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ryantreadway942
ryantreadway942 Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I have to say, I am beyond frustrated and feel screwed. When doing research (YouTube) about losing fat through diet and exercise, I joined a gym and have been going 3-4xweekly and eating 1500 cals. To be in a deficit. All the YouTube gurus (lol) said I should be in a deficit and life heavy so I don't lose to much muscle in the process. I am 5'7 and 180 lbs. According to scales my maintenance is around 2400 cals. I had a free consult with a personal trainer at the gym who said that 1500 cals is not good as it will impede my ability to have enough energy to workout and to focus on high intensity stuff, not heavy weight training. So, originally I lost a few pounds at 1500 cals and my stomach was visibly flatter. Now my weight went back up to where I started (180lbs) and I just don't get it. I upped my cals and have done more high intensity exercises and not as heavy weight but more reps. I just don't get it. Thoughts?
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  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
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    When I first started out I weighed 244lbs at 5'6. I ate 2000 per day and lifted 3 days per week and did cardio 4-5 days a week for 20-25 minutes a day. My lifting was 4 sets, 8-12 reps, mostly compound lifts and light steady state cardio.

    In the beginning I lost only 3lbs in the first month but when I tracked BF% and went down 2.6%. Doing the math I was down 6lbs of fat and up 3lbs of lean mass. IMO, that's pretty solid though losing three pounds doesn't sound that great.

    Might be worth tracking more than just weight, like BF%, measurements...ect.

    When you first start working out it screws up our body and you cause a lot of inflammation and water retention. I really didn't start seeing regular 1+ pound weight losses until 2 months in when I started getting conditioned to exercise.

  • ryantreadway942
    ryantreadway942 Posts: 18 Member
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    I increased my cals to 2000.
  • runandbikeNick
    runandbikeNick Posts: 13 Member
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    Also weight loss on the scale will be a long term situation - waste in gut, inflammation, water weight, etc - all come into play. A slight deficit plan is the best route IMO, helps maintain recovery and energy... while slowly cutting away fat. I use a 'sedentary BMR' to allow for adding back in workout calories. Workout calories should be verified from a few sources to prevent over-eat-back.
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,218 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    What did you increase your calories too? With regular exercise I lose about 1 Lb per week on 2300-2500 calories per day.

    I lose about the same and that’s with zero cardio.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    I gained 7 pounds when I started weight lifting again. It was water retention, and went away in a few weeks.
  • 08brandy
    08brandy Posts: 2 Member
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    My guess is With you weight training, you are building muscle and losing fat % making your weight stay the same....try not to focus so much on the scale, watch your body fat percentage & the inches you gain or lose.
  • ryantreadway942
    ryantreadway942 Posts: 18 Member
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    So, question. What will get my body fat down faster and help me look leaner and toned? More calories or less? Heavy weight training or HI?
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
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    I would prioritize lifting over cardio, but still do some cardio.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
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    mmapags wrote: »
    08brandy wrote: »
    My guess is With you weight training, you are building muscle and losing fat % making your weight stay the same....try not to focus so much on the scale, watch your body fat percentage & the inches you gain or lose.

    A male under ideal conditions can gain about 1/2 lb per week of muscle.

    A male at a reasonable deficit can lose about 1/2 to 1 lb per week.

    When in a deficit, it is not ideal conditions for gaining muscle.

    Still think that poster is losing fat and gaining muscle is anything close to a 1:1 ratio??

    That's true but muscle and lean mass are different things.

    When you start lifting you also gain bone density. Most methods of measuring BF% also are affected by water retention as well. I think it's not difficult to get an increase in lean mass of 1-3lbs in the first month. Some will be muscle, some will be bone, some will be water weight due to being a novice lifter.
  • mbaker566
    mbaker566 Posts: 11,233 Member
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    ryantreadway942 wrote: »
    So, question. What will get my body fat down faster and help me look leaner and toned? More calories or less? Heavy weight training or HI?

    so if you want a leaner look that is due to lower body fat. lower body fat comes from eating at a calorie deficit.
  • audrey460
    audrey460 Posts: 3 Member
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    I would look at your macros if you are trying to lean out. There are plenty of free calculators out there.
  • ryantreadway942
    ryantreadway942 Posts: 18 Member
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    Thanks for everyone's thoughts here. Where I think I get tripped up the most is that from my understand, lifting does not burn as many calories as cardio does. Do you think I should eat to my maintenance calories, add a little bit of cardio in order to go into a deficit of a few 100 calories and weight while doing weight training? Does this sound adequate?
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
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    ryantreadway942 wrote: »
    Thanks for everyone's thoughts here. Where I think I get tripped up the most is that from my understand, lifting does not burn as many calories as cardio does. Do you think I should eat to my maintenance calories, add a little bit of cardio in order to go into a deficit of a few 100 calories and weight while doing weight training? Does this sound adequate?

    Your diet creates most of the deficit. You can choose to eat 500 calories or exercise for 1.5hrs , not eating the 500 calories is easier than 1.5hrs at the gym everyday.

    Lifting, in fact, is better than cardio in many ways when trying to change body composition.

    #1-Cardio burns more calories during the session but Lifting increases metabolism for 72hrs afterward while cardio just a few hours. Also, using super sets in lifting actually closes the gap quite a bit between the two in intersession calorie burn.

    #2-Lifting builds muscle, more muscle burns more calories.

    #3- Lifting increases HGH levels which increases fat utilization. (you burn more fat).

    Cardio is primarily good for heart/lung health but if you are looking to change your body composition lifting is the best thing. I still recommend doing 20 minutes of cardio 5-7 days a week just for health purposes.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
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    mmapags wrote: »
    The EPOC benefit and the amount of calories burned by adding muscle mass are often oversold. EPOC is estimated at 7% of the calories burned intrasession. If you burn 200 calories, that gives you a whopping 14 more calories burned that day.

    Adding a pound of muscle burns about 6 more calories per day. 5 lbs more muscle gives you 30 more calories per day. Fat is metabolically active at about 4 calories per day. Lose 5 lbs of fat and you net 10 more calories per day.

    There are many benefits to weight training. Fitness, strength, functionality, better appearance and hormone health. Calorie burn is not a big one.
    This last part is factually incorrect. It is proven, go look up the studies, that you burn more calories over the next 72hrs when you lift than when you do cardio. You burn fewer in the session, though as I stated super setting can mitigate a lot of the difference, but metabolism is raised over the next 72hrs.

    Also, yes, at rest one pound of muscle doesn't burn that many calories but the story changes when you are doing physical activities. You have to consider that. Yes, if you sit there and do nothing muscle doesn't burn much more but when contracted under weight, yes it does. The point is that when you add muscle , lift weights (or really anything else that physical) you will burn significantly more calories during the exercise. .

    Also, why would a muscular man of 200 pounds burn quite a few more calories than another of the same height and weight that's fat if it's not the case?


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