Lifting but no diet change

If you have a calorie deficit (meaning you're burning more so you're in deficit now), you lose weight. You aren't going to build muscle.
And muscle can't be built with any other macro but protein. So if it's insufficient, you won't build muscle.

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You can get stronger without building muscle. Flatter can be a function of stronger ab muscles or a loss of some body fat.

Flater would be indicative of either fat loss, residual tension, or both, and stronger is most likely due to neural adaptation allowing you to contract more forcefully and efficiently. As for "clean foods", you can debate the definition for hours but if you just want to gain muscle you basically just need a caloric surplus and sufficient protein.

healthy491 wrote: »

Thankks everyone for your replies What I dont understand is the difference between strength gain and more definition. I really would like to know about it

Strength is simply an expression of ability to move against resistance while definition is based on how well you can see the muscles. You gain strength by working against progressively greater resistance while you gain definition by dropping fat. These two goals are often at odds since to lose fat you need to eat at a deficit and that can result in strength loss. To gain strength you generally have to eat at a surplus which will reduce definition. To do both you generally do one then the other in a bulk/cut cycle.

I started with this idea, and ended up putting on weight. I saw no difference in strength or body composition

Is there anywhere you can go to get a body composition analysis done? Then you can see how much lean muscle mass you have and body fat %. It's neat to track the progression. It also should give you an idea of how many calories to maintain and your BMR to know how many calories you are burning at rest. The last time I did the InBody analysis it was really neat to see my weight had stayed exactly the same, but muscle mass went up and body fat % went down. It also showed I was burning more calories at rest at a lower weight than I was a year ago, because my muscle mass went up a lot.

If you clean up diet along with lifting, you'll start seeing body fat % go down. You will get stronger, but you'll also start "tightening" up and getting that toned, lean look you might be after.

I actually started eating a lot MORE when I was doing regular cardio and strength training, but was building a lot more muscle, and still lost weight. (Eating a lot more, but clean - lean proteins, good carbs, portioned healthy fats, no alcohol, etc.)

healthy491 wrote: »

divcara wrote: »

Is there anywhere you can go to get a body composition analysis done? Then you can see how much lean muscle mass you have and body fat %. It's neat to track the progression. It also should give you an idea of how many calories to maintain and your BMR to know how many calories you are burning at rest. The last time I did the InBody analysis it was really neat to see my weight had stayed exactly the same, but muscle mass went up and body fat % went down. It also showed I was burning more calories at rest at a lower weight than I was a year ago, because my muscle mass went up a lot.

If you clean up diet along with lifting, you'll start seeing body fat % go down. You will get stronger, but you'll also start "tightening" up and getting that toned, lean look you might be after.

I actually started eating a lot MORE when I was doing regular cardio and strength training, but was building a lot more muscle, and still lost weight. (Eating a lot more, but clean - lean proteins, good carbs, portioned healthy fats, no alcohol, etc.)

I have one of those body composition monitors at home not sure about accuracy tho

It depends how close you are to their reference model that the algorithm uses. For me, it's not even in the same city let alone the ballpark. The best measurements are Bod Pod, DEXA scan, or water tank (hydrostatic). You can also use calipers but they aren't as accurate.

However, the body composition monitor you have will at least give you relative changes in your bf%.

healthy491 wrote: »

I am asking this question out of curiousity. So a lot of you agree that in order to build muscle you must eat at maintenance calories or over maintenance and eat a lot of protein and clean foods.
But what would happen if I started to lift or do resistance workouts plus do cardio but dont change my diet ? ( meaning I eat at maintenance but dont care about proteins etc )

How much protein are you eating now? It's possible you're already eating enough. When I lifted, I aimed for 40/30/30 but often only made 50/25/25 which was fine. But I was not one to only eat 1200 cals!

And you can get stronger/fitter regardless (within reason).