Confused - can you eat more if you're lifting heavy?

If you are looking to drop FAT while lifting heavy, yes, someone who lifts heavy can eat more than someone who doesn't lift at all. That said, someone who runs 10 miles a day can eat more calories than a sedentary person and still drop weight.

It all depends on your overall calorie burn every day. If you're keeping whatever you have been doing to drop weight, AND adding heavy lifting, you can increase your calorie intake until you stop dropping pounds. Even then, you might be dropping size instead of pounds because muscle is more dense than fat.

yes.



Lifting burns calories, therefore it is exercise, therefore you are expending more energy, therefore you can eat more food - indeed, depending on your current calorie intake, you may well *need* to eat more food to fuel the exercise.

My current TDEE is 1450 so I've just realised I shouldn't be eating any exercise calories back!

TDEE is only a calculated estimate. And no you shouldn't be eating back your exercise calories back. To find your actual TDEE you need to monitor your progress over several weeks and then make adjustments to the estimate. Once your have a better idea of what your true TDEE is you can vary your calories depending on your goals.

Also, when you calculated your TDEE did you set your activity to light or moderate? You may need to recalculate your TDEE if you've ramped up your exercise routine.

Might be why progress is slow! I'm just SO hungry!

You might be retaining water to help repair the muscles. This is common in the first couple weeks of starting a new routine. How long have you been lifting?

Don't get too caught up in all the details. Continue your exercise routine and monitor your progress.

Thank you.
My current TDEE is 1450 so I've just realised I shouldn't be eating any exercise calories back! Ouch! Might be why progress is slow! I'm just SO hungry!
I want to lift heavy to lose fat, eat more but also still drop pounds, should I stick to 1450 until I can increase my weights or would extra calories help gain strength? Urgh still feel confused.... Sorry :explode: why am I not getting this!

First advice: please DO NOT go hungry or at least very hungry day after day. Find better, nutritious food options, more meals, sometimes more food. Once you hit your goal weight you might swing into jo-jo effect and you'll be back where you started in no time.
Weight lifting can have very different effect on people. Some loose weight and inches, some loose just inches while their weight stays the same or even goes up the scale. One thing is for sure - you can not lift heavy on a large deficit. There is no strength in your body to lift 100+ pounds of weights three times a week. 1300-1450 calories is the bottom line for lifting but I would suggest you eat even more. Health and strength are more important than number on a scale.

You'll find that if you lift heavy, you will *NEED* to eat more. Otherwise, bye-bye gains.

OP, what is your height and weight? How many days are you going to be training and for how long during each session?

I'm 5ft 6, 148lbs. I started stronglifts 5x5 today, I plan to do this 2-3 times a week (it took me about 40minutes) and I currently cycle 2-3 times a week(about 40 minutes) but might drop this to twice a week.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, really appreciate it!

Scooby's site estimates your TDEE - 20% at 1670 per day. A 15% cut gives you 1775. Looks like you have less than 20 lbs to lose, a smaller cut would probably be more beneficial in the long run and would give you fuel for your workouts.

You have to be really strict with weighing/measuring when you get closer to goal weight too because the deficit is smaller.

Just echoing this point...

OP, with your activity level...cycling and lifting, etc there is know way your TDEE is 1450 calories. My guess is that number is a more aggressive cut from your TDEE as mentioned above, with only 20 Lbs to lose an aggressive calorie cut is not optimal, particularly as you workout.