Fat loss with muscle gain

shejen134 · February 2018

I am so confused with the calories I should be eating. For about a year I have been anywhere from 136-140. This all depends on what I eat because I have serve bloating to how much water I drank that day. I am trying to lose fat and gain lean muscle and I do anywhere from 30-60 minutes of cardio and heavy weight lifting for an hour 4-6 days out of the week. I cannot lose weight I have been this weight for a little over a year and I have some muscle but you cannot see it as well do to the fat. MFP says I need 1970 calories to maintain but I feel like when I eat that much I’m just going to put on fat not lose what I need to and gain muscle so I eat anywhere from a net calorie of 900-1300 and a total calorie of 1300-1700. What is the best way to go about losing the fat but gaining muscle. Should I be eating more calories to do this or continue eating low calories?

usmcmp · February 2018

How tall are you?
How much do you weight?
Which program are you following?

shejen134 · February 2018

I’m 5’6 and I weight 140.4. I work shoulders, chest, back, and legs all on separate days. Normally do a warm up for each lift and then 5 sets of 10 reps at the heavy weight. I started weight lifting about 2 months ago so I know I shouldn’t see much difference quite yet but I’m seeing zero difference at all and I’m not sure what to do next to if anything.

TayteHansen1992 · February 2018

One misconception to clear up here is how hard it is to lose fat while gaining muscle. That’s a picture perfect scenario that is next to impossible.

People will bulk (gain fat and muscle combined) then cut (lose fat and try to maintain muscle). And that’s how they get the net result of “toned” as people put it. Which just means some muscle on your frame with a decently low BF% to see said muscle.

I would assume you are not gaining muscle because you are not eating enough. Probably not getting enough protein. Probably not getting enough calories. Probably a combination of both.

Your training routine seems ok but a lot of it comes down to form and intensity which I can’t measure over a forum post unfortunately.

If you wanna build muscle, cardio is usually counter productive.

You need to let go of your fears of gaining weight. It’s all part of the process. Yeah some of it might be fat. But some of it will be muscle and you can always trim up the fat later. The muscle will stick around as long as you go about it properly.

usmcmp · February 2018

So it sounds like you aren't following an actual routine, you're just doing a body part split and picking exercises. I highly suggest following an actual program.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

The types of people who can gain muscle in a deficit are new lifters, very overweight people, and people returning to lifting after time off. You have the new lifter thing going for you, but your BMI is in the normal range.

At this point you have two options.
1. Continue to lose weight as you lift. A few pounds of weight loss can help you look leaner and will put you in a good place to consider a bulk (as mentioned above).
2. Consider recomposition, where you maintain weight while eating adequate protein and lifting. The goal is to gain muscle while losing fat. This is a slow process.

Either option is just going to take time. Women gain about 1 pound of lean mass per month under ideal conditions (progressive lifting routine, adequate protein, and calorie surplus). You'll need to decide if you can handle getting leaner, gaining weight, then getting lean again or maintaining your current weight.

bbell1985 · February 2018

Whoa. Pick a full body program and run it 3x per week. Or at least a real program. If you're new-ish you shouldn't be running body part splits like that, and if you are, you want to hit muscle groups more than once per week.

If you have fat to lose, eat a 250 cal deficit. If you're relatively lean, eat your maintenance calories. You are not doing yourself ANY favors by eating 1200 calories. You do not gain weight eating maintenance. You will maintain weight (hence the name). Since you are new to lifting, (if you actually pick a program and run it with progressive overload) you will gain some muscle and obtain a better physique while meeting maintenance calories.

shejen134 · February 2018

Thanks for all the input! I definitely feel more comfortable with how to go about it and I’ll have to be okay with a little weight gain to get where I want. Also I wasn’t totally clear with my routine. I do follow strict lifts that are recorded from week to week that do get compacted with other smaller lifts in between the main ones to work other smaller muscles. I do also lift with two other people who have had training and been lifting for years. So the routine I have based off of what my trainers have set for me, it was the nutrition that was getting me. Thank you again!

Fat loss with muscle gain

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