Losing fat, maintaining muscle getting fit

momar23
momar23 Posts: 292 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
so I have been reading so much on here and everywhere and I am getting confused about what I should be doing. I am 5'6 currently 188lbs started in January at 217. My main goal right now is fat loss and increasing my overall health and fitness level. I am currently working out 5-6 days a week either body weight workouts using a tabata app or strength training using moderate weights.
I have a bad back me knee problems so I want to lose more fat before I start lifting heavier. I also try and get on the treadmill or go out for a walk pretty much every day.
Right now I am noticing increased strength and my muscles are starting to be visible under my fat:)
So do I keep doing what I'm doing until I get closer to my goal weight and look at increasing my weightlifting then?
I really felt like I have been increasing my muscle but everything I see on here says that if I'm eating at deficit I'm not. I'm assuming that I am maintaining the muscle I do have and am actually just losing fat?

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    momar23 wrote: »
    I really felt like I have been increasing my muscle but everything I see on here says that if I'm eating at deficit I'm not. I'm assuming that I am maintaining the muscle I do have and am actually just losing fat?

    Yes, this will be it.

    It's really up to you OP. If your knees can't handle anything too serious just yet, continue to lose weight until you're ready to lift heavy!

  • momar23
    momar23 Posts: 292 Member
    Thanks!
  • deepakkumararaj
    deepakkumararaj Posts: 5 Member
    Learn proper form on the 4 major lifts(Squat, Bench, Deadlift and Press). Start doing one of the established beginner strength routines. Eat clean and you will see a big difference. Squatting regularly with proper form should fix your knee issues as well. The key here is proper form.

    I am not sure what you mean by moderate weights, but keeping the same low weights will cause no impact on your strength. You will need to progressively increase the weight to add more strength.

    I alternate my diet everything week between a low and moderate deficit. I lift 3 days a week, increasing the weights by 2.5 to 10 lb depending on the exercise and my energy levels. I initially followed the stronglifts 5x5 routine for 13 weeks. Now am doing something else similar.

    I have gone down from around 284 lb in the beginning of Feb to 235lb today and from a jeans size 44 to 36.

    Eat clean, Lift heavy. Sleep enough. It worked for me.

    All the best.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    momar23 wrote: »
    Right now I am noticing increased strength and my muscles are starting to be visible under my fat:)
    So do I keep doing what I'm doing until I get closer to my goal weight and look at increasing my weightlifting then?
    I really felt like I have been increasing my muscle but everything I see on here says that if I'm eating at deficit I'm not. I'm assuming that I am maintaining the muscle I do have and am actually just losing fat?

    yes keep doing what you're doing

    as a noob you may have some muscle gain as well as strength gains but that's good .. in general you won't be building muscle in a defecit

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Not adding muscle in a deficit is a gross exaggeration that people use for simplicity (or commonly just repeat parrot fashion!).

    In the spirit of keeping it simple - just keep on doing the right things and you will get the best possible results for you. Whether that's actual muscle gain, maintenance of existing muscle or just better definition is really irrelevant as it's still the best that you can achieve.

    You should keep pushing the weights up as progressive overload is really the most effective muscle stimulus.
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