Food/Diet Suggestions to Create Lean Muscle

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minnyme87
minnyme87 Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
Any suggestions on what to eat to create lean muscle? I recently had a Bod Pod test which determined I had 27% body fat (5'5" female 115 lbs). Please also let me know what percentage of my total calories should be protein/carbs/fat for a total calorie intake of 1200-1400 calories. Thanks!!

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  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
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    To gain lean muscle, eat a small calorie surplus and strength train.

    You should be eating approximately. 8-1g of protein per lb of lean body mass. Amd approximately. 35g of fat per pound of bodyweight.
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
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    If you want to create lean muscle, you need to eat at or above maintenance and lift weights. Eating at 1200-1400 calories will not do you any favors, seeing as you don't need to lose weight, and food won't just create muscle if you aren't training your muscles. Find out what your maintenance intake is, decide whether you want to recomp or bulk (recomp - maintaining the weight you are and changing your body composition from fat to muscle; takes longer. Bulk - gaining weight by eating above maintenance; builds muscle faster, but you may also gain a small amount of fat you'd have to diet off later). Get on a weight training program. I recommend Starting Strength for beginners, you can find a summary of the program online or purchase the book. Many women also like New Rules of Lifting for Women. It's a very good read, though I haven't done the program myself.
  • minnyme87
    minnyme87 Posts: 10
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    If you want to create lean muscle, you need to eat at or above maintenance and lift weights. Eating at 1200-1400 calories will not do you any favors, seeing as you don't need to lose weight, and food won't just create muscle if you aren't training your muscles. Find out what your maintenance intake is, decide whether you want to recomp or bulk (recomp - maintaining the weight you are and changing your body composition from fat to muscle; takes longer. Bulk - gaining weight by eating above maintenance; builds muscle faster, but you may also gain a small amount of fat you'd have to diet off later). Get on a weight training program. I recommend Starting Strength for beginners, you can find a summary of the program online or purchase the book. Many women also like New Rules of Lifting for Women. It's a very good read, though I haven't done the program myself.

    So my RMR is actually 1050, so I think eating 1200-1400 would be pretty close to maintenance for me.
    Also, I'm not looking to gain weight, so I guess that would put me in the "recomp" category
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    I will add to what I wrote in your other thread. 1200-1400 calories, will not be enough calories to create new lean body mass. Your maintenance is probably closer to 1600, which means a bulk would occur at 1800+. I know you said you gained weight when you raised calories from 500, but that is fairly common as when you raise calories, you also raise carbs which means you increase glycogen/water storage (5 lbs or so depending how depleted they are). Why don't you start around 1500-1700 calories, (macro's around 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats. This will allow you to hit 1g of protein and .35g of fats.

    Also, the weight training routine will be keep. There are plenty of free programs: strong lift 5x5, beginner lift 5x5. You can find an upper/lower split or a few full body workouts. Yoga is fine for flexibility too since I know you do that. So you could do 4 days of weight training and 2 of yoga.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
    Options
    If you want to create lean muscle, you need to eat at or above maintenance and lift weights. Eating at 1200-1400 calories will not do you any favors, seeing as you don't need to lose weight, and food won't just create muscle if you aren't training your muscles. Find out what your maintenance intake is, decide whether you want to recomp or bulk (recomp - maintaining the weight you are and changing your body composition from fat to muscle; takes longer. Bulk - gaining weight by eating above maintenance; builds muscle faster, but you may also gain a small amount of fat you'd have to diet off later). Get on a weight training program. I recommend Starting Strength for beginners, you can find a summary of the program online or purchase the book. Many women also like New Rules of Lifting for Women. It's a very good read, though I haven't done the program myself.

    So my RMR is actually 1050, so I think eating 1200-1400 would be pretty close to maintenance for me.
    Also, I'm not looking to gain weight, so I guess that would put me in the "recomp" category

    Here is the math to why I am suggesting more.


    1050*1.2 = 1260 <--- maintenance calories if you do NOT exercise

    So if you are burning 300 calories (about average for an hour workout), it would be more like 1560.


    Also, I believe, at some point you will want to add more mass. I would check out the gaining weight section as you can see results from women in this forum.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
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    If you're putting the work in the weight room to build muscle I can guarantee you that your maintenance is more than 1200 - 1400 calories (1200-1400 would maybe be your NEAT, but certainly not your TDEE).

    As others have stated, building muscle requires proper protein intake and at minimum a maintenance level of calories (re-comp is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very,very....very slow way of building muscle) or surplus of energy (still slow but faster than a re-comp), and proper training in the weight room.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    If you're putting the work in the weight room to build muscle I can guarantee you that your maintenance is more than 1200 - 1400 calories (1200-1400 would maybe be your NEAT, but certainly not your TDEE).

    As others have stated, building muscle requires proper protein intake and at minimum a maintenance level of calories (re-comp is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very,very....very slow way of building muscle) or surplus of energy (still slow but faster than a re-comp), and proper training in the weight room.

    I can vouche that recomp is very slow. My friend took a year to lose 6% body fat due to a recomp. It's much easier and quicker to due a few bulk/cut phases. And it's easier to achieve the results as you can modify once you achieve that look.
  • minnyme87
    minnyme87 Posts: 10
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    If you're putting the work in the weight room to build muscle I can guarantee you that your maintenance is more than 1200 - 1400 calories (1200-1400 would maybe be your NEAT, but certainly not your TDEE).

    As others have stated, building muscle requires proper protein intake and at minimum a maintenance level of calories (re-comp is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very,very....very slow way of building muscle) or surplus of energy (still slow but faster than a re-comp), and proper training in the weight room.

    I can vouche that recomp is very slow. My friend took a year to lose 6% body fat due to a recomp. It's much easier and quicker to due a few bulk/cut phases. And it's easier to achieve the results as you can modify once you achieve that look.

    So how long would the bulking phase be? and cutting phase? And what does cutting consist of?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
    Options
    If you're putting the work in the weight room to build muscle I can guarantee you that your maintenance is more than 1200 - 1400 calories (1200-1400 would maybe be your NEAT, but certainly not your TDEE).

    As others have stated, building muscle requires proper protein intake and at minimum a maintenance level of calories (re-comp is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very,very....very slow way of building muscle) or surplus of energy (still slow but faster than a re-comp), and proper training in the weight room.

    I can vouche that recomp is very slow. My friend took a year to lose 6% body fat due to a recomp. It's much easier and quicker to due a few bulk/cut phases. And it's easier to achieve the results as you can modify once you achieve that look.

    So how long would the bulking phase be? and cutting phase? And what does cutting consist of?

    It's really dependent on you. I would do bulk for probably 2-3 months and then follow it with a cut for 1 month and evaluate results. But before you bulk, you want to do a month of maintenance and get down your routine (good form). You can aim for 1 lb a week (500 calories over maintenance) realizing that 50% of that will be new fat. So 2 months would net around 8 lbs of gain (4 muscle, 4 fat) and then a month of a 1 lb cut, which would result in 4 lb loss. The advantage is your body fat % would drop due to an increase in muscle mass.

    Or do a slow bulk (250 over maintenance) to aim for a 1/2 lb week gain and gain 4 lbs in 2 months and then cut for a month and repeat as necessary.
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
    Options
    If you're putting the work in the weight room to build muscle I can guarantee you that your maintenance is more than 1200 - 1400 calories (1200-1400 would maybe be your NEAT, but certainly not your TDEE).

    As others have stated, building muscle requires proper protein intake and at minimum a maintenance level of calories (re-comp is a very, very, very, very, very, very, very,very....very slow way of building muscle) or surplus of energy (still slow but faster than a re-comp), and proper training in the weight room.

    I can vouche that recomp is very slow. My friend took a year to lose 6% body fat due to a recomp. It's much easier and quicker to due a few bulk/cut phases. And it's easier to achieve the results as you can modify once you achieve that look.

    So how long would the bulking phase be? and cutting phase? And what does cutting consist of?

    The cycles are typically 4-8 weeks long, first eating a surplus and gaining a bit of weight, then eating a deficit and cutting down some weight.
  • minnyme87
    minnyme87 Posts: 10
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    Im not understanding how to calculate how much protein / carbs / fat im suppossed to be eating. So if i do p/c/f of 35/45/20 at 1500 calories - how many grams of each what that be?
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
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    Im not understanding how to calculate how much protein / carbs / fat im suppossed to be eating. So if i do p/c/f of 35/45/20 at 1500 calories - how many grams of each what that be?

    Please refer to my initial reply.
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
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    Well, I will help you on this one.

    115lbs at 27%bf means you have 90.5lbs of lbm.

    Protein: 90g
    Fats: 40g
    Carbs: The remainder
  • minnyme87
    minnyme87 Posts: 10
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    Well, I will help you on this one.

    115lbs at 27%bf means you have 90.5lbs of lbm.

    Protein: 90g
    Fats: 40g
    Carbs: The remainder

    awesome - thank you!!

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