Switching from cardio only to STRENGTH TRAINING. Do I modify my calorie intake and/or macros ratio ?

rainbow bow wrote: »

You don't want to "build muscle".

What?

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

rainbow bow wrote: »

You don't want to "build muscle".

What?

Her goal is to lose weight. 50 lbs of it to be exact.

You need to pick one or the other. It requires a calorie surplus as it takes energy to build muscle mass.

Why don't you want to build muscle? Because she still has a lot of weight to lose and I imagine she doesn't want to put that off.

As a lifetime bodybuilder and fitness trainer some of the information you are being provided is not correct. A muscular body is much more efficient at burning calories. Why people think that you can't lose weight and still retain/gain muscle is beyond me and been disproven. It is a much slower process, but with proper training and eating habits it is possible. My advice is to research Bodybuilding.com and read articles there for advice regarding weight training. A 40-40-20 diet is a very good protocol and one which I follow both during off season and in preparation for contests. As you probably already know Carbs should be derived from things such as Rice, Potatoes, Oatmeal cruciferous vegetables and other complex carbs. Stay away from High Glycymic Index foods. Fruits are very high in these and will really through your insulin sensitivity for a loop.
Despite what so called experts say, I believe 1 gm of protein per lb at minimum is required if you ate working out strenuously with weights. However, you will certainly be nutritionally sound as long as you consume.at least .8 gm per lb of bodyweight. Saying a person already has muscle is a little vague, as everyone has a different level of muscle. As a women you will not develop muscle like a man as you do not have the Testesterone levels of a male. As you can see, this is a topic that is not going to be resolved on this blog. I really suggest you continue to read and research everything you can. Myfitness Pal is a fantastic app, and I use it faithfully, BUT it is not a substitute for proper instruction and assistance. Broscience is not always correct and can be extremely confusing.
Good luck with your training. Weight training is vastly underrated in the goal of weigh loss.

Monkeyman41333 wrote: »

As a lifetime bodybuilder and fitness trainer some of the information you are being provided is not correct. A muscular body is much more efficient at burning calories. Why people think that you can't lose weight and still retain/gain muscle is beyond me and been disproven. It is a much slower process, but with proper training and eating habits it is possible. My advice is to research Bodybuilding.com and read articles there for advice regarding weight training. A 40-40-20 diet is a very good protocol and one which I follow both during off season and in preparation for contests. As you probably already know Carbs should be derived from things such as Rice, Potatoes, Oatmeal cruciferous vegetables and other complex carbs. Stay away from High Glycymic Index foods. Fruits are very high in these and will really through your insulin sensitivity for a loop.
Despite what so called experts say, I believe 1 gm of protein per lb at minimum is required if you ate working out strenuously with weights. However, you will certainly be nutritionally sound as long as you consume.at least .8 gm per lb of bodyweight. Saying a person already has muscle is a little vague, as everyone has a different level of muscle. As a women you will not develop muscle like a man as you do not have the Testesterone levels of a male. As you can see, this is a topic that is not going to be resolved on this blog. I really suggest you continue to read and research everything you can. Myfitness Pal is a fantastic app, and I use it faithfully, BUT it is not a substitute for proper instruction and assistance. Broscience is not always correct and can be extremely confusing.
Good luck with your training. Weight training is vastly underrated in the goal of weigh loss.

You mean bro science like "Despite what so called experts say, I believe 1 gm of protein per lb at minimum is required if you ate working out strenuously with weights."

Or, how about suggesting potatoes and then immediately saying to stay away from high glycemic foods? Same with white rice which also has about the same glycemic index as table sugar. This is like someone telling me to stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup because Fructose is evil and then suggesting Agave Nectar.

While I agree that what rainbowbow is saying is slightly misleading it is still mostly correct. OP will not be building any appreciable amount of muscle while eating 1200 calories and trying to lose 50lb, especially on a program like Chalene Extreme. I'm well aware that overweight individuals can build muscle while losing weight, but the studies I'm aware of were of men. An educated guess would say you would get less muscle built in women. The important part is strength training to build/maintain muscle with a realistic mindset while losing weight. In other words, you aren't going to hulk up, but you can at minimum maintain 100% of what you have now if you do it right.

It depends what you're defining as heavy lifting. I think a lot of people were assuming you were doing the traditional bench/squat/deadlift things one normally associates with strength training. What weight are you using?

To be honest since you're only lifting around 9-25 pounds while in a deficit you shouldn't expect to put on any muscle. You might see some strength gains and a bit more definition, but it'll be minimal at best. On the up side, since you're doing more reps with lighter weights, you'll be burning slightly more calories than pure strength training.

sijomial wrote: »

KrystinaMTL wrote: »

Even though I was literally dripping wet ?

Completely irrelevant.
If two people both lift 5 tons of weight during their workout and one person is dripping wet and the other is finding it an absolute breeze they both burn the same number of calories. Which is not many!

Energy (calories) expenditure is mass moved over distance not feeling hard or sweating.

Almost.

The work energy =/= metabolic energy.

While it is true that work energy is the mass moved over distance, the metabolic energy is a function of several other factors. These include heat transfer, oxygen transport, etc.

We can assume that the person dripping wet is way less efficient (wasted energy to peripheral circulatory effort, sweat transport, heat transport).

The basic principal sijomal outlined remains the same: HR is not a good indicator of effort in weightlifting.

KrystinaMTL wrote: »

Question is...
Read somewhere that I should up my Protein to 40% of my total intake, (with 40% carbs and 20% Fat)
Should up up my calorie intake too ?

I would keep your protein intake at .8g.lb of your TARGET body weight or if you can calculate your lean mass then .8g/lb of lean mass. So I agree, I'd put protein at say 120-130g protein per day. I would not increase your calorie intake because you're still needing to lose weight. If you increase calories you'll gain weight, and it mostly won't be muscle.

I've read over and over on many books and sites that you cannot build muscle in a calorie deficit. I do not believe that is true. If you have extra fat stores, that extra fat can be used for calorie surplus, and that is exactly what you want, to burn the fat. So keep your calories at your MFP or IIFYM.com calculated deficit and adjust your macros but don't up your calorie intake.

Is there a reason to switch to weight training over cardio? Why not both? Reduce, but don't eliminate your cardio, then add in weight training. That's what I did almost a year ago and the results have been great. Fat loss and weight loss have continued if not improved and muscle gain continued. Muscle gain is slow in a deficit but you're better off concentrating on the fat loss while slowly building muscle in my opinion. At least until you're closer to your goal. I believe there is always a place for cardio. But that's just me.

Strength training is not just about calorie surplus to support muscle growth. You need to be sure you give enough stress to your muscle to break it down and let it grow back. If your lift never progress, your surplus calorie will be just fat gaining not muscle.

Suggest to lean down enough then build muscle. Lean people have higher insulin sensitivity. Don't listen to "fruits are bad". These are BS broscience. They are too much bro science in bodybuilding industry. As if all nutrition fits your macro goal, you will be fine.

I am following Kinobody and Leangain. These two sites have very useful information.