Newbie Weightlifting Questions

You're hungrier for a couple of reasons, one being that your body is doing a lot of work when you lift weights. MFP doesn't really let you track the calories burned from lifting. You're also hungry because of the energy your body is using to repair the muscles you stress when you lift weights.

Yes, you are gaining muscle. This is contrary to the belief that you can't add muscle while on a deficit, and I'm sure many people will disagree with me. But you are lifting weights, and that is signaling to your body that you need more muscle in those areas because you have to pick heavy stuff up, so it adds more muscle cells there. While you're at a pretty low calorie intake, you do have fat storage that your body is tapping into to make energy and allow for muscles to be made. Adding in your high protein intake (good job there!), and you're set to build muscle. I posted a very long explanation of how all of this works. But yes, you can gain muscle while on a deficit. It won't be as fast as if you're in a "bulking phase" where you eat excess calories. But you will still gain muscle.

As a heads up, because you are lifting and adding muscle, don't be frustrated if the scale slows, or stops moving altogether at some point. The old muscle weights more than fat saying is true. Start to take measurments of your body ever month and pay attention to how clothes fit, this will help you to not be discouraged if/when the scale starts to make you doubt yourself.

Keep doing what you're doing Good work!

It is my amateur understanding based on answers of my own questions and other research that the more muscle a person has, the more fuel they need to keep it up. Also, you should be eating above the calories your body burns just by being in a comatose state but less than what is needed to maintain your weight. That can be determined by your BMI, height, weight, and age. I unfortunately do not have the calculations for that... but I believe Scoobysworkshop.com has a great estimate area there.

All that psuedo scientific explanation basically means... You may need to eat more now that you have more muscle. Im sure if you increase your intake by 300 calories you will still maintain your loss. However, the closer you get to goal weight, the longer it takes to lose the same amount.

pzarnosky wrote: »

You're hungrier for a couple of reasons, one being that your body is doing a lot of work when you lift weights. MFP doesn't really let you track the calories burned from lifting. You're also hungry because of the energy your body is using to repair the muscles you stress when you lift weights.

Yes, you are gaining muscle. This is contrary to the belief that you can't add muscle while on a deficit, and I'm sure many people will disagree with me. But you are lifting weights, and that is signaling to your body that you need more muscle in those areas because you have to pick heavy stuff up, so it adds more muscle cells there. While you're at a pretty low calorie intake, you do have fat storage that your body is tapping into to make energy and allow for muscles to be made. Adding in your high protein intake (good job there!), and you're set to build muscle. I posted a very long explanation of how all of this works. But yes, you can gain muscle while on a deficit. It won't be as fast as if you're in a "bulking phase" where you eat excess calories. But you will still gain muscle.

As a heads up, because you are lifting and adding muscle, don't be frustrated if the scale slows, or stops moving altogether at some point. The old muscle weights more than fat saying is true. Start to take measurments of your body ever month and pay attention to how clothes fit, this will help you to not be discouraged if/when the scale starts to make you doubt yourself.

Keep doing what you're doing Good work!

You’re right about one thing: many people will disagree with you. Though those new to weight training can gain some muscle in a deficit starting off (aka noob gains), you will not consistently gain muscle while eating in a deficit as time goes by. It’s slow enough to change your body composition during a recomp where you’re eating at maintenance, let alone in a deficit. You will see strength gains thanks to neurological adaptation, as your body gets better at using existing muscle, but this does not equate muscle gain. However, lifting is amazing during weight loss because it helps prevent the loss of lean body mass.

As for plateauing on weightlifting, do you mean plateau on your strength gains or your weight loss? I’m not an expert at home workouts, but if you ever end up going the gym route, I highly recommend a progressive lifting program such as Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5x5.

Edited to add: I was completely famished as I started lifting, moreso than with cardio workouts alone.

northdog wrote: »

JoRocka wrote: »

well- you'll get more out of major muscle groups than isolations- so you won't get 6 months on curls- but you might get 6 months on squats.

hence my recommendation to look into a rack/cage or go to a gym.

I don't just do curls. I just listed it out as an example. Right now I do:

*Back/biceps one day (we have a pulldown machine for back, bicep curls, concentration curls and hammer curls)

*Chest/shoulders/triceps another day (incline flyes, incline press, shoulder raises and upright row, the same pulldown machine for triceps)

*Legs on another day (deadlifts, squats, lunges and calf raises). I am close to maxing out those powerblocks on the deadlift though. So a bar will probably be useful in the future, perhaps sooner? My problem is my upper body is so weak, I can only lift so much in my arms for a squat, for example, so I'm not sure how much good these exercises are doing for my legs. My quads/hamstrings/calves are rarely sore afterwards, but I can feel it in my glutes for sure. I've always walked and biked a lot, so maybe just walking around carrying all this weight has made my legs pretty strong?

I realize I've gone off on a tangent, LOL. I appreciate your feedback though.

I agree, you'll get more bang for your buck with compound lifts (like in Stronglifts 5x5 which is a beginner program - checkout the SL 5X5 webpage) but you need a power rack for safety reasons. My first 8 months I was doing those arm curls and tricep extensions and using other machines. My arms got more defined doing the SL lifts in 3 months than 8 months of isolation lifts. It can be intimidating for newbies like I was but I kinda eased into the lifts experimenting with each one before I went full bore into SL 5x5.

I too noticed a big increase in my appetite when I jumped to the heavy lifting. Only thing is I had met my goal and probably just used the heavy lifting as an excuse to eat more. Just try to get more lean protein.

As a disclaimer though I will say it was 8 months before I went full bore into SL and had dropped 60 lbs and had been during a lot of cardio, stretching, so I was in 100% better shape than day 1 of my new way of life.