Switch from Weight Loss to Muscle Gain

lostinwebspace
lostinwebspace Posts: 99 Member
edited July 2015 in Fitness and Exercise
So here's a question I'm gonna throw out to you all. Just gathering some experiences and stories for conversation's sake.

For those who first had to lose fat and then wanted to gain muscle, when did you decide to make the switch? Did you decide based on when you were satisfied with what the mirror showed? When you were at a specific body fat percentage? Did you stop a little before your target and then gain muscle and let the muscle gain get you the rest of the way to your body fat/LBM target?

I'm at about 9-9.5% body fat percentage right now (I use Accumeasure and it puts me at a measurement of about 5-5.5mm) and I'm at a 500-calorie deficit right now (1 pound a week). My target body fat percentage is 8%, but I'm wondering if, at this point, I should keep going with the fat loss or switch to gaining muscle mass, thereby letting the increase in muscle instead of the fat loss bring my body fat percentage to 8%.

So I'd love to hear from others' experiences when they decided to "flip the switch."

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    I decided to make the switch when I plateaued and the weight wouldn't come off anymore no matter what I did. I was eating at moderation for a while but then decided to bulk.

    I was never satisfied when I lost weight, to be honest.

    I don't see why you're trying to get to 8% body fat? I'm assuming you're not prepping for a competition lol, seeing as you're cutting first. Seems a bit pointless to me.

    If I were you, I'd switch to a bulk.
  • lostinwebspace
    lostinwebspace Posts: 99 Member
    I wanted to make it to 8% so when I switched to bulk, the extra fat I gained would still not be noticeable even if I didn't gain muscle as quickly as I wanted. i.e. I'd have a buffer. Never switched from one to the other so I'm not sure what to expect. Is 8% a bad goal?
  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    lostinwebspace wrote: »
    I wanted to make it to 8% so when I switched to bulk, the extra fat I gained would still not be noticeable even if I didn't gain muscle as quickly as I wanted. i.e. I'd have a buffer. Never switched from one to the other so I'm not sure what to expect. Is 8% a bad goal?

    I would say it's not necessary. How many calories do you plan on eating when you're bulking and how many calories are you eating now?
  • Laurenjenai
    Laurenjenai Posts: 197 Member
    I switched after I lost quite a few lbs and my normally good sized butt started getting smaller than my liking lol. then I also read that strength training is the best way to lose weight, gain muscle, and maintain longest, so I started focusing on weight training more and it was a success.
  • lostinwebspace
    lostinwebspace Posts: 99 Member
    Whoa. So sorry for the very late reply. Is there a way to get notifications by e-mail when someone responds to a thread? I looked around the site and could only find a way to flag alerts when you're on the site.

    Anyway, I made it to about 8%. Like most people (I imagine), I measured my goal at how good my abs looked. I'm told I'm too slim now, and I fit into 28-29" jeans depending on the brand, so I know I'm pretty slim. But I have no abs to show for it (I can see the top two in the mirror a bit, but barely anything else). So I switched to bulking a few weeks ago, doing a 5x5 routine, and I went to eating 2,000 calories a day. That wasn't enough since I wasn't seeing any gains on the scale (which was weird, since I saw my reps go up and could put on more weights from week to week) so I've jjjuuusssttt started with 2,100 calories. My goal is to make it to 2,300 calories (which I calculated based on this thread) by increasing 100 calories a week. I'll see how that does.

    What I find weird is, and I've heard it everywhere, too, @Laurenjenai, that weight training is the best way to lose weight. But if you eat enough to gain muscle, you'll likely gain fat along with it? And the logic holds: you have to eat more than your maintenance to gain muscle, but eating more than your maintenance is how to get fat in the first place. How does that work, then, if weight training is the best way to lose fat?

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