Losing weight and gaining muscle

Have you done research on body recomposition?

From what your calorie intake is I can say that you are doing it incorrect from what I have read.

I do not thing your BMR is that low.

I want to see what other people say since the MFP forums are fill with people who disagree with body recomp and say to go to a cutting/bulking cycles.

I am 51 years and weigh 82 kgs. My height is 5.7”.
I do 30 minutes of cardio-treadmill 3-4 times a week and burn around 350 calories in each session.

I also do 30-40 minutes of weight training with moderate weights-around 70kg on bench press-after my cardio session.
My daily calorie intake is around 1200 calories with week end spikes of around 1800 calories.

I consume very little oil and no butter/ice-cream/chocolates/or other fat products.
I mostly take boiled veg/sprouts/soya nuggets/white of eggs and also take whey protein supplement and 5mg of creatinine each day with about a handful of nuts.
I am maintaining a constant weight of around 82-83 kg for the past 2 months and am nether gaining muscle or losing weight.
I had gone down to 77 kg last year in September, but then again gained with the same diet and routine
Any suggestions

First issue is the low fat...you need fat in your diet.
2nd issue is 1200 calories? If you were truely eating 1200 calories a day with that exercise you would be dropping the weight esp as a man.

You won't gain muscle doing what you are doing.

First thing you need to do is look at your calorie goal...1800 min I as a woman at your height maintain on 2100...and I am more active.

2nd thing is you really need to know how much you are eating...becasue it's not 1200 calories...to do that you need to log your food accurately and consistently...which means weighing all your solids and measuring liquids.

3rd add some fat into your diet...you need fat.

You're doing it wrong OP.

A few questions you should answer, things you should do to get appropriate answers.

#1 open your diary so people can see what you eat.

#2 Clarify what you want to do. Do you want to gain muscle and lose weight, or just gain muscle? I would suggest things differently in each case. In particular how much you should eat.

#3 Are you new to weight training? Routines and suggestions will kind of depend on this answer as a newbie to weight training will have muscles that respond differently than someone who has lifted for years and will have to push themselves in different ways.

My first observation is your calories....very low for anyone never-mind someone who wants to gain muscle. It may take some fine tuning to see how your body responds but I would think 1800 cals is the bare minimum to begin with.

Second observation..you are spending a lot of time in the weight room (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) and assuming you are new to weight training 3 days a week, full body training will probably yield great results. Body needs to recover as well, and if you want to keep up with your cardio, perhaps alternate between cardio day and weight training on consecutive days.


Keep asking questions and take some advice to heart. Perhaps find someone with similar goals, needs, body type, age etc. What worked for me, might not work for you. If you want to know more ...add me and I can let you know what I did but there might be someone else out there to better serve you.

My advice would be pretty basic. Pretty much what you can find in any decent book on weight training. In fact this advice has held true for many many years

1. Eat 1800-2000 cals....getting at least 35% protein

2. Work out with weights 3 times a week, focussing on the main staples of the weight room.....bench press for chest, squats and lunges for legs, curls for bis, shoulder press and lat raises and upright row for shoulders, skull crushers and close grip bench for tris. Hit your abs on cardio days. Mix up your exercises every few workouts (you can find dozens of exercises for each body part anywhere online, or a good fitness magazine.

Three sets of eight to ten reps is pretty standard. Again, the number of reps could change depending on your goals and experience levels.


3, Cardio twice a week or more, depending on how you feel, and how your weight changes you can play with intensity and duration. I try to stay away from jogging when I am trying to put on muscle because it puts a lot of stress on the joints and I think the body can only recover so much muscle damage,


Keep learning and working hard. Good things will happen