Putting on muscle on LOW calorie diet

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  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    Yes I think! You're being too hard on yourself. Don't worry about the scale number. Eat at maintenance cals and lift heavy things :smiley:
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    Ideally if you want to put on muscle more than you want to lose weight, you can eat maintenance and lose fat and build muscle, but if time is of the essence for fitting back into your jeans, losing fat first and maintaining the muscle you have until you reach goal weight is your best bet.

    When you lose a few pounds while continuing to lift you might find that losing more scale weight is not as important as it is to keep working body composition. The scale number is just that, a scale number. I managed to stop 6 pounds shy of goal weight.

    I think you look great in your pics, the recomp option is a great option for you. 1200 calories is going to get difficult to manage, saying from experience and being shorter than you. Good luck which ever you choose.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    edited January 2018
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    Part of the problem I think is your perception, because there is no way after looking at your more recent photo I ever would have thought you were as much as 30% BF or more. And I don't see anything spilling over anything :lol:

    I would say at most, keep cutting for more like half a stone, then switch to recomp. You can always cut a little more down the road if you really want.

    Here are a couple of threads that may help:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1161603/so-you-want-a-nice-stomach/p1

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
    edited January 2018
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    If you want to get rid of the fat, then a recomp is the slower choice and there would be nothing wrong with doing a cut. But 1200 calories is probably not ideal. You'd be better off with a smaller deficit and a solid progressive overload lifting program.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
  • Nikki_Cherry
    Nikki_Cherry Posts: 31 Member
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    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    Yes I think! You're being too hard on yourself. Don't worry about the scale number. Eat at maintenance cals and lift heavy things :smiley:

    I think my maintenance is around 1400 from what I can work out??? I'm going to try and research how I should be splitting my calories like protein/carbs/fat wise
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
    edited January 2018
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    Nikki_Cherry wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    Yes I think! You're being too hard on yourself. Don't worry about the scale number. Eat at maintenance cals and lift heavy things :smiley:

    I think my maintenance is around 1400 from what I can work out??? I'm going to try and research how I should be splitting my calories like protein/carbs/fat wise

    It would be very doubtful for a young person who works out to have such a low TEE.

    Have you done any logging in the past?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Nikki_Cherry wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    Yes I think! You're being too hard on yourself. Don't worry about the scale number. Eat at maintenance cals and lift heavy things :smiley:

    I think my maintenance is around 1400 from what I can work out??? I'm going to try and research how I should be splitting my calories like protein/carbs/fat wise

    I am 5'5", 127 lbs 45 yrs old and barely lightly active and I maintain @ 1800 cals, and lost weight slowly at 1500 cals. If you are logging inaccurately it might seem like you need to go that low, but can't imagine that calorie level is right.
  • kathleennf
    kathleennf Posts: 606 Member
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    Nikki- I will chime in since I have been working on this exact same thing for a while. I am older than you- 55- so it might be a little faster for you. I have been doing weight training for about 4 years now. Current weight 132, ideal weight IMO about 137. My maintenance is about 1620 calories. I eat back all exercise calories. When I am home and able to go to the gym 3 days per week I have been increasing my calories to 1745 which I jokingly call "mini-bulk" - it should result in weight gain of 1/2lb per week but it doesn't, though I admit that I do not actually eat all my calories, I try to always stay under. Anyway using this system in the past year I have LOST 1.4lb overall, but dropped my % body fat so that my calculated lean body mass is actually UP about 0.8lb. (I was thinking of increasing my calories since I had unintentionally lost weight- but am happy with the increased muscle so I didn't. Yet.) Also my pants are too loose now, the ones I just bought last year. So there you have it. IMO 1200 calories is too low. You will lose weight but probably not gain muscle.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    Nikki_Cherry wrote: »
    RunRutheeRun wrote: »
    Yes I think! You're being too hard on yourself. Don't worry about the scale number. Eat at maintenance cals and lift heavy things :smiley:

    I think my maintenance is around 1400 from what I can work out??? I'm going to try and research how I should be splitting my calories like protein/carbs/fat wise

    It would be very doubtful for a young person who works out to have such a low TEE.

    Have you done any logging in the past?

    Agreed especially as my maintenance/TDEE is almost 2000 cals and I'm older (48) and shorter 5ft 2)
  • steveko89
    steveko89 Posts: 2,217 Member
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    StrongCurves is a pretty popular strength training program among women I'm friends with here.
  • Nikki_Cherry
    Nikki_Cherry Posts: 31 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    I agree you have some fat to lose (think people are being confused by your non-current profile pic!) and also note that 9st 4lbs is actually 130lbs not the 128lbs you stated which might be adding to push back on your plan to lose weight.

    Why not nibble it off in a series of steps of losing and then reassessing rather than set what might be an unrealistic end goal?

    Your protein goal is good but if you want a chance of adding a small amount of muscle while in a deficit that deficit must be very small and your training must be very effective.
    Go for a big deficit and kick any hope of adding muscle into the long grass! :)

    Thank you for your honesty

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