Its not how many calories, its WHAT you eat...

I think that any time you are working that hard and eating the right foods, surplus or no, you will replace fat with muscle. So, to me, the answer to your question is yes. Eating healthy, natural foods and consistant, heavy physical activity is how people stayed fit for centuries before boxed foods, TV, cars, machines.....etc, etc, etc.

Can you eat SURPLUS calories and lose fat, if you're lifting weights and eating only the right foods?

SURPLUS calories is the real question here..

The mans an expert in hi
s field so he's probably right

Its CRAZY that there are so many differing opinions on this subject!

It blows my mind that there really is no agreed upon answer, at least amongst the general population.

Either we as normal people are ignorant of the facts, or science really does not know the answer either...

I'm more confused now then before

Eating to Gain Weight: Concerns About Body Fat

Unfortunately, eating to gain weight has a side effect other than muscle growth - you'll likely add a little body fat along the way. This is natural and should be viewed as part of the process.

Weight gain diets aren't a permanent nutrition plan (unless your goal is to sumo wrestle). They are short term plans used to bulk up. If your overall goal is the common one, to end up with a body big on muscle and low in body fat, your weight gain program is phase one.

Phase two will be your cutting phase. The good news is that the body fat you put on while eating to gain weight will come off quickly when followed up with a diet and program designed for getting lean.

Newly acquired body fat is generally the easiest to lose, it is that fat that we've had for years that is typically the sticking point.

If you are a naturally skinny person, beware of any irrational fears about body fat. It has been my experience that, for some reason, the people who should worry the least about putting on a little additional body fat (i.e. naturally thin people) seem to get the most freaked out by it. Unfortunately, many people trying to gain weight scrap their programs at the first hint of a little fat, irrespective of the corresponding muscle gains they make.

This is one reason (one of many) that you should not track your program only by the scales, you need to also track your body tape measurements and your body fat percentages. This is the only way to know exactly what you are gaining and where you are gaining it. It will help calm you down a little bit when you see that while your pants may be a little tighter, your biceps are exploding.

Why Not Just Eat Moderately, Gain Weight AND Avoid Putting On Body Fat?

This sounds like a super smart thing to do but it is actually a recipe for failure. It is one of the major reasons that even people who enjoy going to the gym often find themselves making no progress. They don't lose body fat and they don't build muscle because they never put their entire focus on either thing.

By attempting to do this, to accomplish all your goals at once, you won't be providing the body with the necessary nutrition to stay in a anabolic mode (growth mode) and build muscle. You will end up not building muscle, not gaining weight and not getting six-pack abs. At least you won't be achieving any of these things very soon.

Absolute Law: If you aren't eating to gain weight, you aren't going to be gaining weight.

Learn from pro bodybuilders here. They have two distinct phases of training: Bulking and Cutting. They bulk up (eating to gain weight, eating above maintenace), and then they cut the body fat (eating below maintenance and adding cardio).

Why? Because they know this is the quickest way to progress, the quickest way to get where they want to go, the way to be at their most impressive come contest time.

If you truly want to achieve your overall goals in the shortest amount of time, do not multi-task your fitness goals (see Weight Gain Plan: Factors for Success (Pt. 2) for more on why you don't want to multi-task your fitness goals).

All this is not to suggest that you should not be concerned with your body fat while eating to gain weight.

How Much Body Fat Is Acceptable?

This is difficult to quantify because of the relative inaccuracy of body fat estimations. Generally, you wouldn't want to start a weight gain program with a body fat percentage over 15-20 percent for a man or 25-30 percent for a woman and you would want to switch to a cutting phase if your percentage increased to that amount during your program.

However, due to the inaccuracy of body fat estimations, a look in the mirror is probably your best guide here.

While monitoring your program, noticing a larger gain in body fat than in lean body mass is a good reason to look at modifying your weight gain diet (lowering overall calories, upping protein ratio, etc.). Through experience will you get a good idea of just how much body fat gain is acceptable for you relative to lean muscle gains.

Generally though, you should expect at least 50% of your weight gain to come from muscle.

Some people can naturally build muscle without noticeable body fat gains while others (the majority) must tolerate some temporary gains in body fat. The more muscle you gain, it is likely the more body fat you will have to accept for additional gains.

But, trust me, accepting a little temporary body fat in return for a lot of muscle is a pretty good deal.

Well the importance of eating quality calories is a no-brainer... that isn't really why I started this thread.

The key to this topic:

Can you eat SURPLUS calories and lose fat, if you're lifting weights and eating only the right foods?

SURPLUS calories is the real question here..

I am training to be a power lifter... squatting, benching, pressing heavy weights of 300 lbs or more, etc...

My coach told me that for a someone doing heavy weight training, the amount of calories you eat is not what determines your fat composition. He basically said that its the quality of the calories that matters.

He said you can lift weights and eat a calorie surplus of lean meats and proteins, fruits, nuts and vegetables,... your weight will stay the same or even increase.. but your body fat will decrease.

By cutting out certain carbs like pasta, bread, etc.. and replacing them with fruits, nuts, and vegetables, you will train your body to burn energy more efficiently and use fat for energy..

This is known in the weightlifting world as "recomping"...

So if your maintenance calories are 2000, and you power lift and eat 2500 calories of the right foods, you will lose fat.

is this true, or is he wrong?

Check out the book "Nutrition for Health, Fitness, and Sport" by Melvin H. Williams.

Gaining muscle and losing fat are a lot more complicated then just the standard calories in vs. calories out. Weight gain is typically a combination of both muscle and fat mass on a diet that provides a large calorie surplus. In order to build muscle, you only need an excess of about 15-25 grams of protein per day and anything extra over that will be stored as fat, even if it is protein and you are lifting a lot. However, if you are eating correctly to fuel the body and providing the required carbs, protein, and healthy fats while at a slight deficit but having that extra 15-25 grams of protein, you can lose fat while building muscle. It's not a quick fix though, and takes focus, dedication, and lots of patience. Most body builders and their coaches, however, aren't educated enough in the science of nutrition to realize the specific needs of the body so they tend to push protein because it is a "building block for muscle" not realizing that even lean protein can be stored as fat if it isn't needed.

If your goal is to lose fat while building muscle, I'd recommend sticking with the standard recommendations on here but adding in an additional 15-25 grams of protein (which is less then 100 calories, so you're still at a deficit based on the deficit MFP sets), and doing a strenuous resistance training program followed by 30 minutes of cardio 5 days a week.