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Muscle mass/upping calories?

cosmo_momo
Posts: 173 Member
Hello everybody
It's been quite some time since I've been super active on this site. My summer consisted of a really intense research project and my living situation was less than ideal so I was not so concerned about losing weight. I managed to maintain my weight quite easily and now that I'm settled into my new apartment, I am able to focus on losing weight again.
I have a few questions regarding my calorie intake. So my project this summer involved a lot of labor out on the farm 7 days a week and I have developed a lot more muscle than I had before. My biceps are more defined and I have "new" muscles that I've never even seen on myself before. I have started lifting at my new apartment 3 days a week and doing cardio 2 days a week. Last night I set myself as "lightly active" on my profile settings. I guess what my question is, is should I set it to "active" and eat more calories than I feel I should be. I am very much in the mindset that we need to eat to fuel our bodies and I have become genuinely more hungry this week since I've been back on track. Obviously it's common sense that I need to just play around with my diet and see what works for me, but I was just curious if anyone has similar experience with this. I know you can't build muscle easily while eating in a deficit, but right now I'm using lifting as a tool to help lose weight.
Side note: On the days I lift weights I am generally more active because I walk to more classes and I always make sure to get in at LEAST 10,000 steps by the end of the day (usually finishing them out on the treadmill to warm up/cool down when I lift). On days I do cardio I don't worry about getting all the steps in. I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories.
TL;DR: is this new muscle mass enough to justify eating more calories while maintaining a lifting schedule so that I do not lose the muscle?

I have a few questions regarding my calorie intake. So my project this summer involved a lot of labor out on the farm 7 days a week and I have developed a lot more muscle than I had before. My biceps are more defined and I have "new" muscles that I've never even seen on myself before. I have started lifting at my new apartment 3 days a week and doing cardio 2 days a week. Last night I set myself as "lightly active" on my profile settings. I guess what my question is, is should I set it to "active" and eat more calories than I feel I should be. I am very much in the mindset that we need to eat to fuel our bodies and I have become genuinely more hungry this week since I've been back on track. Obviously it's common sense that I need to just play around with my diet and see what works for me, but I was just curious if anyone has similar experience with this. I know you can't build muscle easily while eating in a deficit, but right now I'm using lifting as a tool to help lose weight.
Side note: On the days I lift weights I am generally more active because I walk to more classes and I always make sure to get in at LEAST 10,000 steps by the end of the day (usually finishing them out on the treadmill to warm up/cool down when I lift). On days I do cardio I don't worry about getting all the steps in. I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories.
TL;DR: is this new muscle mass enough to justify eating more calories while maintaining a lifting schedule so that I do not lose the muscle?
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Replies
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cosmo_momo wrote: »Hello everybody
It's been quite some time since I've been super active on this site. My summer consisted of a really intense research project and my living situation was less than ideal so I was not so concerned about losing weight. I managed to maintain my weight quite easily and now that I'm settled into my new apartment, I am able to focus on losing weight again.
I have a few questions regarding my calorie intake. So my project this summer involved a lot of labor out on the farm 7 days a week and I have developed a lot more muscle than I had before. My biceps are more defined and I have "new" muscles that I've never even seen on myself before. I have started lifting at my new apartment 3 days a week and doing cardio 2 days a week. Last night I set myself as "lightly active" on my profile settings. I guess what my question is, is should I set it to "active" and eat more calories than I feel I should be. I am very much in the mindset that we need to eat to fuel our bodies and I have become genuinely more hungry this week since I've been back on track. Obviously it's common sense that I need to just play around with my diet and see what works for me, but I was just curious if anyone has similar experience with this. I know you can't build muscle easily while eating in a deficit, but right now I'm using lifting as a tool to help lose weight.
Side note: On the days I lift weights I am generally more active because I walk to more classes and I always make sure to get in at LEAST 10,000 steps by the end of the day (usually finishing them out on the treadmill to warm up/cool down when I lift). On days I do cardio I don't worry about getting all the steps in. I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories.
TL;DR: is this new muscle mass enough to justify eating more calories while maintaining a lifting schedule so that I do not lose the muscle?
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cosmo_momo wrote: »Hello everybody
It's been quite some time since I've been super active on this site. My summer consisted of a really intense research project and my living situation was less than ideal so I was not so concerned about losing weight. I managed to maintain my weight quite easily and now that I'm settled into my new apartment, I am able to focus on losing weight again.
I have a few questions regarding my calorie intake. So my project this summer involved a lot of labor out on the farm 7 days a week and I have developed a lot more muscle than I had before. My biceps are more defined and I have "new" muscles that I've never even seen on myself before. I have started lifting at my new apartment 3 days a week and doing cardio 2 days a week. Last night I set myself as "lightly active" on my profile settings. I guess what my question is, is should I set it to "active" and eat more calories than I feel I should be. I am very much in the mindset that we need to eat to fuel our bodies and I have become genuinely more hungry this week since I've been back on track. Obviously it's common sense that I need to just play around with my diet and see what works for me, but I was just curious if anyone has similar experience with this. I know you can't build muscle easily while eating in a deficit, but right now I'm using lifting as a tool to help lose weight.
Side note: On the days I lift weights I am generally more active because I walk to more classes and I always make sure to get in at LEAST 10,000 steps by the end of the day (usually finishing them out on the treadmill to warm up/cool down when I lift). On days I do cardio I don't worry about getting all the steps in. I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories.
TL;DR: is this new muscle mass enough to justify eating more calories while maintaining a lifting schedule so that I do not lose the muscle?
My current goals are to continue to lose weight. I have lost 15lbs so far. I really only have maybe 10 more pounds I want to lose. I was eating ~1,500 calories a day not working out and I was very unfit. So I guess my main concern is that I feel that I should be eating more than that because I have more lean mass than I did previously. Obviously it wouldn't be a 500 calorie addition, but would setting my activity level higher help account for that, as well as staying active? Do you think lifting 3 days a week is too often? Right now I set the weights so that by the time I'm finishing up my set, I have a hard time getting those last few reps completed. So, challenging, but not impossible. (I'm a newbie lifter lol)0 -
cosmo_momo wrote: »cosmo_momo wrote: »Hello everybody
It's been quite some time since I've been super active on this site. My summer consisted of a really intense research project and my living situation was less than ideal so I was not so concerned about losing weight. I managed to maintain my weight quite easily and now that I'm settled into my new apartment, I am able to focus on losing weight again.
I have a few questions regarding my calorie intake. So my project this summer involved a lot of labor out on the farm 7 days a week and I have developed a lot more muscle than I had before. My biceps are more defined and I have "new" muscles that I've never even seen on myself before. I have started lifting at my new apartment 3 days a week and doing cardio 2 days a week. Last night I set myself as "lightly active" on my profile settings. I guess what my question is, is should I set it to "active" and eat more calories than I feel I should be. I am very much in the mindset that we need to eat to fuel our bodies and I have become genuinely more hungry this week since I've been back on track. Obviously it's common sense that I need to just play around with my diet and see what works for me, but I was just curious if anyone has similar experience with this. I know you can't build muscle easily while eating in a deficit, but right now I'm using lifting as a tool to help lose weight.
Side note: On the days I lift weights I am generally more active because I walk to more classes and I always make sure to get in at LEAST 10,000 steps by the end of the day (usually finishing them out on the treadmill to warm up/cool down when I lift). On days I do cardio I don't worry about getting all the steps in. I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories.
TL;DR: is this new muscle mass enough to justify eating more calories while maintaining a lifting schedule so that I do not lose the muscle?
My current goals are to continue to lose weight. I have lost 15lbs so far. I really only have maybe 10 more pounds I want to lose. I was eating ~1,500 calories a day not working out and I was very unfit. So I guess my main concern is that I feel that I should be eating more than that because I have more lean mass than I did previously. Obviously it wouldn't be a 500 calorie addition, but would setting my activity level higher help account for that, as well as staying active? Do you think lifting 3 days a week is too often? Right now I set the weights so that by the time I'm finishing up my set, I have a hard time getting those last few reps completed. So, challenging, but not impossible. (I'm a newbie lifter lol)
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cosmo_momo wrote: »cosmo_momo wrote: »Hello everybody
It's been quite some time since I've been super active on this site. My summer consisted of a really intense research project and my living situation was less than ideal so I was not so concerned about losing weight. I managed to maintain my weight quite easily and now that I'm settled into my new apartment, I am able to focus on losing weight again.
I have a few questions regarding my calorie intake. So my project this summer involved a lot of labor out on the farm 7 days a week and I have developed a lot more muscle than I had before. My biceps are more defined and I have "new" muscles that I've never even seen on myself before. I have started lifting at my new apartment 3 days a week and doing cardio 2 days a week. Last night I set myself as "lightly active" on my profile settings. I guess what my question is, is should I set it to "active" and eat more calories than I feel I should be. I am very much in the mindset that we need to eat to fuel our bodies and I have become genuinely more hungry this week since I've been back on track. Obviously it's common sense that I need to just play around with my diet and see what works for me, but I was just curious if anyone has similar experience with this. I know you can't build muscle easily while eating in a deficit, but right now I'm using lifting as a tool to help lose weight.
Side note: On the days I lift weights I am generally more active because I walk to more classes and I always make sure to get in at LEAST 10,000 steps by the end of the day (usually finishing them out on the treadmill to warm up/cool down when I lift). On days I do cardio I don't worry about getting all the steps in. I DO NOT eat back my exercise calories.
TL;DR: is this new muscle mass enough to justify eating more calories while maintaining a lifting schedule so that I do not lose the muscle?
My current goals are to continue to lose weight. I have lost 15lbs so far. I really only have maybe 10 more pounds I want to lose. I was eating ~1,500 calories a day not working out and I was very unfit. So I guess my main concern is that I feel that I should be eating more than that because I have more lean mass than I did previously. Obviously it wouldn't be a 500 calorie addition, but would setting my activity level higher help account for that, as well as staying active? Do you think lifting 3 days a week is too often? Right now I set the weights so that by the time I'm finishing up my set, I have a hard time getting those last few reps completed. So, challenging, but not impossible. (I'm a newbie lifter lol)
Thank you.I so wish it were more of an exact science haha
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