Gotta bump this

Thank you for the article link!

no idea what any of this means

Did you read the article?

yes, but obviously i'm not a smart enough person to understand it

Cliffs:

You can get some gains on a deficit if you are new to lifting and/or significantly overweight but these are limited and finite. Otherwise, you need to eat at a surplus to gain muscle mass.

So that means that while on a deficit, combining lifting and cardio I will be losing fat. Should I be seeing a change in my body from lifting though the gains will be slim to none?

Bodyweight will go down assuming you are in an energy deficit. Your strength should go up for quite a while until you get quite lean and/or quite experienced with lifting. Your muscles will probably appear larger assuming you are only losing fat and not LBM. Initially you will likely retain some additional fluids/glycogen which may also make your muscles look larger.

^^^ this is what I was looking for .

I had read that I could not build muscle while losing fat. I have been strength training since I started losing( body weight training at first then lifting ) I noticed or thought I noticed that I had more muscle than when I started . I thought it was my imagination ...
Before I change anything, I always look at this site for more information and it always steers me right .I have gotten stronger and I am so proud of that :bigsmile: I am starting to see definition in my back and shoulders and my biceps it's awesome !

I am definitely the overfat beginner in the article ,never weight trained before ,insulin resistant - right on target


Thanks for that article and every other article that you find and post !

Well, boo. I was hoping to eat at maintenance and continue lifting until my (very small ~4 lbs) cut for summer, where I would continue to maintain and then bulk next fall/winter with the hope of achieving some sort of body recomp before next fall.

Although I'm a new lifter, I'm not overfat. I have seen some lower body changes in the last 4 months or so I've been lifting, but essentially, according to the article, I'm pretty much spinning my wheels unless I do an official bulk/cut cycle. Is that correct? Is there no benefit (besides health and strength) to lifting at maintenance?

Stats: Female, 37 years-old, 129 lb, 5'5.5"

If you lift and eat at maintenance you can gain muscle at a very slow pace.

I was not an overfat beginner when I started lifting in September 2013, and I have gained about 2 lbs, but I do have progress photos to show. Don't know if this is the right thread to do so, but I think it's pertinent. Since I've been basically sitting at maintenance all winter while I lift, these are the results of my "recomp". Hopefully this can help others with what to expect for results.

August 2013 ~ 128 lbs
[img]http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee322/jivete/Lifting progress/F-08192013.jpg[/img]
February 2014 ~ 131 lbs (though the next day I was 129.5 lbs)
[img]http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee322/jivete/Lifting progress/F-02272014.jpg[/img]

So, yeah, pretty slow progress, but I am seeing progress nonetheless. Next year I'll do an official bulk/cut cycle, but at least this gives me hope for continued improvent over the summer. I will start cutting for summer soon, but like I said earlier, it's a small cut.

ETA: excuse the bathroom shot. It's the best/easiest mirror for me to take progress photos. I've been standing on the toilet for years taking the same pictures, lol.

husseycd: How tall are you?

I wish I had taken photos when I started heavy lifting last August, because sometimes I think I look exactly the same as I did back in October. Those first 1-2 months I saw results pretty quickly. Other days I think I see small changes, like more vascularity and definition, but dang it's slow!

I'm 5'9" and the same weight as you and just maintaining - so was curious about your height.



eta: I have never been overweight and have regularly worked out, but not "heavy" until a few months ago.

I'm 5'5.5". Yes, that 0.5" is important. :laugh:

bump, thanks for the article, good read.

Bumping

Tag to read in full later

OK, I've read the article and read through this thread and am still a little confused. Because to me it sounds like the article is saying that a body recomp is basically impossible unless you are an overfat beginner and/or someone who previously lifted and is just getting back to it. But from other threads in this group, I've gotten the impression that it's possible for other people; it's just slow going compared to cut/bulk cycles. Is that correct?

I think a recomp makes the most sense for me right now since I really don't want to lose more than 3-5 more pounds but would love to gain a little muscle (I'm already at a relatively low weight but also low LBM). But I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about that. Eat at maintenance and lift heavy 3-4x/wk? (I'd also like to throw in HIIT and running 2x/wk each). Will I make newb gains even if I'm not "overfat" to start with? I had gotten into lifting a few months ago (experimenting with some different approaches), then didn't do it for about 2 months b/c I was dealing with some health issues and focused my limited energy on training for my first 10K. Now that the race is behind me, I plan to start Starting Strength or NROLFW.

bump