maintain weight, gain muscle, loose fat?

Ive read that gaining muscle requires more calories, but how do you balance adding calories to gain muscle vs. those calories adding fat?

The simple answer is you can't. At 99 pounds, you probably have very little fat. Also, you're not going to gain weight/muscle with 1500 calories a day, you need to eat more than that.

You're at a point now where I think you could drop the cardio (maybe keeping a couple of sessions a week if you really want to), focus on weight training (as heavy as possible) and eat at least 300-400 calories more a day (to start). Look into a tried and true weight training program. Stop focusing on how many calories you burn at the gym and focus on a good program that you can put muscle on.

Yes, you can. It's call a recomp, and there are a couple of ways to do it.

You can eat right at maintenance and lift (a lot), or you can do very short bulk/cut cycles (1-2 days at a slight surplus followed by 1-2 days at a slight deficit) also while lifting a lot.

Either way, if you want to do both cardio and weights, I'd lift first.

Also, progress will be EXCEPTIONALLY slow, so be prepared for that mentally.

.

Ive read that gaining muscle requires more calories, but how do you balance adding calories to gain muscle vs. those calories adding fat?

The simple answer is you can't. At 99 pounds, you probably have very little fat. Also, you're not going to gain weight/muscle with 1500 calories a day, you need to eat more than that.

You're at a point now where I think you could drop the cardio (maybe keeping a couple of sessions a week if you really want to), focus on weight training (as heavy as possible) and eat at least 300-400 calories more a day (to start). Look into a tried and true weight training program. Stop focusing on how many calories you burn at the gym and focus on a good program that you can put muscle on.

^^ This.
(OP) Unfortunately im a lot older than you but I was in your position 20+ years ago. Although I did weigh more as a guy, just average weight or less.
I was very active and I also used to train hard for years. A 4 day split routine & usually extra abs on Saturdays. I loved it & I got a pretty good body looking back but I never got anywhere near as big as I wanted, by a long way.

Looking back on it for the reason's why I never grew equal to the hrs and sweat & shear volume of work I put into it ?

DIET! yep .. I ate healthy definitely. But I wasn't eating anywhere near enough to pack on the muscle I craved by a huge margin looking back on it.

As sijomial says what you wish for (loosing fat and gaining muscle at the same time) is called recomp and its a very long process by all account.

Id also agree with him that a much better option for you to achieve what you wish is Bulk /cutting.

Maybe cut down your cardio a little & start a decent muscle building program.
Eat well and start to add calories, make sure your getting enough protein.
Start with manageable weights and work on your form (depending how comfortable you already are in the gym/weights dept).
Then train hard, sweat is your fat crying!
Listen to your body and work it.
GET ENOUGH REST!


The above is just my take on it at the moment as im new back and just trying to learn what I can of value and trying not to make the mistakes I make in the past. Everybody is an expert nowadays with the internet. I think you have to sift though it and hopefully find the decent information. Also try and find what works for you.

Go make yourself awesome!!

Agree with the above opinions of cutting cardio. Or at least incorporate it into your (heavier) weight routine, like with plyometrics or jump rope intervals, etc. Good luck!

Regarding your question as to how to balance calories added to gains in lean mass vs fat mass, that has to do with ones unique Partitioning Ratio.

Consider two people, both assuming a 250 calorie surplus.
Person A adds 150 calories to lean mass vs 100 calories to fat mass.
Person B adds 100 calories to lean mass vs 150 calories to fat mass.

As you can see, Person A has a more favorable P-ratio resulting in more calories added to gains in lean mass vs fat mass. Person A will also pull less calories from muscle and more from fat mass when in a deficit.

How much lean mass do you want to gain/fat mass to lose?

Personally, I think recomping by eating a few calories above maintenance is ideal for someone who is relatively happy with their current body composition but just wants to do a minor tweak. As a previous poster mentioned, this is a very slow process. If you are looking at an appreciable improvement of lean mass vs fat mass, you're better off doing a lean gain phase followed by fat loss.

Either way you go, you will first have to establish what your actual maintenance intake is. Thus it is recommended to use a food scale to accurately weigh everything you eat during the process so you don't over or under-estimate a surplus. Eat a determined amount of calories while keeping carbs relatively stable to minimize affects of water-related weight fluctuations for a week or two before increasing calories again. Continue until your weight stabilizes.

If you do a lean gain phase, get your body fat assessed. Let's say you are 19% body fat. You can eat at a 200 to 250 calorie surplus for several months until your body fat percentage hits 23%. By this time, you could optimally gain a total of 14 lbs with 7/7 ratio. Followed by an optomistic fat loss stage, whereby you minimize lean mass loss, you could end up with a net gain of 6 lbs lean mass at the same body fat percentage.

Present:
99 lbs @ 19% bf
80.2 lean
18.8 fat

After lean gain:
113 lbs @ 23% bf
87.0 lean
25.9 fat

After fat loss:
106 lbs @ 19% bf
85.9 lean
20.1 fat

Yes, you can. It's call a recomp, and there are a couple of ways to do it.

You can eat right at maintenance and lift (a lot), or you can do very short bulk/cut cycles (1-2 days at a slight surplus followed by 1-2 days at a slight deficit) also while lifting a lot.

Either way, if you want to do both cardio and weights, I'd lift first.

Also, progress will be EXCEPTIONALLY slow, so be prepared for that mentally.

.

I did a recomp for the best part of ... 18 months? I think, and I'm not where I want to be as a result. Although I've made decent progress, I wish I could go back and start again - first with a hefty cut in my case, before moving on to a bulk cycle.

Edit; I am now in the early phases of a real 'cut'.

Great replies! Saving for later!

you want to eat the right kind of calories not the bad calories that take longer to burn but to take calories in with protein

Wha??

you want to eat the right kind of calories not the bad calories that take longer to burn but to take calories in with protein

Wha??

More bro science. Just eat a good balance healthy diet 80-90% of the time. Fill the other 10-20% with some treats or less treats if you are that way inclined. When I say balanced and healthy, generally if you cook things yourself and don't slam loads of salt and sugar you are going to be fine. Just don't deep fat fry everything.

Koing