Diet first, gain after? Or the other way around?

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pinheadplanet
pinheadplanet Posts: 24 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hi

I wanted to lose my silly little belly and have lost 4.5kg since starting MFP and it's now gone. I'm doing weider abs exercises and push ups so building muscle, but do I carry on dieting to lose weight or should I know up my intake to gain muscle tissue?

Was on 1650 kcal to lose 0.5 kg per week, now cut back to lose 0.25kg per week with kcal intake of 1900. I can see the ab muscles showing through now but there's still a little belly fat, tiny amount really, I weigh 66kg. Do I carry on dieting now or not?

Thanks

Replies

  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    You can lift now while eating on a deficit and still make strength gains. These are called noob gains, and can last a very long time.
  • 89nunu
    89nunu Posts: 1,082 Member
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    Depends on how you feel. You can cut/bulk whenever you want. If you want bigger muscles and can live with gaining a bit more fat right now, start gaining now. If you rather want to see your abs first, keep losing for a bit.

    But how tall are you? 66 kg is not a lot for a guy
    And you might want to look into a progressive lifting routine to get the best results
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    You can "lean bulk", meaning, eat at maintenance while lifting. This is basically a body recomp plan. It happens very slowly, trading fat for muscle. Did I say it was very slow? Anyway, that's another option.
  • pinheadplanet
    pinheadplanet Posts: 24 Member
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    But how tall are you? 66 kg is not a lot for a guy

    I'm 180cm, think thats about 5'10".

    Apparently I'm the 'right' weight for my height according to bmi. Even says I can go down to 60kg at the lowest limit!
  • D1m3b4g
    D1m3b4g Posts: 15 Member
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    Don't pay too much mind to BMI, it's a very rough guide at best as it doesn't take into account body composition and fat %age.

    What has already been said is right, you probably won't muscle gains if you are in calorie deficit every day but you will get yourself used to lifting weights, using the muscles in certain ways and strengthening your joints. If you have an awful lot of weight to lose you can harness fat reserves to ensure you don't go into a big calorie deficit but it sounds like you've more or less lost what you wanted to already.

    What it comes down to is simple, what do you want?
    If you want to be leaner, keep going with the diet and start lifting anyway.
    If you want to build muscle, chances are you are going to need to up your calorie intake and eat the right stuff in the right amounts.

    P
  • TonyStark30
    TonyStark30 Posts: 497 Member
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    Diet a little bit more, as you are still talking about some fat areas, go beyond them get as lean as you want to be (but without the size) then bulk, as youre gonna have to lose that fat plus the bulking fat regardless.

    I'm 175, I cut down to 63 Kg, I problably could've gone lower but My gym was closing so I went to another gym to Bulk with Heavy lifters, but I was pretty lean at that point, depends how much muscle mass you have, you might have to not go as far , or go much further.

    I would carry on cutting a little but start your lifting for sure, should lift a few times a week anyway.

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