Lose Fat/Gain Muscle

aschroeder2749
aschroeder2749 Posts: 172 Member
edited November 18 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

Thank you for your advice.

Replies

  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Certain types of food? Not really*.

    Eat at a small deficit - say, 250 Cals, or just tell MFP you want to lose 1/2 lb per week. *Here's why it's not a simple, "no," but a "not really." Adequate protein ~0.6 g per lb of bodyweight would put you near 0.8 g per lb of LBM. About 0.3-0.4 g of fat per lb of bodyweight. Those are minimums, as you can fill in the rest with whatever. There aren't any specific foods you should eat or avoid (provided no adverse reactions), though.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited May 2017
    I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

    What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

    Thank you for your advice.

    it takes time to build muscle, are you eating in a deficit? its also hard to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time unless you do whats called a recomp(takes a long time to see results doing this) which means you eat your maintenance calories and lift heavy. you may gain some newbie gains,but it wont be drastic amounts and will slack off the longer you lift, especially if you are eating in a deficit. but it is possible for some to gain some muscle in a small deficit,but the conditions have to be right and some of it has to do with genetics too

    getting stronger is not an indication of gaining muscle. if you want to lose,put your info into mfp and eat that many calories(according to how much you want to lose per week) if you want to gain muscle without gaining fat you set it to maintain your weight, if you want to gain muscle(which means you will gain some fat too) you set it to gain weight. There are no certain types of foods to eat. just get enough protein and lift heavy,it will change you body and how it looks even in a deficit,but the muscle gains(growth) will be small. so to see any definition you will most likely want to lose some weight(how much depends on how much you need to lose).

    anything over 75lbs-2lb a week.50-75lbs will be about 1.5/week,25-50 about 1lb a week and anything less than 25 around .5(1/2) lb a week.
  • beanfacekilla
    beanfacekilla Posts: 69 Member
    edited May 2017
    I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

    What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

    Thank you for your advice.

    You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.

    Google "TDEE calculator". I think a good site is iifym or something like that. Enter detailed and honest info, you have to enter email address, bam. You have your maintenance calories. Reduce by 500 calories to start, check weight in two weeks (every day if you want, but don't sweat it, just take average over two weeks).

    Tweak calories to lose as much as 1.5-2lbs/week if you must.

    Once body fat is where you want it, decide where you want to go next. Repeat.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited May 2017
    I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

    What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

    Thank you for your advice.

    You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.

    Google "TDEE calculator". I think a good site is iifym or something like that. Enter detailed and honest info, you have to enter email address, bam. You have your maintenance calories. Reduce by 500 calories to start, check weight in two weeks (every day if you want, but don't sweat it, just take average over two weeks).

    Tweak calories to lose as much as 1.5-2lbs/week if you must.

    Once body fat is where you want it, decide where you want to go next. Repeat.

    depending on how much she has to lose,1.5-2lbs could be too much weight to lose.it could also be the perfect amount. the less fat and weight you have to lose the less you should be trying to lose and the slower its going to be.
  • aschroeder2749
    aschroeder2749 Posts: 172 Member
    I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

    What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

    Thank you for your advice.

    You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.

    Google "TDEE calculator". I think a good site is iifym or something like that. Enter detailed and honest info, you have to enter email address, bam. You have your maintenance calories. Reduce by 500 calories to start, check weight in two weeks (every day if you want, but don't sweat it, just take average over two weeks).

    Tweak calories to lose as much as 1.5-2lbs/week if you must.

    Once body fat is where you want it, decide where you want to go next. Repeat.

    Thank you for the advice on iifiym. Here is my information from that site, plugged in as best as I could to MFP:


    Daily Nutrition Goals


    Calories

    1594


    Carbohydrates 120 g

    30 %


    Fat 62 g

    35 %


    Protein 139 g

    35
  • aschroeder2749
    aschroeder2749 Posts: 172 Member
    I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

    What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

    Thank you for your advice.

    You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.

    Google "TDEE calculator". I think a good site is iifym or something like that. Enter detailed and honest info, you have to enter email address, bam. You have your maintenance calories. Reduce by 500 calories to start, check weight in two weeks (every day if you want, but don't sweat it, just take average over two weeks).

    Tweak calories to lose as much as 1.5-2lbs/week if you must.

    Once body fat is where you want it, decide where you want to go next. Repeat.

    depending on how much she has to lose,1.5-2lbs could be too much weight to lose.it could also be the perfect amount. the less fat and weight you have to lose the less you should be trying to lose and the slower its going to be.

    I need to lose about 20 lbs.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

    What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

    Thank you for your advice.

    You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.

    Google "TDEE calculator". I think a good site is iifym or something like that. Enter detailed and honest info, you have to enter email address, bam. You have your maintenance calories. Reduce by 500 calories to start, check weight in two weeks (every day if you want, but don't sweat it, just take average over two weeks).

    Tweak calories to lose as much as 1.5-2lbs/week if you must.

    Once body fat is where you want it, decide where you want to go next. Repeat.

    Thank you for the advice on iifiym. Here is my information from that site, plugged in as best as I could to MFP:


    Daily Nutrition Goals


    Calories

    1594


    Carbohydrates 120 g

    30 %


    Fat 62 g

    35 %


    Protein 139 g

    35

    Looks good. Do that.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    I'm new to lifting weights. I started having 1-hr long, 2x/week personal training sessions about a month ago. I know I'm getting stronger, but I don't see much of a difference, which I'm sure is due to my body fat (27%).

    What's the best way to eat in order to lose weight so I can actually see my new definition, but at the same time, not hinder new muscle growth? I'm not sure how many calories to eat or if it should be certain types of foods that I eat.

    Thank you for your advice.

    You need to be in a caloric deficit to lose fat.

    Google "TDEE calculator". I think a good site is iifym or something like that. Enter detailed and honest info, you have to enter email address, bam. You have your maintenance calories. Reduce by 500 calories to start, check weight in two weeks (every day if you want, but don't sweat it, just take average over two weeks).

    Tweak calories to lose as much as 1.5-2lbs/week if you must.

    Once body fat is where you want it, decide where you want to go next. Repeat.

    depending on how much she has to lose,1.5-2lbs could be too much weight to lose.it could also be the perfect amount. the less fat and weight you have to lose the less you should be trying to lose and the slower its going to be.

    I need to lose about 20 lbs.

    with only 20lbs to lose you should set your MFP to lose .5lb a week. its going to be slower to lose it too.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    Just to give you some perspective, I've been eating at maintenance and lifting weights 5 days a week with 1 day of HIIT--so I work out 6 days a week. It's taken me almost 2 years to see results doing it that way. I'm leaner, but my weight has stayed the same.
  • Luna3386
    Luna3386 Posts: 888 Member
    Thank you all for the advice. This is exactly the type of advice I was looking for.

    I'm going to focus on meeting the macro targets and set my goal to a slower loss of 0.5 lbs per week. As far as visual results, it's more important to me to lose the fat than see muscle gains. So I think I'll plan my diet around a fat loss goal, but continue lift 2x week anyway for health benefits (and enjoyment!).

    Good plan! You can add muscle later :)
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    Thank you all for the advice. This is exactly the type of advice I was looking for.

    I'm going to focus on meeting the macro targets and set my goal to a slower loss of 0.5 lbs per week. As far as visual results, it's more important to me to lose the fat than see muscle gains. So I think I'll plan my diet around a fat loss goal, but continue lift 2x week anyway for health benefits (and enjoyment!).

    and lifting in a deficit will change how your body looks too. so thats a plus
  • Rufftimes
    Rufftimes Posts: 349 Member
    I've had decent success and losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time, but that could be attributed to newbie gains for sure. For now it's still working, so I'm sticking to the course until I see things slow too much. At the moment I'm doing weights 3x a week and HIIT type work 3X a week. Still eating in a deficit
  • Rufftimes
    Rufftimes Posts: 349 Member
    And as Charlie said, possibly genetics. Before I was heavy, I was built.....kind of a family trait, and my line of work kept my strength up
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Thank you all for the advice. This is exactly the type of advice I was looking for.

    I'm going to focus on meeting the macro targets and set my goal to a slower loss of 0.5 lbs per week. As far as visual results, it's more important to me to lose the fat than see muscle gains. So I think I'll plan my diet around a fat loss goal, but continue lift 2x week anyway for health benefits (and enjoyment!).

    Solid
  • mickstar_2003
    mickstar_2003 Posts: 7 Member
    With you being new to training depends on the type of training you are doing you are going to benefit more from resistance training than doing a lot of cardio work if it's muscle gain and weight loss your trying to achieve stick to lifting weights and getting your heart rate up from this type of training you will burn fat and stimulate muscle, also you should see results from just being new to that plus eat at a small deficit get your protein In for repair and growth whilst splitting the rest of your calories on fat and carbs but you need to figure out your macros from a bmr calculator
  • QuincasBorba
    QuincasBorba Posts: 1 Member
    Operate on 1450 calories per day. Either walk for 30 minutes or go to the gym to workout for one hour. Since January, I've gained 5 pounds and I have no clue what's going on. Any suggestions would be helpful.
This discussion has been closed.