For those who lift...

Jmoss4852
Jmoss4852 Posts: 70 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So, I literally JUST had my first lifting session at the gym. While I get the basics of the "lifting" part I'm so new to this and have a few questions:

1.) Keep my calories at my 1450 deficit or bump them up? I'm only lifting 3x a week and will be running 2-3 other days. Should I eat the same? Or adjust? (hey, no harshness on my food log this week, I AM STILL LEARNING.)

2.) Can I lift in the morning, and then run later in the afternoon? Today was "leg day" for me, and I spent about 50 minutes this morning lifting, I'm getting a portion of my protein in right now, and I am SO anxious to go run after work today. Is this okay to do, or will it hurt my progress down the road...?

3.) I wore a HRM (Polar FT4) this morning for my workout. Should I log the calories I burned or just leave them out of my food journal?

I'm pretty sure I will think of more questions I progress further into this journey, but this is it for the moment. I'm not looking to be a bikini-fitness model, just to tone and to really gain some strength. Any helpful advice is appreciated. :)

Replies

  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
    I am no expert but from what I understand if you want to build muscle you need to eat more as you will not build while in a deficit. Also if you are doing cardio and weights you should do the weights in the AM and cardio in the PM I read this somewhere with a nice long physciological explanation. As I just started lifting myself but I also run looking for what others have to say.
  • ew_david
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
    1. Depends on your goals. Are you still cutting body fat?

    2. Yes

    3. HRM aren't accurate for lifting.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    1. Depends on your goals. Are you still cutting body fat?

    2. Yes

    3. HRM aren't accurate for lifting.

    this.

    totally goal dependent.

    You may need to add an extra 100 or so- but don't get crazy with it- and certainly don't rely on your HRM to give you a good calorie burn.
  • Jmoss4852
    Jmoss4852 Posts: 70 Member
    I am still cutting some body fat, yes. My main goal now is toning and strengthening my body though. Does that help? Thanks for the quick responses, by the way!
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    Good advice already, just trying to further add that keeping your deficit low is probably a good idea since you are pretty active. I would not try for any more than 1 lbs per week and maybe even a half pound.
  • Jmoss4852
    Jmoss4852 Posts: 70 Member
    I am still cutting some body fat, yes. My main goal now is toning and strengthening my body though. Does that help? Thanks for the quick responses, by the way!
  • wibutterflymagic
    wibutterflymagic Posts: 788 Member
    1. Depends on your goals. Are you still cutting body fat?

    2. Yes

    3. HRM aren't accurate for lifting.

    This. And also I don't think it matters when you run because my personal trainer has me do a run for a warm up sometimes before we have our session or as a cool down afterwards so.....

    How you track your burn depends on how you have your calorie goal set up. Me, I have my activity calculated into my daily calorie goal so I don't track my exercise. You can enter your activities and then change the burn to 1.

    p.s. I'm eating at a deficit and I'm getting stronger and leaner so eating at a deficit doesn't mean you won't build strength and tone. It probably just means it takes longer to see real muscle definition(if that's the persons goal).
  • kessler4130
    kessler4130 Posts: 150 Member
    1.) I cannot see your diary, if you haven't already, I would adjust your macros to:
    Protein - 1 gram per pound of lean body mass or anticipated lean body mass, it appears 125 is your goal based on body weight goal, so lets go with 125 protein.
    Fat - Well I don't know a thing about females or how fat intake effects your hormones but I have had no issues at 60 grams, when I am bulking I run 70 grams.
    Carbs - the rest of your calories should be carbs.

    All of this should be adjusted to the individual, your goals and personal preference based on results and how you feel, there are 100 ways to run your macros and everyone will tell you differently.

    2. I lift at 4am and do cardio at 6pm, has had no negative effects, other than possibly impacting my surplus calories while bulking.

    3.) I never refeed used calories even when bulking, I calculate my daily intake based on average activities which is daily lifting and or cardio. If you find you are losing to much weight or not gaining at all, then adjust accordingly but trying to estimate calories when lifting is very difficult.
  • Jmoss4852
    Jmoss4852 Posts: 70 Member
    Bump
  • Jmoss4852
    Jmoss4852 Posts: 70 Member
    1.) I cannot see your diary, if you haven't already, I would adjust your macros to:
    Protein - 1 gram per pound of lean body mass or anticipated lean body mass, it appears 125 is your goal based on body weight goal, so lets go with 125 protein.
    Fat - Well I don't know a thing about females or how fat intake effects your hormones but I have had no issues at 60 grams, when I am bulking I run 70 grams.
    Carbs - the rest of your calories should be carbs.

    All of this should be adjusted to the individual, your goals and personal preference based on results and how you feel, there are 100 ways to run your macros and everyone will tell you differently.

    2. I lift at 4am and do cardio at 6pm, has had no negative effects, other than possibly impacting my surplus calories while bulking.

    3.) I never refeed used calories even when bulking, I calculate my daily intake based on average activities which is daily lifting and or cardio. If you find you are losing to much weight or not gaining at all, then adjust accordingly but trying to estimate calories when lifting is very difficult.

    Thanks! I opened my diary to the public, so feel free to take a look now, although it's been pretty crappy the last month or so. I am glad to know my run later on in the day will not hinder anything I did this morning.

    Also, what do you mean by not refeeding used calories? Burning them off and then eating the cals back? I feel like I may be thinking to hard about this... lol
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    What's your height and weight?
  • stephyy4632
    stephyy4632 Posts: 947 Member
    1. Depends on your goals. Are you still cutting body fat?

    2. Yes

    3. HRM aren't accurate for lifting.

    ^^^^ this ( I do give myself an extra 200 cal`s on lifting days, I would not rely on a HRM for lifting )

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