Gaining muscle while in calorie deficit?

No, you cannot. What are your stats? If you don't have much to lose, it can take some time.

yes, you can I have and continue to do so but its a lot slower gain than if you were eating at a surplus. genetics also play a large part in how much muscle you gain and how quickly.

Congratulations 58lbs is wonderful. I am just starting and I would like to lose about that much. I wish I had some answers for you.

Realistically speaking, no. In a few studies a very minor amount of muscle gain has been observed in very obese people with high protein intake and a progressive overload strength training regimen, but again, even in such specific circumstances it is a very minor amount and is only for a short time.

The reason you cannot gain muscle in a deficit is simple: to synthesize new muscle growth, your body needs something to make it from, and with a calorie deficit you are actually eating fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current status, so there's nothing left over for creating new muscle.

To create muscle you need to be in a calorie surplus: eating more than your maintenance, so your body has extra energy with which it can create new muscle.

Two main reasons people think they are building muscle when in a deficit: they can see muscle appearing or they are retaining water so their scale weight is not decreasing. water retention is often due to a new exercise program. Water retention only lasts a few days or weeks. It goes away and is just an indication that your muscles are not used to exercise.

Seeing new muscles happens as you lose the fat over the muscle you currently have and it becomes more visible, but that is not an actual muscle gain. If you were gaining muscle mass, your measurements would go up, not down.

Finally, there's a difference between gaining strength and gaining muscle. Gaining strength is possible in a deficit because the muscle you currently have can be trained and become stronger even though your measurements and weight stay the same or decrease. Gaining actual muscle requires an actual measurable mass gain.

fivethreeone wrote: »

Realistically speaking, no. In a few studies a very minor amount of muscle gain has been observed in very obese people with high protein intake and a progressive overload strength training regimen, but again, even in such specific circumstances it is a very minor amount and is only for a short time.

The reason you cannot gain muscle in a deficit is simple: to synthesize new muscle growth, your body needs something to make it from, and with a calorie deficit you are actually eating fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current status, so there's nothing left over for creating new muscle.

To create muscle you need to be in a calorie surplus: eating more than your maintenance, so your body has extra energy with which it can create new muscle.

Two main reasons people think they are building muscle when in a deficit: they can see muscle appearing or they are retaining water so their scale weight is not decreasing. water retention is often due to a new exercise program. Water retention only lasts a few days or weeks. It goes away and is just an indication that your muscles are not used to exercise.

Seeing new muscles happens as you lose the fat over the muscle you currently have and it becomes more visible, but that is not an actual muscle gain. If you were gaining muscle mass, your measurements would go up, not down.

Finally, there's a difference between gaining strength and gaining muscle. Gaining strength is possible in a deficit because the muscle you currently have can be trained and become stronger even though your measurements and weight stay the same or decrease. Gaining actual muscle requires an actual measurable mass gain.

^^^^This

This is a much better explanation than the link I posted.

I've gained approximately 14 pounds of muscle in the last year while staying the same weight and losing fat. I follow a recomp program called Eat to Perform. I have never followed a bulk and cut cycle and I ate at maintenance. January 2014 October 2014...same weight, no bulk/cut

You can't see my quads in these pics but my jeans have changed so that what was tight in the waist in January is now loose and the thigh area in my jeans has gotten too small.

fivethreeone wrote: »

Realistically speaking, no. In a few studies a very minor amount of muscle gain has been observed in very obese people with high protein intake and a progressive overload strength training regimen, but again, even in such specific circumstances it is a very minor amount and is only for a short time.

The reason you cannot gain muscle in a deficit is simple: to synthesize new muscle growth, your body needs something to make it from, and with a calorie deficit you are actually eating fewer calories than your body needs to maintain its current status, so there's nothing left over for creating new muscle.

To create muscle you need to be in a calorie surplus: eating more than your maintenance, so your body has extra energy with which it can create new muscle.

Two main reasons people think they are building muscle when in a deficit: they can see muscle appearing or they are retaining water so their scale weight is not decreasing. water retention is often due to a new exercise program. Water retention only lasts a few days or weeks. It goes away and is just an indication that your muscles are not used to exercise.

Seeing new muscles happens as you lose the fat over the muscle you currently have and it becomes more visible, but that is not an actual muscle gain. If you were gaining muscle mass, your measurements would go up, not down.

Finally, there's a difference between gaining strength and gaining muscle. Gaining strength is possible in a deficit because the muscle you currently have can be trained and become stronger even though your measurements and weight stay the same or decrease. Gaining actual muscle requires an actual measurable mass gain.

^This. Good explanation.

Okay a lot of people are talking about how you have to be in a surplus, and I'm encouraging the OP to be in maintenance. I think the point of the OP was she wants to know what to do next, right? I'm sure she wouldn't just be asking the question for trolling purposes.

You can gain muscle on a deficit under certain limited circumstances, but it is finite and not that much. The circumstances are if you are overweight and/or new to lifting (or more limited, if you are providing stimulus to muscle groups not 'worked' before.

If you have maintained weight but lost inches, you have probably gained some water weight from increasing exercise recently which is masking the 'real' loss. There may be some muscle gain as you are new to lifting (or so I assume), but it will not be much at all (the amount depends on a bunch of individual factors including leanness, amount of deficit, genetics, gender etc).