How many calories to eat when lifting

sharlin_e
sharlin_e Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all,

Firstly, I'm sure this post has been asked a million times so I'm sorry. Everytime I search for information I get so overwhelmed with the overload of information out there that all seems to contradict itself!

So i'm a 25 year old female who is 1.66m (5ft4'), ~65kg (143lb) and ~25% body fat. I'm more concerned with my body fat than weight, but my ultimate goal is to be around 18-20% body fat. About a year ago, I started seeing a trainer who instructed me to do a mixture of cardio and weights while eating 1200 calories daily, and not to eat back my exercise calories. I have a relatively physical job where I work 12 hour days, for 8 days in every fortnight and often I would walk 2 miles to work, run 2 miles home and then do 45mins of weights (all while eating 1200 cals).

I followed the plan and saw great results, going from about 28% bf to 22% bf in 6 months. My trainer was impressed with how quickly I put muscle on and my body shaped seemed to completely change. It was not sustainable however, due to my work commitments and my own laziness/excuses once I had reached a goal. And now i realise how inappropriately low 1200 calories was when I was training very hard and likely at times over training. Now I am back to square 1, and scared that I have even screwed up my metabolism over the past 6 months at several failed attempts at eating 1200cals again.

I am just starting the Jamie Eason livefit program, whereby i am to do weight lifting 4-5 times a week with no cardio for 4 weeks to build muscle. The later phases incorporate cardio and calorie counting to strip the fat. There's a nutrition guide that goes with the plan, but I am unable to follow it as I have to live in camps for work where food is provided for me. I'm trying to eat around 1300-1500 calories a day now (and have been steadily gaining for the past few months), but wondering how much I should be eating when weight training. My instinct tells me that I should still be at a defectit, but I've seen several posts on forums that say I should be eating at a surplus to gain muscle. I have a fitbit and HRM so can accurately determine my expenditure for each day. My routine is so variable that this changes vastly from day to day though...

Absolutely any advice would be great!

Thanks!

Replies

  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    if you want to lower your body fat, you need a caloric deficit (you will also lose some muscle in the process)

    if you want to gain muscle, you need a caloric surplus and resistance training (you will also gain some fat in the process)

    to maintain the muscle mass you have AND lose body fat, you need a SMALL caloric deficit, resistance training AND patience
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    if you want to lower your body fat, you need a caloric deficit (you will also lose some muscle in the process)

    if you want to gain muscle, you need a caloric surplus and resistance training (you will also gain some fat in the process)

    to maintain the muscle mass you have AND lose body fat, you need a SMALL caloric deficit, resistance training AND patience

    Dave beat me to it.
    =D
  • rachel7511
    rachel7511 Posts: 2
    helloitsdan--ok i want to do the last one! "maintain muscle mass i have AND lose body fat"
    teach me wise one! how EXACTLY do i do this! i have patience!
  • rachel7511
    rachel7511 Posts: 2
    ok i want to do the last one! "maintain muscle mass i have AND lose body fat"
    teach me wise one! how EXACTLY do i do this! i have patience!
  • GunboatDiplomat
    GunboatDiplomat Posts: 2
    You've mentioned calories a lot but nothing nutrition-wise. To maintain muscle mass you should aim for minimum 1g of protein per lbs of your desired lean body mass, so probably around 120g~ of protein a day in your case. If you're eating at a calorie deficit this will encourage fat loss over muscle mass, but you probably will lose some strength after you're done with newbie gains.
  • in2exile
    in2exile Posts: 1
    Newbie here. What about cardio?? Dan & Dave only mentioned resistance training and diet. What role does cardio play in weight loss & muscle gain to achieve the targets Sharlin mentioned?
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    There is a difference between muscle strength and mass.
    If you want strength shoot for a deficit.
    If you want muscle mass you need a surplus.

    If you eat a surplus nobody is going to see your muscles until you start eating at a deficit and remove the fat
  • mamasmaltz3
    mamasmaltz3 Posts: 1,111 Member
    Good blog about body recomposition simplified:

    https://gokaleo.com/2012/09/19/body-composition-that-last-five-pounds-and-how-to-deal-with-problem-areas/
  • Commander_Keen
    Commander_Keen Posts: 1,179 Member
    Newbie here. What about cardio?? Dan & Dave only mentioned resistance training and diet. What role does cardio play in weight loss & muscle gain to achieve the targets Sharlin mentioned?

    Cardio will help a lot to get rid of the fat.. the best cardio (in my opinion) is swimming, as it makes your entire body work.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    If you're lifting I would highly recommend using a TDEE calculator and customizing your goals here on MFP as it is very difficult to estimate calories burned from lifting...you're just better off including some estimate of that in your activity level with a TDEE calculator.

    Personally I would set my goals on a TDEE calculator to lose 1 Lb per week tops...I would set my macros to get around 1 gram of protein per Lb of LBM to aid in muscle retention...I would get in around 0.3 - 0.4 grams of fat per Lb of body weight and I would round out the rest with carbs. I would also make good use of a food scale and weigh pretty much everything that has weight as an option for serving size and I would measure anything else. I would log all of this consistently, rock my lifts, and be awesome.

    You might want to throw in some walking here and there...you don't need to do a bunch of crazy intense cardio, but a little walking is very good for the heart.
  • SugaryLynx
    SugaryLynx Posts: 2,640 Member
    If you're lifting I would highly recommend using a TDEE calculator and customizing your goals here on MFP as it is very difficult to estimate calories burned from lifting...you're just better off including some estimate of that in your activity level with a TDEE calculator.

    Personally I would set my goals on a TDEE calculator to lose 1 Lb per week tops...I would set my macros to get around 1 gram of protein per Lb of LBM to aid in muscle retention...I would get in around 0.3 - 0.4 grams of fat per Lb of body weight and I would round out the rest with carbs. I would also make good use of a food scale and weigh pretty much everything that has weight as an option for serving size and I would measure anything else. I would log all of this consistently, rock my lifts, and be awesome.

    You might want to throw in some walking here and there...you don't need to do a bunch of crazy intense cardio, but a little walking is very good for the heart.

    ^This. When I was losing weight, I focused mostly on lifting with some minor cardio (I don't like much cardio, so it worked). TDEE was much less confusing for me in the long run and enabled me to make Calorie adjustments easier, when needed.

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