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Weekly Goal - Maintain weight

tributcher
tributcher Posts: 1 Member
I’ve lost 55 lbs and now I would like to maintain my weight but gain muscles, and hopefully losing body fat.

Would the setting “Maintain Weight” be the right setting in MyFitnessPal?

Replies

  • ErickM5500
    ErickM5500 Posts: 20 Member
    Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to gain muscle without gaining some fat. To gain muscle and keep body fat gains to a minimum your diet and exercise routine must be perfect. What’s your body fat %?
  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
    Like Eric said, gaining muscle would add some fat as well. You’d have to be in a surplus.
    Do you have access to weights during this lockdown? You can eat at maintenance and lift. It will take longer to see results vs running bulk/cut cycles.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Adding muscle while maintaining weight is called recomp these days - it just used to be called "getting in shape".
    And it's been done by millions of people who have never heard of recomp or tracked a calorie.
    It's just your body's totally normal reaction to an effective training stimulus while supported by an adequate diet.

    There's a long running thread in the Maintaining weight forum with plenty of examples -
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

    And no you don't need a calorie surplus to gain muscle although it may make the process quicker. Bulking and cutting cycles are not required by people who don't have very high physique goals - they may be a choice but not a requirement.

    And no you don't need a perfect diet, a perfectly normal diet will do although a higher than normal protein intake can be helpful for people training hard with aim of gaining muscle.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    If people want to learn more about recomp here's a good read by Eric Helms & Lawrence Judd......

    https://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/calorie-deficit-gain-weight/
This discussion has been closed.