again! I understand that recomping is inefficient, and if I have to do one or two bulk/cut cycles then so be it. I guess what I'm really asking is how much progress can realistically be made eating at TDEE as a new lifter? And whether, to maximise these gains, it's advisable to immediately bulk?
Thanks in advance!
Background:
I'm pretty much at my target size and my next goal is body recomposition. I'm thrilled with my body fat percentage but have very little muscle mass. My goals are not ambitious. I'm not looking to gain a lot of muscle, but I am borderline underweight at this lovely body fat percentage. My goal is to gain enough muscle to put myself in a healthy weight range but at the same body fat percentage. Beyond that, I'd be happy with strength gains. I'm planning on starting All Pro's beginner routine, adapted for dumbells in a couple of weeks time (once I've moved into my new place and unpacked my dumbells!).
My question is...
Would it be better for me to eat at TDEE for a while when I start lifting as I'd likely achieve newbie gains anyway, or should I go straight into a bulk eating about 250 calories over TDEE?
Is there any benefit to eating at a surplus during a period where you'd expect to experience some gains anyway? Or would a calorie surplus maximise these potential gains even more?
I won't lie: like most women I'm scared of the necessary fat I'd gain on a bulk and I really do wince at the prospect of another 'cut'. When I originally joined MFP my goal was 'the last ever diet'. I was tired of yo-yoing. I wanted to lose weight slowly and healthily and learn to maintain so I'd never have to do another damn diet again! I understand that recomping is inefficient, and if I have to do one or two bulk/cut cycles then so be it. I guess what I'm really asking is how much progress can realistically be made eating at TDEE as a new lifter? And whether, to maximise these gains, it's advisable to immediately bulk?
Thanks in advance!
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Replies
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Tagging to follow.0
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^^me too. Would love to know how this works.0
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In your situation, I would look to eat at a slight surplus. Most of your gains should be muscle due to the fact that you have not lifted before. You should look to gain about 2lb a month at first, most of which should be muscle. After a few months you may want to slow that down to about 1lb a month if you want to significantly limit fat gain.0
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Thanks Sara!
If I find myself wanting to follow through a couple of bulk/cut cycles, is there a minimum length you'd recommend? I understand people can get discouraged by the gain and end up doing 'mini' bulks and cuts and end up making little progress overall. Is there a minimum period of time/amount of weight I should push through to before cutting?
I was thinking of bulking for 12 weeks with a gain of 6lbs. If I was looking at 3lbs of muscle gain though, do you think that would really be enough progress to then cut? Or would I be better off pushing for a higher net muscle gain?
Also I suppose as I gain weight eating a set number of calories, my deficit will close as my TDEE increases so the gain will slow naturally...?0 -
It really depends on you being ok with a higher BF%. As a rule of thumb, you should bulk at a BF% at 20% or below and stop when you hit 25%, or a % that you are not comfortable gaining more. My bulk was a bit shorter than I would like at 15 weeks as I wanted to be relatively lean for at least some of the summer and be ready to bulk over the winter.
If I were you I would play it by ear (or actually sight). Genetics and a bunch of other factors will determine how much muscle you will gain. As a rule of thumb (and this is a continuum), women can only gain 12lb muscle in their first year of lifting, under ideal circumstances. This includes 'newbie gains' and as such will be higher at the beginning and start to slow down. I personally think you may want to time it over the holidays.
As a suggestion - reverse up to find your maintenance. This will take a month or two. Then bulk for 8 weeks at a slightly higher surplus to milk all newbie gains you can - so aim for the 2lb a month. After than I would dial it back and aim for about 1lb a month - keep going until ready to cut, possible in the spring.
Now, the above is all nice on paper, but water and food weight can screw with the nicely laid out math so you will need to keep an eye on the trend.0 -
That all sounds like (hypothetically!) it could time really well: find maintenance by October, bulk throught the cold festive season, slow it down over Jan/Feb/Mar and then start cutting back in the spring to look good for the summer. I like it! (on paper that is)
Thanks a lot!0 -
Locking so we can track active threads better. If you have further questions, please PM me, and include a link to this thread and I will unlock so you can pose them.0
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