Trying to tone, using weights, how many calories do I really need?

SezxyStef wrote: »

chalaivy wrote: »

louiandaisy wrote: »

You need to work out your maintenance calories to start with. If you want to loose weight you need to eat less than your maintenance (cut) to add muscle you need to eat above your maintenance (bulk). Or you could recomp (which will take longer but still give good results) by eating your maintenance calories and lifting weights at least 3 times a week.

Do you think cutting and then bulking separately would be effective? Or does doing recomp make you lose fat while you're building muscle?

Most do bulk cut cycles...as recomp takes dedication and a long time.

Recomp is eating just below or at maintenance and lifting. I do it (not on purpose) but not interested in gaining weight purposefully so a bulk for me is out of the question.

I've had good results without realizing it...comments are wow how much more weight have you lost when the scale is reading 3lbs more than it did the last time I saw them.

kshama2001 wrote: »

chalaivy wrote: »

SezxyStef wrote: »

Okay 2lbs a week is a lot...do you have over 75lbs to lose?

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

weight machines are crap imo...free weights.

you can't turn fat into muscle.

I wouldn't lift on 1200 a day...wouldn't have the energy.

YOu won't get gains on 1200 a day you need to eat over maintenance and do a progressive load lifting program to get gains...

If you want to lift weights first thing is to change that weekly weight loss goal...
be prepared to not lose for the first 3 or 4 weeks
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/4601-stronglifts-5x5-for-women
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1096001-halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky?page=13#posts-19366042


check the above out and then if you have questions...come back and ask.

Yes I lift heavy, yes I've lost a lot of weight.

I appreciate your feedback. I will change my calorie intake.. If I don't go over maintenance though, what kind of results should I expect? Would I benefit at all?
I looked at the 5x5. I am a total beginner, I have no idea what any of those terms are except for squats
Can you tell me why you think machines are crap? I have little to no strength so I like the idea that there's a little give in them that helps me out.. I feel like I would struggle hardcore with free weights

Since you are new to this, I suggest you take a few sessions with a personal trainer. Sure, you could learn on your own online, but with a good trainer, you'll pick it up much faster. Tell him/her that you want to do a progressive lifting program like Strong Lifts or other beginner program that focuses on free weights.

There have been a few threads here about male trainers steering female clients away from free weights. Hopefully you don't have to be insistent, but I wanted to give you a headsup that this is a possibility. If it happens, slap them with New Rules of Lifting for Women (which was available in my library system, so maybe yours as well.

_lyndseybrooke_ wrote: »

chalaivy wrote: »

I originally set my goal to lose 2 lbs a week, and MFP put me at 1200 calories... Satiety isn't an issue, I'm still working on my macros (I'm a little under a month into logging, still learning).

But! I recently signed up for a gym membership and am determined to steer more towards weight machines than cardio. It's more fun anyways.
My question is, if I stay on my 1200 calorie limit while working with weights, will I lose muscle instead of "turning my fat into muscle"? I did update my activity level in MFP and added exercise goals, but there's really no way for me to log how many calories I'm burning while I work out, but it still recommends 1200 if I want to lose 2 lbs a week.
I know that if I do get the muscle gains I want, then numbers on the scale won't matter, so I'm not too focused on the 2 lbs a week anymore, I just want to be sure I'm not sabotaging myself for what I want now.

Muscles do not "tone." They get bigger, smaller, or stay the same size. "Toning" is not a thing.

Why weight machines rather than free weights? I suggest using a beginner's lifting program like Stronglifts 5x5 instead of relying on weight machines that will do nothing for your core or functional strength.

Fat does not turn into muscle.

Why do you insist on losing 2lbs per week? That's a lot, so of course MFP is only giving you 1200 calories per day. Drop it down to 1 lb per week.

MFP's goal is based on net calories, meaning you're supposed to eat back exercise calories. Most people overestimate how many calories they're burning because there's really no way to know for sure with weight lifting (HRMs are not accurate for anything but steady state cardio). This is why a lot of us go in and manually change our goals based on our TDEEs. You can easily search Google for a TDEE calculator.

Gaining muscle while eating at a deficit...probably not. You will have about a year of what they call "newbie gains," but the actual muscle you gain won't be very much. Muscles need calories to grow, meaning you need to eat more calories than you burn in order to gain muscle. The point of lifting while losing weight is to maintain muscle, not add muscle.

Here's what you need to do. Find your TDEE, subtract 20% from it, and eat that many calories while lifting using free weights. While you aren't going to gain significant muscle, you will steadily lose weight while maintaining as much muscle as you can, which is what will give you the "toned" look you want. And just go from there.