Can't build on a calorie deficit

FlaxMilk
FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
edited December 20 in Fitness and Exercise
Hello,

I am confused by this topic--that you can't build your muscle on a deficit. I am not confused in theory but in practice. I eat at a deficit-1200 calories on no/low workout days and 1500 on workout days. I am now lifting quite a bit more weight in my dumbbells than I was when I first started, but I have had to go up incrementally, so it's not just increased confidence or anything like that. Do people mean something different when they say build muscles vs get stronger?

Replies

  • Madelinew22
    Madelinew22 Posts: 289
    I think the whole ' can't build muscle on a calorie deficit' is bull ****. I did it I ate 1200-1300 net calories a day and still do. I went from squishy belly to abs and saggy arms to muscle so idk where the saying came from
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Yes. What you are experiencing is called neuromuscular adaptation. Imagine your muscle as a bundle of strings. Prior to weight training, when you go to pick something up or whatever, your brain communicates with the muscle and *some* of those strings contract..when you start training your brain learns to communicate with the muscle better, and fires more of the strings, making you able to lift more weight with the existing muscle. It is commonly misinterpreted as gaining muscle, but it is really using muscle you have more efficiently.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    its increase in muscle MASS that needs a caloric surplus.
  • jamfan
    jamfan Posts: 124 Member
    In the begining stages you will gain strength as your muscles get used to the exercise & you may see decent gains. There will be a point were you don't see the progress you did initially, At this point continue to push yourself & though gains will be slow you can still make small gains. Although I cant speak from experience on this eating clean beyond maintenance calories will add in gaining size & muscle mass. This is a slow process from what I understand as well.
  • thunder_dan
    thunder_dan Posts: 44
    I agree with Dave above^^^. You need to eat more calories to gain more muscle mass...to increase "size" of muscles, and to appear "bigger". If your goal is to be strong and to "tone up", you don't need to eat excess calories for that. It's about what kind of build type you are working towards.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Yes. What you are experiencing is called neuromuscular adaptation. Imagine your muscle as a bundle of strings. Prior to weight training, when you go to pick something up or whatever, your brain communicates with the muscle and *some* of those strings contract..when you start training your brain learns to communicate with the muscle better, and fires more of the strings, making you able to lift more weight with the existing muscle. It is commonly misinterpreted as gaining muscle, but it is really using muscle you have more efficiently.
    [/quote

    This. You trained the muscle tissue you had. It got bigger, stronger and showed more, but you did not fuel your body enough to grow new muscle tissue or mass as Dave198lbs said. So, to the person that thinks it's bull****, you can think what ever you want but this is what happened to you unless you were eating over Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. If you weren't, where did the energy source to build the muscle come from? We're you obsese with excess body fat stores to start off? If so, maybe you did grow some new muscle in a deficit as your body would access your body fat as energy for awhile. If not, you just made what you had that was underdeveloped or atrophied come to life. Great job either way!!
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Yes. What you are experiencing is called neuromuscular adaptation. Imagine your muscle as a bundle of strings. Prior to weight training, when you go to pick something up or whatever, your brain communicates with the muscle and *some* of those strings contract..when you start training your brain learns to communicate with the muscle better, and fires more of the strings, making you able to lift more weight with the existing muscle. It is commonly misinterpreted as gaining muscle, but it is really using muscle you have more efficiently.

    This. You trained the muscle tissue you had. It got bigger, stronger and showed more, but you did not fuel your body enough to grow new muscle tissue or mass as Dave198lbs said. So, to the person that thinks it's bull****, you can think what ever you want but this is what happened to you unless you were eating over Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. If you weren't, where did the energy source to build the muscle come from? We're you obsese with excess body fat stores to start off? If so, maybe you did grow some new muscle in a deficit as your body would access your body fat as energy for awhile. If not, you just made what you had that was underdeveloped or atrophied come to life. Great job either way!!

    ^^this - also often muscle appears bigger due to water retention as a result of working the existing muscle.

    And for everyone that says - I lost fat and gained muscle, there is absolutely no way you can make that claim without something like a DEXA scan.

    Men, who have 16 times more testerone than women do cannot, so why do people think women can. If you are on a deficit, there is no way new muscle can be built (apart from some very small 'newbie gains').

    EDA: stronger does not necessarily equate to muscle gains
  • Madelinew22
    Madelinew22 Posts: 289
    Yes. What you are experiencing is called neuromuscular adaptation. Imagine your muscle as a bundle of strings. Prior to weight training, when you go to pick something up or whatever, your brain communicates with the muscle and *some* of those strings contract..when you start training your brain learns to communicate with the muscle better, and fires more of the strings, making you able to lift more weight with the existing muscle. It is commonly misinterpreted as gaining muscle, but it is really using muscle you have more efficiently.
    [/quote

    This. You trained the muscle tissue you had. It got bigger, stronger and showed more, but you did not fuel your body enough to grow new muscle tissue or mass as Dave198lbs said. So, to the person that thinks it's bull****, you can think what ever you want but this is what happened to you unless you were eating over Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. If you weren't, where did the energy source to build the muscle come from? We're you obsese with excess body fat stores to start off? If so, maybe you did grow some new muscle in a deficit as your body would access your body fat as energy for awhile. If not, you just made what you had that was underdeveloped or atrophied come to life. Great job either way!!

    I'm pretty sure I gained muscle since they were destroyed from 2 previous pregnancys. My tdee is 1600. I eat a TOTAL. Of about 1600-1800 cals burning about 300-500 a day with exercise. Including 15-30 minute of strength training and never exceeding 40 minutes of cardio. Pretty sure I did it right.
  • Glucocorticoid
    Glucocorticoid Posts: 867 Member
    You can't build something out of nothing. You can't magically make muscle out of thin air.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Yes. What you are experiencing is called neuromuscular adaptation. Imagine your muscle as a bundle of strings. Prior to weight training, when you go to pick something up or whatever, your brain communicates with the muscle and *some* of those strings contract..when you start training your brain learns to communicate with the muscle better, and fires more of the strings, making you able to lift more weight with the existing muscle. It is commonly misinterpreted as gaining muscle, but it is really using muscle you have more efficiently.

    This. You trained the muscle tissue you had. It got bigger, stronger and showed more, but you did not fuel your body enough to grow new muscle tissue or mass as Dave198lbs said. So, to the person that thinks it's bull****, you can think what ever you want but this is what happened to you unless you were eating over Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. If you weren't, where did the energy source to build the muscle come from? We're you obsese with excess body fat stores to start off? If so, maybe you did grow some new muscle in a deficit as your body would access your body fat as energy for awhile. If not, you just made what you had that was underdeveloped or atrophied come to life. Great job either way!!

    I'm pretty sure I gained muscle since they were destroyed from 2 previous pregnancys. My tdee is 1600. I eat a TOTAL. Of about 1600-1800 cals burning about 300-500 a day with exercise. Including 15-30 minute of strength training and never exceeding 40 minutes of cardio. Pretty sure I did it right.

    No-one is saying you did anything wrong, but it is just not possible except for in the situation noted by mmapags. I doubt that pregnancy meant that your existing muscle disappeared - it may have felt that way - but it was still there.

    And as I noted above, there is no way anyone can categorically state that they gained muscle without a DEXA scan.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    Everyone on this thread has been extremely helpful--thank you! It makes sense now. :)
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Yes. What you are experiencing is called neuromuscular adaptation. Imagine your muscle as a bundle of strings. Prior to weight training, when you go to pick something up or whatever, your brain communicates with the muscle and *some* of those strings contract..when you start training your brain learns to communicate with the muscle better, and fires more of the strings, making you able to lift more weight with the existing muscle. It is commonly misinterpreted as gaining muscle, but it is really using muscle you have more efficiently.

    This. You trained the muscle tissue you had. It got bigger, stronger and showed more, but you did not fuel your body enough to grow new muscle tissue or mass as Dave198lbs said. So, to the person that thinks it's bull****, you can think what ever you want but this is what happened to you unless you were eating over Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. If you weren't, where did the energy source to build the muscle come from? We're you obsese with excess body fat stores to start off? If so, maybe you did grow some new muscle in a deficit as your body would access your body fat as energy for awhile. If not, you just made what you had that was underdeveloped or atrophied come to life. Great job either way!!

    I'm pretty sure I gained muscle since they were destroyed from 2 previous pregnancys. My tdee is 1600. I eat a TOTAL. Of about 1600-1800 cals burning about 300-500 a day with exercise. Including 15-30 minute of strength training and never exceeding 40 minutes of cardio. Pretty sure I did it right.

    No-one is saying you did anything wrong, but it is just not possible except for in the situation noted by mmapags. I doubt that pregnancy meant that your existing muscle disappeared - it may have felt that way - but it was still there.

    And as I noted above, there is no way anyone can categorically state that they gained muscle without a DEXA scan.

    Totally agree with Saurak2sf! You did an awsome job developing your muscle tissue and getting back into great shape!! No one can take that from you. Your existing muscles did not get destroyed though. They didn't go away. They just shrunk down and got less developed and appeared to be invisible. You started working them and the got developed and filled with nutrients and water on a cellular level. That is neuro muscular adaptation. It's a good thing!!

    There is nothing wrong with not developing new muscle tissue. I'm trying not to myself. I am eating in deficit and doing strength training. Take a look at my pictures in my profile. you can see one from March where I'm wearing a white sleeveless T and balck shorts. Take a look at my arms. They look at my avatar pics taken 2 weeks ago. Arms appear much bigger and more defined. Eating in deficit or at maintenance all the while. No new muscle tissue (cells) but the ones I already had sure are perkier!!
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