What happens re: lifting & calorie deficit

lilbearzmom
lilbearzmom Posts: 600 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have seen over and over on here that you cannot build muscle on a calorie deficit. So what happens if you do lift and eat at a deficit? Do you at least lose body fat?

I am currently attempting maintenance and struggling. Sometimes I meet my calorie goal, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I go over...

I really want to start a lifting program in order to focus on reducing BF. I found a good one for novices on muscleandstrength.com.

-Kendra

Replies

  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
    Lifting while eating at a deficit helps you retain muscle. Yes, you will lose fat. If you're not doing some sort of resistance while eating at a deficit, you're losing a combination of fat and lean body mass. Listing helps curb that so that most of your loss is from fat. The scale results may slow, so take note of how you feel, look and how clothes fit.
  • lilbearzmom
    lilbearzmom Posts: 600 Member
    Lifting while eating at a deficit helps you retain muscle. Yes, you will lose fat. If you're not doing some sort of resistance while eating at a deficit, you're losing a combination of fat and lean body mass. Listing helps curb that so that most of your loss is from fat. The scale results may slow, so take note of how you feel, look and how clothes fit.

    Thanks a bunch for the response! Very informative. I have lost a massive amount of weight while not doing much strength training and I can tell I lost muscle along with BF- would like to halt it and/or get some of it back, maybe by trading some BF weight for muscle weight...LOL
  • tquill
    tquill Posts: 300 Member
    My avatar was 100% weight training and eating a deficit.
  • lilbearzmom
    lilbearzmom Posts: 600 Member
    My avatar was 100% weight training and eating a deficit.

    OMG. Great job!
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    Lifting while eating at a deficit helps you retain muscle. Yes, you will lose fat. If you're not doing some sort of resistance while eating at a deficit, you're losing a combination of fat and lean body mass. Listing helps curb that so that most of your loss is from fat. The scale results may slow, so take note of how you feel, look and how clothes fit.

    Yup. This.

    If you lift while eating at maintenance you may gain a little muscle and lose a little fat. This is referred to as "body recomp". It's a very slow process though. I'd advice you to lift at maintenance for a couple of month, then you can decide if you want to try eating at a surplus to build muscle.

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