How much to eat to gain muscle while maintaining weight?
sarah_seo
Posts: 2 Member
Hi,
My goal is to maintain my current weight, while gaining muscle and toning.
I noticed a lot of women here work at calorie deficit, which I don't understand...isn't there no point in doing strength training unless you eat at surplus? I thought you needed to eat more than your maintenance calorie to gain muscle.
Are you not merely exhausting yourself in doing exercise, if you do not consume enough calories to grow muscle?
Or is it possible to eat at maintenance and still gain muscle, while maintaining current weight?
Can somebody please explain this to me? @_@
Thank you very much in advance!
My goal is to maintain my current weight, while gaining muscle and toning.
I noticed a lot of women here work at calorie deficit, which I don't understand...isn't there no point in doing strength training unless you eat at surplus? I thought you needed to eat more than your maintenance calorie to gain muscle.
Are you not merely exhausting yourself in doing exercise, if you do not consume enough calories to grow muscle?
Or is it possible to eat at maintenance and still gain muscle, while maintaining current weight?
Can somebody please explain this to me? @_@
Thank you very much in advance!
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Replies
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You can gain strength while not gaining muscle.
It happens through training of the central nervous system. You will make more strength gains on a surplus than a cut however.
I have eaten at maintenance or slight surplus and I haven't lost a pound on the scale, but if you look at the progress pics thread you can see how I've definitely dropped a bit of fat and possibly put on a pound or two of muscle since March.0 -
I've searched for your progress pictures, and man! You look amazing!
That is exactly the kind of progress I would want to make.
I guess I can try eating at a maintenance/slight surplus as well.0 -
As sure said you can gain strength while at a deficit. I've been lifting since Sept 2013 and most definately doubled my lifts easy...some more so.
If you are eating at maitenance, doing a progressive load lifting program and getting in proper nutrition you can do a recomp (gain muscle while losing fat) however this does take a while.
I have been at maitenance since June...gonna see how I do at the end of the summer for "the look"0 -
Please correct me if I am wrong, but there is a point to doing heavy lifting while eating at a deficit. Going on a diet without any sort of resistance training means you are most likely losing lots of muscle and a bit of fat. If you strength train while eating at a deficit, then you will most likely lose fat while maintaining muscle mass.0
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Please correct me if I am wrong, but there is a point to doing heavy lifting while eating at a deficit. Going on a diet without any sort of resistance training means you are most likely losing lots of muscle and a bit of fat. If you strength train while eating at a deficit, then you will most likely lose fat while maintaining muscle mass.
Agree with this. I have been eating at a deficit and doing strong lifts for 4 weeks now and I have gone from 161 lbs and 39.9% body fat to 157.4 lbs and 38.4% body fat. That means I started with 64.2 lbs of fat and 96.8 lbs of lean body mass and now am at 60.4 lbs of fat and 97 lbs of lean body mass.0
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