Trying to recover some lean body mass

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ArdenIvy
ArdenIvy Posts: 6
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hello, everyone. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was hoping to get advice on recovering some of my lost lean body mass. After about a year and a half of what I now recognize as an eating disorder, I am fearful that I have lost vital muscle. I am trying to become healthier again, and I think this would be the place to start. This was my first thread and might give more information on me if you think it would help: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1144621-advice-on-maintaining

I'm debating a bulk/cut cycle, but with my dietary history and gender I'm not sure this is the way to go. I'm trying to minimize fat regain as much as possible since I might get scared and start restricting again. I'm hoping to put on 5 lbs of muscle, which would, ideally and optimistically, take 5 months, as I understand it. However, I also have read that beginner lifters might have more gains without needing to cycle. Also, and this is seriously showing my noob level, how are people bulking certain that they are getting more muscles and not just more fat?

I guess I'm just looking for advice and tips. I know I'm stupid, and that recovery is going to be hard if not outright impossible since I've ruined myself, but I can't live this way anymore.

Replies

  • Amadbro
    Amadbro Posts: 750 Member
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    I'll try to shed some light on your post as someone who is currently on a 6-8 month bulk.

    When you bulk, you are taking in a surplus of calories. This surplus depends on your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Most bulk between 300-500 cals. When you do this you will put on fat, there is no way around it. What you can do is minimize fat gains by eating a clean diet and staying closer to your maintenance during the bulk (200-300 cals). One thing I've learned about fat is it's ridiculously easy to get rid of, much easier to burn fat then it is to gain muscle. During this bulk I decided to go on a 500 cal surplus and sure I've gained some fat but I've also put on some quality lean body mass. The fat will come off, don't worry about that.

    My suggestion to you would be to eat at maintenance for the next 3 months and perform strength training. I'd neglect the cardio unless you prefer some type of cardiovascular training. All cardio does is help you reach a deficit (which your trying to avoid) and train your cardiovascular system. You don't need it to keep fat gain to a minimum, you can do that through diet alone, just like you can burn fat through diet alone. When your gains stop after eating at maintenance, then you can bump them up into a true bulk if you'd like.

    If I were in your shoes, I'd eat at maintenance and perform a simple beginner 3 day split as follows:
    Mon:Chest/Tri
    Tues:Rest
    Weds:Back/Bi
    Thurs:Rest
    Fri:Shoulders/Legs
    Sat:Rest
    Sun:Rest
    (you can throw abs in at the end on some days or even rest days if you want)

    For each muscle group pick 3 excercises and focus on 4-6 reps for strength or 8-12 reps for hypertrophy. I've found what works best is to perform strength rep ranges for 3 weeks, then move to hypertrophic rep ranges to keep the muscles confused.

    Use your rest days for recovery and eat well. Don't be afraid of putting on some fat, your body needs it and prefers it which is why it's so easy to put on. To the body, muscle mass is a waste and usless, if the body had to pick between the two, fat would win hands down. It's a survival tool.

    Initially you may see a large increase in body weight, this would be glycogen stores replenishing after being in a deficit for a lengthy period of time. Eventually it will level out and you will be able to monitor weight alot easier. One thing I tell everyone is don't focus on the scale, use the mirror.

    For macros be sure to consume at least 1g of protein per lb of BODYWEIGHT (lean body mass when cutting), get .3-.6x bodyweight in fat and fill the rest with carbs.

    Think of your body as a construction site. Protein are the bricks, carbs are the brick layers and fat is the cement. Carbs aid in protein synthesis by shuttling nutrients to muscles and fat is necessary for satiety and hormonal regulation. Eating fat doesn't make you fat, eating surplus calories do.

    This is all I can think of at the time, I could go on and on, probably write a book. Head over to bodybuilding.com and read the stickies.
  • ArdenIvy
    ArdenIvy Posts: 6
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    Thank you so much for the time you took to answer my questions. I'm not sure of my maintenance yet, since I'm slowly adding calories back from the VLCD. I'm aiming for 100 calories every two weeks.

    I've been looking into stating strength, which seems to be a good muscle-building beginner routine, from what I understand. Do you think this would be something I could benefit from?

    As a beginner lifter, how much gains do you think I could see in maintenance? I've been reading that these are fairly common, and the idea of regaining muscle without the fat gives me a lot of hope for getting healthier mentally and physically. I know I shouldn't be so fearful of fat regain, but the mental processes are going to take time to free myself of.
  • sarahstrezo
    sarahstrezo Posts: 568 Member
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    I agree that you should work on hitting or finding your true maintenance and staying there for at least 3-6 months while doing a heavy lifting program.
    As for a bulk….yes, you will put on fat as well as muscle. No way around that. And….bulking/gaining weight on a constant basis is not that easy. I've been officially bulking for 8 weeks now and I eating over 2600 calls a day to gain 1/2 lb a week. For reference, I am 5'5" and started at 126.5 lbs and about 19% body fat.

    When you gain weight, instead of focusing on the actual fat you are also putting on (because that will happen…no way to avoid that), focus more on your total LBM and body fat % (as opposed to lbs of fat). Because the body fat % is relative to the total, if you put on lean mass at the same time as putting on a bit of fat, your overall body fat % won't increase all that much.

    Me for example: in the past 8 week, I have put on a total of 3.2 lbs (and that's TRYING to gain weight). According to my measurements….about 1.9 lbs was muscle and 1.3 was fat. Even though I gained 1.3 lbs of fat, my total body fat % only went up 0.4% because my LBM also went up.

    So…even though you will gain fat along with any muscle you put on, chances are you will look leaner and more fit due to your over all body fat % being the same or less :)
  • montreal_wanderers
    montreal_wanderers Posts: 14
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    I found the advice provided on this topic to be very insightful. I'm in the same boat as ArdenIvy, looking to gain weight in the form of muscle. Want to thank you for starting this thread and for the advice, explanations, and tips provided!

    I want to ask, instead of free weight heavy lifting, are there any machines recommended for lifting? Or should they be avoided?
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    ArdenIvy, every recovering anorexic who lost significant weight will recover some fat mass - there is no escaping this during weight recovery. Girls who do not engage in strength training of some sort during this process will see almost all the recovered weight coming from fat mass. The good news is that strength training, with adequate protein intake, will allow you to recover an appreciable amount of lean mass resulting in less overall fat gain when you reach a healthy weight.

    Generally, how underweight and strong you are, as well as how much bone loss you experienced, will determine what form of strength training is appropriate to start with. For a lot of girls who are hospitalized due to being severely underweight, body weight exercise for the lower extremities and light weights for the upper body is recommended. If I recall, I don't think you became so underweight to fall into that category. Thus, lifting weights of moderate resistance is likely appropriate for you.

    For the moment, it would be best to continue increasing calories with strength training until your weight finally stabilizes and maintain that stable weight for several months, at least. After this, then you can contemplate doing a conventional bulk followed by a cut to recover more lost lean mass. Depending on how much lean mass you lost, you may have to do an additional cycle.

    Regarding how much gains in lean mass you can expect, I am only aware of studies using severely underweight, hospitalized girls. I don't have the study in front of me, but I remember that the experimental [strength training] group recovered significantly more lean mass than the control [no strength training] group. The percentages were greater than previously untrained female subjects who demonstrated a slight increase in lean mass when eating at maintenance.

    That being said, you did not ruin your body. There are several current fitness models who happen to be recovered anorexics: Alison Burgess being one of those.

    http://nataliejillfitness.com/beat-bulimia-anorexia/
  • Dr_Gains
    Dr_Gains Posts: 81 Member
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    I'll try to shed some light on your post as someone who is currently on a 6-8 month bulk.

    When you bulk, you are taking in a surplus of calories. This surplus depends on your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Most bulk between 300-500 cals. When you do this you will put on fat, there is no way around it. What you can do is minimize fat gains by eating a clean diet and staying closer to your maintenance during the bulk (200-300 cals). One thing I've learned about fat is it's ridiculously easy to get rid of, much easier to burn fat then it is to gain muscle. During this bulk I decided to go on a 500 cal surplus and sure I've gained some fat but I've also put on some quality lean body mass. The fat will come off, don't worry about that.

    My suggestion to you would be to eat at maintenance for the next 3 months and perform strength training. I'd neglect the cardio unless you prefer some type of cardiovascular training. All cardio does is help you reach a deficit (which your trying to avoid) and train your cardiovascular system. You don't need it to keep fat gain to a minimum, you can do that through diet alone, just like you can burn fat through diet alone. When your gains stop after eating at maintenance, then you can bump them up into a true bulk if you'd like.

    If I were in your shoes, I'd eat at maintenance and perform a simple beginner 3 day split as follows:
    Mon:Chest/Tri
    Tues:Rest
    Weds:Back/Bi
    Thurs:Rest
    Fri:Shoulders/Legs
    Sat:Rest
    Sun:Rest
    (you can throw abs in at the end on some days or even rest days if you want)

    For each muscle group pick 3 excercises and focus on 4-6 reps for strength or 8-12 reps for hypertrophy. I've found what works best is to perform strength rep ranges for 3 weeks, then move to hypertrophic rep ranges to keep the muscles confused.

    Use your rest days for recovery and eat well. Don't be afraid of putting on some fat, your body needs it and prefers it which is why it's so easy to put on. To the body, muscle mass is a waste and usless, if the body had to pick between the two, fat would win hands down. It's a survival tool.

    Initially you may see a large increase in body weight, this would be glycogen stores replenishing after being in a deficit for a lengthy period of time. Eventually it will level out and you will be able to monitor weight alot easier. One thing I tell everyone is don't focus on the scale, use the mirror.

    For macros be sure to consume at least 1g of protein per lb of BODYWEIGHT (lean body mass when cutting), get .3-.6x bodyweight in fat and fill the rest with carbs.

    Think of your body as a construction site. Protein are the bricks, carbs are the brick layers and fat is the cement. Carbs aid in protein synthesis by shuttling nutrients to muscles and fat is necessary for satiety and hormonal regulation. Eating fat doesn't make you fat, eating surplus calories do.

    This is all I can think of at the time, I could go on and on, probably write a book. Head over to bodybuilding.com and read the stickies.

    this is just top quality info right here. This is all the info you need!!!!!
  • ArdenIvy
    ArdenIvy Posts: 6
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    Geekyjock, Thank you for taking the time to answer another one of my threads. It's reassuring to me to have people give advice, especially someone who has as much knowledge on the topic as you do.

    And thank you to everyone else who continues to give me advice. I feel a lot less hopeless about my situation, and recovery and living a healthy, normal life like the one I did pre-illness seems like a tangible goal instead of a pipe dream.
  • ArdenIvy
    ArdenIvy Posts: 6
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    Just an update for anyone who was interested: it's now been three weeks of eating more, one week of no counting and two weeks of 1400 calories. So far, I have no scale weight gain. I keep thinking I look fatter, but I'm pretty certain that it's just my mind trying to get me to stop.

    I really am grateful to everyone who has helped me out. I've never been one for "new year resolutions," but I think next year things will start getting better for me, and I have a lot of you to thank for it.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    Glad to hear your outlook for the new year is already positive, ArdenIvy.

    Continue upping calories and you'll eventually begin recovering weight. As I mentioned previously, persons in your situation tend to be resistant to weight gain and require a lot of calories to not only recover weight but also reverse the physiological damage from chronic underfeeding. Once you reach your ideal weight, this hyper-caloric state will end resulting in you maintaining weight. At least this short-term increase has made you aware of how much energy your body really needs and that you shouldn't let a calorie number stop you from becoming healthier and happier. Just be mindful of your caloric intake in the future to ensure you do not slip back into undereating.

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