How to build muscle/lean look while on a deficit?

bluepanda512
bluepanda512 Posts: 64 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Dear All,

Please help me with your suggestions/advices regarding my concern here.

To begin with, I understand that weight loss is achieved by calorie deficit, while exercise is for fitness/endurance.

I have been working out for the last two months. And I see my muscles slightly built up, but hardly any weight loss(constant).

My wish is to get that lean look, weighing within ideal weight range.I mean to look slim and be fit.

How do I achieve it?Only calorie deficit would do, will it give me that fit look?

Kind of lost here...request your help.

Thank you in advance :smile: :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • Mokapally
    Mokapally Posts: 11 Member
    I am no expert. However, I am in the same boat as you (wanting to lose weight while building muscle). I talked to my doctor about it and he told me that as you exercise, you build muscle (weight gain) and lose fat (weight loss). It's not an overnight process, unfortunately.
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    I'd highly recommend some form of progressive strength training.

    At deficit, this helps to maintain LBM while cutting fat. When you achieve your desired bf% you can them maintain what you've achieved or eat at surplus to build muscle.
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    You really need to work on one or the other: cutting, or bulking. Trying to do both at the same time is a recipe for frustration.

    I am doing the same thing as you right now: cutting, hard, to cut body fat, and strength training 3x week to maintain the muscle I have. I see slight gains in my lifts from time to time, but those can be the result of a lot of different things (neurological improvements, improvements in form, etc.).

    I can only tell you what I chose, and you have to make your own choices, but I chose to go after fat loss first. I want to get down to the 12-14% range and then I'll worry about adding muscle with a bulk/cut cycle.

    I think if you focus on cutting - get rid of the body fat - you'll be surprised at the muscles living underneath. You may be closer to the body you want than you think. Remove the fat first and see what's there.
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    I'd highly recommend some form of progressive strength training.

    At deficit, this helps to maintain LBM while cutting fat. When you achieve your desired bf% you can them maintain what you've achieved or eat at surplus to build muscle.

    This is perfect advice.
  • wellguidedau
    wellguidedau Posts: 2
    If you want lean muscle mass then you should going on lean mass building foods like:- eggs,oats etc and change your daily exercise schedule like:- increase more repetitions.
  • caesar164
    caesar164 Posts: 312 Member
    If you want lean muscle mass then you should going on lean mass building foods like:- eggs,oats etc and change your daily exercise schedule like:- increase more repetitions.
    Not the best first post,lol. You can maintain whatever muscle you have eating at a defecit; as far as adding new muscle while at defecit, very difficult.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    it's going to be very difficult to gain muscle on a deficit beyond the newbie gains. also gaining strength on a deficit will also be hard.

    just eat at a moderate deficit, start a progressive strength training program like strong lifts,starting strength or another program that focuses on compound lifts and consistently increase the weights you use and you will at least preserve as much LBM as possible. once you get to a point where you cant increase the weight then change your tactics up a bit
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    I had the same problem. Boy was I shocked when I discovered I couldn't do it all at once. So I decided to strength train and concentrate on losing those last few pounds. Then I'll work on building more muscle. It's time consuming but it will be worth it in the end.

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