Calories while lifting
chickybuns
Posts: 1,037 Member
Hello! I'm fairly new to lifting and have read much conflicting information on being able to build muscles while at a calorie deficit. I currently lift 4 days a week, yoga once, and cardio one or twice a week. I have been getting around 2200 calories a day (my fitbit calculates around 2500 burnt a day) and my weight has been stable. My ultimate goal is to gain muscle and shed fat. I am 5'8" and currently weigh around 180. Do you think I should decrease calories?
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I am in a similar situation. From my research it is really hard to both shed fat and build muscle at the same time. That is why people go through the bulk and shred phases. Which is more important to you, gaining lots of muscle or shredding fat right now? You can try to maintain your muscle while you shred by consuming high quality protein and keep lifting.0
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Easiest way, pick either fat loss or mass gain, then choose a calorie goal to suit.
Fat loss will require a deficit, mass gain will require a surplus.
If I were you, with your current stats I'd be looking at dropping body fat first, then running a slight surplus, monitoring fat/strength/aesthetic gains and adjusting when necessary.
Repeat.
Your biggest hurdle psychologically will be reconciling the fact that you will gain a degree of body fat whilst in a mass building phase.0 -
ok what if you don't want to lose any scale weight but you want to get rid of the extra podge. Is this recomping? Do you still stay in a deficit while lifting heavy? Is this even possible?0
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Yes, I need to shed fat first. Even eating at a little deficit I have noticed a little increase in muscles. If you are at an ideal weight, I would eat around maintenance if you are just looking to add muscle/tone.0
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If you want to weigh less than 180lbs and aren't currently losing weight then yes clearly you do have to cut calories. I'm assuming you have a goal weight lower than 180 at 5'8".
You may think you are at a deficit from your fitbit numbers but if you aren't losing weight over an extended period of time then you aren't.
Keep your deficit small to retain as much muscle as possible or have a chance of building a small amount.
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I read a great post from some professional body builders and they recommend eating maitence calories 4 days a week then cut 3 days a week.
It should allow you to build muscle and still lose weight. What I have read at least.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »ok what if you don't want to lose any scale weight but you want to get rid of the extra podge. Is this recomping? Do you still stay in a deficit while lifting heavy? Is this even possible?
It is possible to lift heavy in a deficit but it is difficult so it is best to keep the deficit small. Recomp from what I understand is eating high protein with calories a bit over maintenance on the days you lift and a bit under on rest days. The building of muscle occurs at a slow pace, but gradually you change lower your body fat while maintaining your scale weight. It requires meticulous tracking to hit the sweet spot.0 -
daniwilford wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »ok what if you don't want to lose any scale weight but you want to get rid of the extra podge. Is this recomping? Do you still stay in a deficit while lifting heavy? Is this even possible?
It is possible to lift heavy in a deficit but it is difficult so it is best to keep the deficit small. Recomp from what I understand is eating high protein with calories a bit over maintenance on the days you lift and a bit under on rest days. The building of muscle occurs at a slow pace, but gradually you change lower your body fat while maintaining your scale weight. It requires meticulous tracking to hit the sweet spot.
Thank you
I've been resisting the weight room for so long... But I'm going to bite the bullet and just do it!!
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That's awesome @Christine_72 I post my workout on my profile if you are interested, my girlfriend does it also0
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bruhaha007 wrote: »That's awesome @Christine_72 I post my workout on my profile if you are interested, my girlfriend does it also
Thanks @bruhaha007 will check it out.
@chickybuns I'm so sorry for hijacking your thread..0 -
How long have you been doing this? Keep it up for at least 4 weeks and see how you have progressed.
Have you taken measurements of your body? If not, you should right now, at least chest, waist, and hips. Scale weight, especially if you are looking at a slow loss, can easily be masked by water weight either from water retained to help your muscles recover from lifting, from eating an especially salty meal, or for women because of their monthly cycle. If you are losing at a rate of half a pound to a pound a week, that can easily be hidden by a pound or more of water weight. Drinking lots of water helps to reduce this, but I don't think you can remove it completely, it is part of the natural 4-5 pound weight variations that happen in your body and mine.
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Christine_72 wrote: »
Thank you
I've been resisting the weight room for so long... But I'm going to bite the bullet and just do it!!
Yay! Good choice
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OK jumping on your post here I'm a similar height to you and am currently 164.
I have lost weight before through been told to eat more and nutritious so I do I eat well.
Started weight training 5 weeks ago with a PT. He has me on 1300 rest days 1400 training and a refeed with an extra 1000 once a week.
Scales ( not fussed in all honesty) gone down by about 4lb - no inche loss no change in photos.
Drinking 4 litres water a day.
But strength is improving.
What's going on?
(sorry for jumping on post thought it sort of fitted)0 -
I'm 5'8 and at goal at 160chickybuns wrote: »Hello! I'm fairly new to lifting and have read much conflicting information on being able to build muscles while at a calorie deficit. I currently lift 4 days a week, yoga once, and cardio one or twice a week. I have been getting around 2200 calories a day (my fitbit calculates around 2500 burnt a day) and my weight has been stable. My ultimate goal is to gain muscle and shed fat. I am 5'8" and currently weigh around 180. Do you think I should decrease calories?
I love your approach but for me, and I think I'm fairly active and already have a decent musculature your current calorie intake would be around my maintenance level
I'd cut 500 and start eating at around 1700-1800 (not MFP method, this would include your exercise) to lose weight but keep lifting
Basically I would question your Fitbit, and if it's an HRM and you are using it to log weights then I would be unsurprised at an overestimation
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OK jumping on your post here I'm a similar height to you and am currently 164.
I have lost weight before through been told to eat more and nutritious so I do I eat well.
Started weight training 5 weeks ago with a PT. He has me on 1300 rest days 1400 training and a refeed with an extra 1000 once a week.
Scales ( not fussed in all honesty) gone down by about 4lb - no inche loss no change in photos.
Drinking 4 litres water a day.
But strength is improving.
What's going on?
(sorry for jumping on post thought it sort of fitted)
Not sure what you're asking
You are on a significant cut so you will lose weight
If your weight training is a good progressive programme (I hope you are on free weights) you will gain strength ..part of strength improvement is neural
As a noob to weights you may build some muscle in defecit ...but over such a short time frame less than 1/2 -1lbs if everything, including protein intake is en pointe
You will not in defecit build enough muscle weight to offset fat loss
You will have water retention for muscle repair which may offset any further scale weight loss by a few lbs but that's temporary0 -
Sorry I was saying in 5 weeks I haven't lost any inches or changed in photos.
I'm not expecting stuff over night at all. But in 5 weeks I expected something.
Is this expected? Surley with such a big calorie deficent I should be loosing fat?0 -
You are ..it's within the 4lbs of scale weight you've lost
You need to give it time
Measurements are not that reliable due to tautness and positioning
Visual checks are also not that great cos the brain lags
It's only been 5 weeks, it's only been 4 lbs
Take photos straight on, side on, back...relaxed and flexed in good natural light in swimwear (bikini) ..file them
Take them again in 3 months and compare0 -
rileysowner wrote: »How long have you been doing this? Keep it up for at least 4 weeks and see how you have progressed.
Have you taken measurements of your body? If not, you should right now, at least chest, waist, and hips. Scale weight, especially if you are looking at a slow loss, can easily be masked by water weight either from water retained to help your muscles recover from lifting, from eating an especially salty meal, or for women because of their monthly cycle. If you are losing at a rate of half a pound to a pound a week, that can easily be hidden by a pound or more of water weight. Drinking lots of water helps to reduce this, but I don't think you can remove it completely, it is part of the natural 4-5 pound weight variations that happen in your body and mine.
I measure every once in a while, but usually do pictures...I'm terrible at measuring!! This last week if the first week I've kept good track of my calories, so I should give it a little more time. I understand the fluctuations. I've been between 177-184 since I started lifting!0 -
I'm 5'8 and at goal at 160chickybuns wrote: »Hello! I'm fairly new to lifting and have read much conflicting information on being able to build muscles while at a calorie deficit. I currently lift 4 days a week, yoga once, and cardio one or twice a week. I have been getting around 2200 calories a day (my fitbit calculates around 2500 burnt a day) and my weight has been stable. My ultimate goal is to gain muscle and shed fat. I am 5'8" and currently weigh around 180. Do you think I should decrease calories?
I love your approach but for me, and I think I'm fairly active and already have a decent musculature your current calorie intake would be around my maintenance level
I'd cut 500 and start eating at around 1700-1800 (not MFP method, this would include your exercise) to lose weight but keep lifting
Basically I would question your Fitbit, and if it's an HRM and you are using it to log weights then I would be unsurprised at an overestimation
I don't really trust the fitbit calories burnt. However, during workouts it usually reads lower than my HRM does. I can try 1700-1800 but I think I will get too hungry with that. I want to make sure I'm eating enough to build muscle, so my goal is a little deficit. 1700-1800 would be more of at least 500 calorie deficit since my maintenance is around 2000. My goal is also around 160, but I'm not really concerned about the scales these days
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The program that I'm doing recommends 2400 so I'm trying to go with that but decrease a little. Plus I do a tad more cardio than the program as well.0
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in my opinion, considering you are currently 40~ pounds overweight I would stick to a fat loss goal for now.
Right now, you have too much body fat to even see the amount of muscle mass you have. My bet is that you probably already have a pretty significant amount that would look greatly improved once it is no longer covered in body fat. My goal if i were you would be to RETAIN not gain muscle mass while simultaneously losing body fat. this can be done by having a slight calorie deficit, eating adequate protein, and performing resistance training.
Once you get down to a lower body fat level and you can actually see where you are muscle mass wise you can determine whether or not you actually need to *gain* new muscle.0 -
Your deficit is pretty small. My guess is it's maybe 150-300 per day. That means it would take 1.5-3 weeks to lose a pound. Combine that with initial lifting water retention and normal daily/cyclical weight fluctuations and it's no surprise you haven't seen any change in weight.
I'd tend to agree with focusing on fat loss and muscle retention while building strength at this point. Your current method can work but keep in mind that it will take much longer thaneed trying to focus on everything at once. I'm a believer in recomps but think that they work better when close (r) to goal weight.0 -
chickybuns wrote: »The program that I'm doing recommends 2400 so I'm trying to go with that but decrease a little. Plus I do a tad more cardio than the program as well.
I simply don't believe your TDEE is that high ..sorry
You have proof from being at maintenance that you are maintaining at 2200
Eating that would make you put on weight and you aren't in a position to bulk if you weigh 180 which is overweightrainbowbow wrote: »in my opinion, considering you are currently 40~ pounds overweight I would stick to a fat loss goal for now.
Right now, you have too much body fat to even see the amount of muscle mass you have. My bet is that you probably already have a pretty significant amount that would look greatly improved once it is no longer covered in body fat. My goal if i were you would be to RETAIN not gain muscle mass while simultaneously losing body fat. this can be done by having a slight calorie deficit, eating adequate protein, and performing resistance training.
Once you get down to a lower body fat level and you can actually see where you are muscle mass wise you can determine whether or not you actually need to *gain* new muscle.
This is right ...though I would question if you were 40lbs overweight ..you may be
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chickybuns wrote: »The program that I'm doing recommends 2400 so I'm trying to go with that but decrease a little. Plus I do a tad more cardio than the program as well.
I simply don't believe your TDEE is that high ..sorry
You have proof from being at maintenance that you are maintaining at 2200
Eating that would make you put on weight and you aren't in a position to bulk if you weight 180 which is overweightrainbowbow wrote: »in my opinion, considering you are currently 40~ pounds overweight I would stick to a fat loss goal for now.
Right now, you have too much body fat to even see the amount of muscle mass you have. My bet is that you probably already have a pretty significant amount that would look greatly improved once it is no longer covered in body fat. My goal if i were you would be to RETAIN not gain muscle mass while simultaneously losing body fat. this can be done by having a slight calorie deficit, eating adequate protein, and performing resistance training.
Once you get down to a lower body fat level and you can actually see where you are muscle mass wise you can determine whether or not you actually need to *gain* new muscle.
This is right ...though I would question if you were 40lbs overweight ..you may be
sorry, in general, 40lbs would be my best guess. This is just based on a rough estimate (based on height/weight). It may be more or less depending on current muscle mass.0 -
I don't know what "they say" about overweight, but I have a pretty large frame. Around 160 would be my goal. I was 140 in high school, but I was way too twiggy! Maybe I'll try to cut down to around 2000 and see how that goes.0
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I'm 5'8 and at goal at 160chickybuns wrote: »Hello! I'm fairly new to lifting and have read much conflicting information on being able to build muscles while at a calorie deficit. I currently lift 4 days a week, yoga once, and cardio one or twice a week. I have been getting around 2200 calories a day (my fitbit calculates around 2500 burnt a day) and my weight has been stable. My ultimate goal is to gain muscle and shed fat. I am 5'8" and currently weigh around 180. Do you think I should decrease calories?
I love your approach but for me, and I think I'm fairly active and already have a decent musculature your current calorie intake would be around my maintenance level
I'd cut 500 and start eating at around 1700-1800 (not MFP method, this would include your exercise) to lose weight but keep lifting
Basically I would question your Fitbit, and if it's an HRM and you are using it to log weights then I would be unsurprised at an overestimation
I do have the fit bit HR which does HR monitoring
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chickybuns wrote: »
I'm 5'8 and at goal at 160chickybuns wrote: »Hello! I'm fairly new to lifting and have read much conflicting information on being able to build muscles while at a calorie deficit. I currently lift 4 days a week, yoga once, and cardio one or twice a week. I have been getting around 2200 calories a day (my fitbit calculates around 2500 burnt a day) and my weight has been stable. My ultimate goal is to gain muscle and shed fat. I am 5'8" and currently weigh around 180. Do you think I should decrease calories?
I love your approach but for me, and I think I'm fairly active and already have a decent musculature your current calorie intake would be around my maintenance level
I'd cut 500 and start eating at around 1700-1800 (not MFP method, this would include your exercise) to lose weight but keep lifting
Basically I would question your Fitbit, and if it's an HRM and you are using it to log weights then I would be unsurprised at an overestimation
I do have the fit bit HR which does HR monitoring
You cannot rely on an HRM for assessing calories from lifting
Only for steady state cardio
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Hmm, I didn't know that. I mostly lift now and do HIIT workouts. What is a good way to calculate calories burnt while lifting?0
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chickybuns wrote: »Hmm, I didn't know that. I mostly lift now and do HIIT workouts. What is a good way to calculate calories burnt while lifting?
http://livehealthy.chron.com/can-heart-rate-monitors-measure-calories-weight-lifting-4910.html0 -
chickybuns wrote: »Hmm, I didn't know that. I mostly lift now and do HIIT workouts. What is a good way to calculate calories burnt while lifting?
My suggestion is to log them using a standard exercise calculator, be it MFP or calorielab.com or Fitbit or something else. Eat according to whatever goal you come up with and then adjust up/down based on results after four weeks.
You really just need to pick something, stick with it long enough to gather data in order to make a good decision, and then make the decision--up calories? lower calories? leave calories alone?1
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