Gaining Muscle w/ Calorie Deficit

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iplayoutside19
iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Maybe I'm lazy and should look a little harder. But can someone point me in the right direction to some real studies about gaining muscle while in a calorie deficit?

I did a little searching about the topic this afternoon, but got nothing except message boards with the same discussion I'm starting here. If anything I'm more confused after reading all of that.

It may come down to some people can, some people can't, and maybe some people are freaks of nature.

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  • lesliemk
    lesliemk Posts: 382 Member
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    I started this thread the other day and it's about zig zagging calories.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/67074-zig-zaggin-calories

    Just some doing some preliminary research (and some of it thru a link in that thread) it seems like this is a good way to still build muscle while carrying a calorie deficit 90+% of the time. It's definitely interesting and I'm going to try it at least for a few weeks coming up and see what it does for me.
  • dlestermfp
    dlestermfp Posts: 106
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    I have been gaining muscle in deficit mode, but it is slow. Depressingly slow.
  • ivykivy
    ivykivy Posts: 2,970 Member
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    I think you hit the nail on the head. I think the first 6 there is a muscle gain in most people. But after that it is hard to gain muscle while in a large deficit. I happen to be in the freak of nature club:laugh: I never found any research to definitively say that you can't or can.

    Sorry no help.
    It may come down to some people can, some people can't, and maybe some people are freaks of nature.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    I have been gaining muscle in deficit mode, but it is slow. Depressingly slow.

    I wouldn't think it would be fast even with a surplus.
  • immarc
    immarc Posts: 7
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    Look on musclehack.com he seems to think you can with no more than a500 calorie deficit
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    I'm asking because I've been lifting 3 times a week and seem to be getting bigger. Which was what I'm trying not to do.
  • dlestermfp
    dlestermfp Posts: 106
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    That could be how you are lifting. To tone and not bulk up you need lots of reps with a low weight. If you do fewer reps with a higher weight you are going to get bigger.
  • thumper44
    thumper44 Posts: 1,464 Member
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    Maybe I'm lazy and should look a little harder. But can someone point me in the right direction to some real studies about gaining muscle while in a calorie deficit?

    I did a little searching about the topic this afternoon, but got nothing except message boards with the same discussion I'm starting here. If anything I'm more confused after reading all of that.

    It may come down to some people can, some people can't, and maybe some people are freaks of nature.

    Some say you can't gain muscle while in a calorie deficit.

    From the reading I've done, as long as you are feeding the muscles, you can gain muscle, more muscle burns fat.

    Many people say you can eat up to 1g of protein per 1lb of weight.
    I've been popping over to forum.bodybuilding.com for last month or two, just lurking and reading/searching.
    Check out forums on cutting.
    These people are more hardcore, and don't want to lose any muscle that they had just spent several months gaining.

    I'm not sure what macro % Protein/carb/fat ratio you are at, but you can adjust it.

    I was doing a 40-30-30 C/P/F previously, I've seen some people on bb.com doing 40-40-20, and P90X first stage does a 50/30/20 (50%protein).

    For last week and a bit I've increased my protein and trying to get close to 50/30/20. 175-200grams of protein daily.

    Hope this helps.

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