Exercise/strength training while dieting.

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snowy0wl
snowy0wl Posts: 179 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
From what I understand if you have a caloric deficit you can't gain muscle. I'm wondering when I'm doing exercise be it strength or cardio what is it doing when I'm sore (DMS) is it not doing something?

If I was in a bulk phase would it do something different?

Replies

  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    Micro tears, Bro.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I'll let the experts handle this but here's how I understand it. Though you can't build significant muscle (other then newbie gains) while on a deficit, you can build strength and maintain LBM. If you were bulking, not recommended because of your current BF level, you would build muscle but also add fat. Probably not what you want to do.
  • snowy0wl
    snowy0wl Posts: 179 Member
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    I'm not interested in building muscle right now, just keeping it, perhaps figure out if metabolism wise I'm healthy and drop my BF%. The calories in and out doesn't seem to be working in a good way. I'm loosing a lot of weight and fat, but I'm not exactly sure why.

    Yes I'm very much a newbie in actual activities so I guess any gains I see right now will level off. I just know it's better to exercise (not sure exactly what) and loose fat. Right now I'm just working on form and seeing if I can handle weights properly I'm not expecting any mass on anywhere that isn't my goal right now.



  • rmyers14
    rmyers14 Posts: 14 Member
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    While in a caloric deficit it's almost impossible to build muscle. You will loose some, but if you eat adequate amounts of protein you're not going to lose a noticeable amount of muscle mass. Continue what you're doing to lose weight and maybe try sipping some BCAAs while working out. The Iso leucine will help prevent muscle catabolism.
  • olivia_june
    olivia_june Posts: 111 Member
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    snowy0wl wrote: »
    I'm not interested in building muscle right now, just keeping it, perhaps figure out if metabolism wise I'm healthy and drop my BF%. The calories in and out doesn't seem to be working in a good way. I'm loosing a lot of weight and fat, but I'm not exactly sure why.

    Yes I'm very much a newbie in actual activities so I guess any gains I see right now will level off. I just know it's better to exercise (not sure exactly what) and loose fat. Right now I'm just working on form and seeing if I can handle weights properly I'm not expecting any mass on anywhere that isn't my goal right now.



    This is clearly working exactly the way it's supposed to be.
  • olivia_june
    olivia_june Posts: 111 Member
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    You're not going to get abs just by losing weight. You want to focus on losing weight with calories in/out, cardio, and strength training, and then once you get to your ideal you can start bulking up and tweaking your diet to fit your muscle goals.

    ** Not an expert. Not a man.**
  • snowy0wl
    snowy0wl Posts: 179 Member
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    not looking for abs either, it's strange how people can mist-rue my intentions. I fully realize that I'm new, but I'm also not looking to gain muscle or in a bulk phase. I'm purely on a cutting phase (an amateurish one that). I have to read up on macro balance and if modern grains ala 'wheat belly' has any validity.

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