Switching from calorie deficit for loss, to gaining muscle..

bruthacuervo
bruthacuervo Posts: 52 Member
edited October 5 in Fitness and Exercise
As i begin to near the goal weight i had set for myself (220 down to 166- currently 182) i am beginning to think ahead.

Keeping in mind the psychological factors of seeing scale go upwards, what do you reccomend as i do wish to gain muscle, but as i hear that you must increase calorie count to do so, and expect fat to increase at the same time--- whats a "happy medium" to see gradual muscle gain, but not see too much of a bounce in weight, right or wrong which might get "into my head"

my current diet includes a lot of brown rice- which has worked very well for me weight loss wise, and walking at a brisk brisk pace (4.0 to 4.5 mph ) every other day, and an hour of circuit training every other day or so. (like 6 mins of eliptical to get my heart rate up, then hitting various strength excercises- crunches for abs, various arm excercises, back, pecs- not as much on legs as ive been told my legs somehow are WAY better than the rest of my body.. dunno how.)

what would you modify- diet, excercise wise to keep myself CLOSE to the wieght i worked so hard to get to but still work on increasing my overall health? Links to plans encouraged.

Replies

  • boopiejones
    boopiejones Posts: 73
    i'd start now. keep your calorie intake close to what it is, but eat more protien - eggs, cottage cheese, lean meat, etc. lift HARD. add weight and or reps to your excercises as often as possible. when you hit 9 or 10 reps, add weight so that you can only do 5 or 6 reps. the next week push for one or two more reps, etc...
  • Jeff92se
    Jeff92se Posts: 3,369 Member
    I'd just start lifting weights. As a newbie lifter, you'll most likely see some nice gains in the beginning w/o changing too much up. You might be able to eat more anyway.
  • 4theking
    4theking Posts: 1,196 Member
    It is definitely scary. I just started this October 1st. I recommend starting slowly. I increased my calories by about 300-400 the first week and then went from there. Keep in mind your waist measurement will likely increase too even though you may not be gaining fat because of more food in the gut and water retention. My weight shot up about 10lbs within three weeks but I had pretty much zero fat gain. Just go slow.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    Make sure the scale is moving up slowly. 2 lbs per month is plenty.
  • bruthacuervo
    bruthacuervo Posts: 52 Member
    Whats your take on the Cardio aspect of working out, i know i shouldnt eliminate it completely, but Cardio burning calories-- where should it figure in and how?
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    Whats your take on the Cardio aspect of working out, i know i shouldnt eliminate it completely, but Cardio burning calories-- where should it figure in and how?

    Some say you should do cardio after lifting.. some say before... some say it doesn't matter.

    My suggestion would be to do them on different days.. or at least thats how I do it because I don't have time to do an 45 minute weight lifting session and then another half an hour of cardio.
  • bruthacuervo
    bruthacuervo Posts: 52 Member
    so would it be wise to assume that the circuit im doing now on alternate days (see above) and has served me well for weight loss, counter productive, or at least, not as efficent for muscle gain?
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
    so would it be wise to assume that the circuit im doing now on alternate days (see above) and has served me well for weight loss, counter productive, or at least, not as efficent for muscle gain?

    I wouldn't say it's not as efficient.

    As long as your overloading the muscle, eating the proper diet/calories/getting enough protein, I would assume you'll build muscle at a decent rate.

    I don't do circuit training, so I can't say for sure. Hopefully someone else will chime in that has a better answer.
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