Not Eating ENOUGH?

lazywriter
lazywriter Posts: 90 Member
edited September 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Is there a website where I can plug in what exercises I'm doing for the week and be told how many calories a day I absolutely need to eat at minimum in order to both lose fat/gain muscle simultaneously? I've been doing cardio 3x/week and weight training 3x/week but I am not seeing much muscle definition. I'm wondering if it's because I'm not eating enough calories (I go between 1300-1400/day).

Replies

  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
    I recently read that you should eat your BMR x 1.5 on the days you train and your BMR x 1.3 on non training days. I've started dong this and it seems like a good balance and a sure way to eat a little more on the days your work out.

    I know some may shoot down what I'm saying so I need to state "I'm not a professional, neither am I claiming to be, just sharing my opinion and experience"
  • lazywriter
    lazywriter Posts: 90 Member
    I think determining my BMR is difficult without the proper medical machinery though. I don't trust the BMI, BMR "calculators" on these sites.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
    It's very hard to build muscle on a caloric deficit, as it needs a surplus to gain it.. that's why fat loss and muscle gain simultaneously are hard. I've seen ketonic diets work for people.. You could eat more than your maintenance + exercise+ 5lb/lb of lbm 3 days and the other 4 eat maintenance-5lb/lb of lbm + exercise. Just a thought. I'm no expert :)
  • SpaceMarkus
    SpaceMarkus Posts: 651 Member
    The nice thing about muscle is that it burns fat. If you want definition I would cut back one day of cardio, add a day of weights, and up your calories. My girlfriend is doing ChaLEAN Extreme and I believe she needs to eat 1800-2000 a day.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
    It's very hard to build muscle on a caloric deficit, as it needs a surplus to gain it.. that's why fat loss and muscle gain simultaneously are hard. I've seen ketonic diets work for people.. You could eat more than your maintenance + exercise+ 5lb/lb of lbm 3 days and the other 4 eat maintenance-5lb/lb of lbm + exercise. Just a thought. I'm no expert :)

    I want to correct myself haha.. It's 2lb/lb of LBM :)
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    in order to both lose fat/gain muscle simultaneously?

    Ok, just this statement...it is a hard thing to do. Known as the "recomp", I've done it but I started at a pretty low weight (105 pounds). I bulked and went to 112 pounds, then recomped and went down to 108 pounds. It took 3 solid months of HEAVY lifting and immaculate diet. I didn't do any cardio (except what is prescribed in my Crossfit classes, usually a little sprinting here and there).

    Cardio depletes muscle surplus, so if you're serious about gaining muscle, you need to put it out of your mind. If that is something you cannot do, limit it to 30-45 minutes a week. Serious. Get on a good workout plan and stick with it for a solid 6-8 weeks, then change it up for another 6-8 weeks. And yes, you need to eat more than 1300 calories a day. You will not build muscle eating that low calories.
  • lazywriter
    lazywriter Posts: 90 Member
    Okay everyone, thanks so much. I wasn't aware that you really couldn't do both at the same time. But now that I think about it, it makes sense!

    So I guess I will focus on losing weight for now and keep doing what I am doing? Does it hurt to do weights?
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