Can I lift AND loose?

zsaoosh
zsaoosh Posts: 402 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am very confused on this because everyone is telling me to either eat under at 1200-1400 cals and loose OR eat more to lift. What should I eat if I want to gain muscle AND loose fat? Here is my info:

BW 152 (January this year)
CW 135
GW 130 (depends on how I feel)
Body fat % 30 per bod pod
Height 5'6.5''
Right now I went back down to 1200 cals because I stopped loosing...its working again SLOWLY.

What is working for you? Thank you for your help! :happy:

Replies

  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    The benefits of lifting in your scenario are:
    1) mitigation of lean tissue loss
    2) increased neuro-muscular ability

    Total beginners can gain a little muscle in a light calorie deficit if body fat is high.

    To gain any significant muscle requires a calorie surplus and a lot of time.
  • seebeachrun
    seebeachrun Posts: 221 Member
    If you lift, you will lose fat you just may not lose pounds. I began lifting again about a week ago and I am trying to avoid the scale like the plague because it's not going to show "progress." I already noticed some tightening of my core but I wasn't seeing it on the scale.

    I finally broke down and bought a tape measure last night and took my starting measurements (neck, over bust, under bust, waist, hips, right thigh, left thigh, right arm, and left arm). Instead of being tied to the scale I am going to check my measurements once per week and hopefully track a change.
  • malkb27
    malkb27 Posts: 40
    You can definitely weight train and lose. That's how I've done all of my weight loss.

    You don't have to eat anything particularly special, in my experience, if you aren't doing a lot of cardio along with it. If you are doing cardio, eat a higher protein diet because it should help prevent muscle break down.

    Your weight progress will probably be a little slower than if you didn't do lifting, but you'll enjoy the your goal weight more when you're all toned!
  • cyncetastic
    cyncetastic Posts: 165
    135 lbs at 5'6.5" is an absolutely fine weight. When you say "lose" I assume you want to lose FAT - yet we've all been programed to equate that to WEIGHT.

    Definitely start lifting! You may still see a small reduction in weight itself, but you will see a drastic improvement in your body composition. Here is your proof:

    This is me at 5'4" and ~133 lbs and ~23% body fat:
    photo-7.jpg

    And this is me at ~129 lbs and ~18% body fat:
    6022dcc9.jpg


    As you can see, the scale only moved ~4 lbs yet my body composition has changed drastically. This was accomplished with ZERO CARDIO and ONLY LIFTING.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    1200 calories without lifting will probably cause you to lose muscle and fat. 1600-1800 with lifting would probably cause you to gain strength (and maybe a little bit of muscle due to newbie gains) and lose fat.
  • cyncetastic
    cyncetastic Posts: 165
    1200 calories without lifting will probably cause you to lose muscle and fat. 1600-1800 with lifting would probably cause you to gain strength (and maybe a little bit of muscle due to newbie gains) and lose fat.

    THIS. Definitely increase your calories!
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    1200 calories without lifting will probably cause you to lose muscle and fat. 1600-1800 with lifting would probably cause you to gain strength (and maybe a little bit of muscle due to newbie gains) and lose fat.

    ^^ This.

    Also OP, check the bold. :p
  • JDMPWR
    JDMPWR Posts: 1,863 Member
    1200 calories without lifting will probably cause you to lose muscle and fat. 1600-1800 with lifting would probably cause you to gain strength (and maybe a little bit of muscle due to newbie gains) and lose fat.

    ^^ This.

    Also OP, check the bold. :p

    This but I dont know if any of that is gonna help with the "loose" thing
  • lizard053
    lizard053 Posts: 2,344 Member
    Absolutely! What you'll do is prevent a lot of muscle loss during the weight loss progress. Keeping the muscle is important to keeping your BMR higher, making it easier to lose! Just be sure to go for heavy weights. They will give you more improvement in body composition than lifting a lighter weights with tons of reps. Saves time too!
  • theartichoke
    theartichoke Posts: 816 Member
    135 lbs at 5'6.5" is an absolutely fine weight. When you say "lose" I assume you want to lose FAT - yet we've all been programed to equate that to WEIGHT.

    Definitely start lifting! You may still see a small reduction in weight itself, but you will see a drastic improvement in your body composition. Here is your proof:

    This is me at 5'4" and ~133 lbs and ~23% body fat:
    photo-7.jpg

    And this is me at ~129 lbs and ~18% body fat:
    6022dcc9.jpg


    As you can see, the scale only moved ~4 lbs yet my body composition has changed drastically. This was accomplished with ZERO CARDIO and ONLY LIFTING.

    You're amazing and hot hot HOT! Thank you for the inspiration!
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    i'm lifting and losing pounds as well as a bunch of inches.

    weight loss on the scale has more to do with the amount of calories you rather than the activity you do.

    and you arent going to gaina crazu amount of muscle. on average it takes a year to build 6 pounds of muscle...
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    I am very confused on this because everyone is telling me to either eat under at 1200-1400 cals and loose OR eat more to lift. What should I eat if I want to gain muscle AND loose fat? Here is my info:

    BW 152 (January this year)
    CW 135
    GW 130 (depends on how I feel)
    Body fat % 30 per bod pod
    Height 5'6.5''
    Right now I went back down to 1200 cals because I stopped loosing...its working again SLOWLY.

    What is working for you? Thank you for your help! :happy:

    Who is telling you to eat 1200-1400 calories? That is too low for your height, weight and goal.
    Being 5lbs from goal, your weight loss target should be small, like .5 lb a week.

    There is a difference between "weight loss" and "fat loss". Initally when you start weight training, there is often a slight gain or maintaince of your weight which is due to muscles retaining water. You will still lose fat, but may not see the change in the scale immediately.

    My suggestion - increase your calories, and start lifting. Forget about your weight and focus on your measurements for awhile. You will lose fat. What the scale says is really irrelevant.
    It worked for me.

    But yes, you can lift and lose.
  • doubglass
    doubglass Posts: 314 Member
    well, i did
  • emgawne
    emgawne Posts: 265 Member
    i agree with cyncetastic. you are at a great weight right now but it sounds like you want to lose fat and this will definitely be done through weight lifting, however you need to eat more each day to give your body the energy to be able to build muscle.

    Here is the difference it made for me.

    First picture 160 lbs 31% body fat.

    7091247965_bff23aa40e_n.jpg
    160 by emgawne, on Flickr

    Second picture 157 lbs 21% body fat.

    7074262657_8d280f9ae8_n.jpg
    shirtless by emgawne, on Flickr

    As you can see, my weight has not changed that much, but my body composition definitely has.

    Good luck with your journey!!
  • cansmith80
    cansmith80 Posts: 67
    135 lbs at 5'6.5" is an absolutely fine weight. When you say "lose" I assume you want to lose FAT - yet we've all been programed to equate that to WEIGHT.

    Definitely start lifting! You may still see a small reduction in weight itself, but you will see a drastic improvement in your body composition. Here is your proof:

    This is me at 5'4" and ~133 lbs and ~23% body fat:
    photo-7.jpg

    And this is me at ~129 lbs and ~18% body fat:
    6022dcc9.jpg


    As you can see, the scale only moved ~4 lbs yet my body composition has changed drastically. This was accomplished with ZERO CARDIO and ONLY LIFTING.

    HOLY COW!!! YOU LOOK GREAT!! I WANT THIS!! Heavy lifting it is!!
  • zsaoosh
    zsaoosh Posts: 402 Member
    I am very confused on this because everyone is telling me to either eat under at 1200-1400 cals and loose OR eat more to lift. What should I eat if I want to gain muscle AND loose fat? Here is my info:

    BW 152 (January this year)
    CW 135
    GW 130 (depends on how I feel)
    Body fat % 30 per bod pod
    Height 5'6.5''
    Right now I went back down to 1200 cals because I stopped loosing...its working again SLOWLY.

    What is working for you? Thank you for your help! :happy:

    Who is telling you to eat 1200-1400 calories? That is too low for your height, weight and goal.
    Being 5lbs from goal, your weight loss target should be small, like .5 lb a week.

    There is a difference between "weight loss" and "fat loss". Initally when you start weight training, there is often a slight gain or maintaince of your weight which is due to muscles retaining water. You will still lose fat, but may not see the change in the scale immediately.

    My suggestion - increase your calories, and start lifting. Forget about your weight and focus on your measurements for awhile. You will lose fat. What the scale says is really irrelevant.
    It worked for me.

    But yes, you can lift and lose.

    Thank you so much! The health nutritionist that did my bod pod test told me to eat between 1200 and 1400 because I want to lose fat. But that doesn’t seem like enough if I want to gain muscle as well. I am 33% body fat. That is a lot for only being 135! I started lifting heavy until I cant stand it anymore (3 times a week) and also doing cardio (5 times a week). I don’t eat back my work out calories except a protein shake after (about 150 cals). What do you suggest? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
  • zsaoosh
    zsaoosh Posts: 402 Member
    :blushing: You all look amazing by the way!
  • FitFoodieMomBillie
    FitFoodieMomBillie Posts: 227 Member
    Maybe one of these links can help you.

    http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

    http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/

    I definitely recommend eating back most of your exercise calories though. If you don't, you could be net consuming as little as 600-900 calories per day depending on whether it's your cardio or strength day. I think my toddler eats more than that, and she is very active and healthy!
  • FitFoodieMomBillie
    FitFoodieMomBillie Posts: 227 Member
    135 lbs at 5'6.5" is an absolutely fine weight. When you say "lose" I assume you want to lose FAT - yet we've all been programed to equate that to WEIGHT.

    Definitely start lifting! You may still see a small reduction in weight itself, but you will see a drastic improvement in your body composition. Here is your proof:

    This is me at 5'4" and ~133 lbs and ~23% body fat:
    photo-7.jpg

    And this is me at ~129 lbs and ~18% body fat:
    6022dcc9.jpg


    As you can see, the scale only moved ~4 lbs yet my body composition has changed drastically. This was accomplished with ZERO CARDIO and ONLY LIFTING.

    Super awesome! How long did it take you to achieve this?
  • cyncetastic
    cyncetastic Posts: 165
    Super awesome! How long did it take you to achieve this?

    This was in the span of about 6 months. September 2011 to March 2012.
  • littlebutcurvy
    littlebutcurvy Posts: 35
    bump
  • FloyMcCaudie
    FloyMcCaudie Posts: 1,132
    If you wanna loose pounds then lifting is not really good idea, however if you want to get toned or stuff..thats where liftings comes in:D But if you lift for muscles..you might gain few pounds at start so :D
  • taekwonkenpo
    taekwonkenpo Posts: 1,004
    Based purely on the way you are posting my guess is that you would be better off focusing on your body fat percentage then your weight. Lift, eat at a Healthy deficet. Be patient. There you go.

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