| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/10/2008 7:15:39 PM | | So I decided that I want to cut back on what I'm eating, but not by much. Instead of having an apple and almonds as a snack, I'm going to go with cauliflower or broccoli and some almonds. And as much as I love peanut butter on an apple, helps with the hypos, I'm going with turkey strips and some walnuts. Will I still be able to go up in weight training. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/10/2008 10:07:25 PM | It takes energy to workout, and energy comes from carbs.
Make sure the carbs are complex not simple.
You can cut back on the protein except for the ones the body can't make.
You can also cut back on the fat, except the essential fatty acids.
Walnuts, almonds and cashews together provide the missing protein and essential fatty acids.
Twice as much walnuts as almonds and cashew should do it.
There are lots of other combinations of food that will do the same thing.
You just have to Google it to find the combinations.
If you eat more than the energy used to exercise and build new muscle you will gain weight.
Muscles come from tearing down the muscle with resistance.
Then the body increases the size of the muscle to handle the increased resistance.
Continual increase in resistance builds more muscle.
Same resistance but more reps builds endurance.
Lots of sites online that explain in more detail what I briefly mentioned. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/10/2008 10:13:33 PM | I've lost 9 pounds since April 19th by dieting and exercising. I lost 5 pounds and then a few days went by that I didn't lose any weight, but then it started coming off again. Then there were again a few days that I lost no weight, then again it started coming off.
I just assume that I'm gaining muscle (with the exercise) as I lose the weight. Muscle weighs more than fat, so while I have cut back on my calories, I know I'm losing fat (because I see the little love handles are going away), but I also know that I'm gaining muscle because I feel it.
"MtLoopHiker" makes an excellent point about meeting your protein requirements. And I wouldn't be surprised but that he's right about the "grumpy" part as well, but thankfully, that has not been my experience. 
Good luck with your diet ...  | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 12:02:34 AM | NYK, you can only add mass when in a calorie -surplus-
If you take in 2500 calories at rest and maintain a healthy weight, you should up your calories to around 3000.
It isn't easy to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, hence why many bodybuilders "bulk" during winter months and "cut" in Spring.
Try this site and go to some of the articles, rather than Me spamming a load of stuff here;
www.muscletalk.co.uk
If you register and post up people will be glad to critique your diet and give you some tips.
Read articles first and use the search engine to find pertinent information before asking, as it's a well used and popular site, and many competitive bodybuilders go there.
I have a well view recipe thread on the site, and am not a bodybuilder Myself, I just used it because there's an awful lot of experience and useful info there.
Good luck :) | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 12:05:15 AM | P.S If your goals are muscle size, I assume you're training a 3 day split with 2 exercises per muscle group and 3 sets of 8-12 reps each? Should be just about reaching failure point on last reps of 3rd set.
Also try a 2/1/3 count... 2 as you raise the weight, 1 as you contract the muscle and 3 as you lower it.
Work the weight, not the muscle... use perfect form, don't jerk the weight or your body, and don't "ego" lift. Ignore what other people are lifting and focus on yourself and your goals. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 12:08:17 AM |
NYK, you can only add mass when in a calorie -surplus-
Not true, depends on your stage of training.
P.S If your goals are muscle size, I assume you're training a 3 day split with 2 exercises per muscle group and 3 sets of 8-12 reps each? Should be just about reaching failure point on last reps of 3rd set.
Ludicrous advice for a natural, average trainee IMO. Hit muscles more often with lower volume.
Also try a 2/1/3 count... 2 as you raise the weight, 1 as you contract the muscle and 3 as you lower it.
Again, not a great idea. Use a heavier load and lift as fast as possible with good form, recruit as many muscle fibres as possible this way, especially the fast twitch ones with the greatest growth potential.
In conclusion, lift heavy, and lift often. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 12:21:04 AM | Squelchy, can you explain how to add mass whilst in a calorie deficit, I'd appreciate the additional knowledge :)
I'd also like to add that he hasn't stated what his goals are, what his state of training is... or even what he is doing in the way of exercise currently... Hence My recommendation to go and make some posts somewhere that health professionals will give him real advice, and also ask him for considerably more information than he has posted here. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 12:28:39 AM | Well, you must have seen people just start lifting and both build muscle and lose fat at the same time? It stands to reason that if they were in a surplus that they wouldn't be losing fat because the body would have no reason to turn to fat stores if sufficient energy intake was coming from food, and therefore they must be in a deficit and the body is drawing some portion of its energy from fat.
We've all seen plenty of newbs gain muscle and burn fat at the same time. It's not something most people who have been training a remotely significant length of time can do, but if you start off with 11 inch arms and a beer gut then you'll certainly be able to build muscle on a deficit. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 12:44:25 AM | :( Don't have time to give a fullblown answer as My 4 year old is awake and demanding attention :)
I do know how to gain muscle and lose fat with calorie manipulation, and yes, newbies gain a lot faster, darn them. This is a good article for those that want to lose fat and gain mass; http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/losing-fat.aspx
I should have asked our chap the right questions before giving answers as if he was in a similar place to Me or people I train with ;) | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 12:47:34 AM |
I should have asked our chap the right questions before giving answers as if he was in a similar place to Me or people I train with ;)
Perhaps you were right and I was wrong. From the "kid" part of his name and the fact that generally people who have been training a while have experimented with their own diets already and probably wouldn't need to ask that question, I just assumed he was a relative beginner.
I could be wrong though, in which case none of what I said applies to him and what you said is spot on. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 1:03:08 AM | Lol, it's all cool... and it's really nice to see people with knowledge posting proper advice though! You and sleeplessinessex seem to be doing the public proud
So many times in the UK people are "experts" and have no idea whatsoever, and give terrible advice. I often go to a hotel gym to train (work away a lot) and the staff there know nothing, or I watch people arching their backs and throwing weights about rather than trying to work the muscle 
Mr Banana has better form than a lot of people I see lifting  | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/11/2008 3:22:33 PM | Where is the scientific evidence, clinic/lab reports, that casual dieting, running a caloric deficit of a few 100 calories day, losing 1 or 2 pounds/week, causes any muscle loss, at all?
Not magazine articles, nor Internet consumer/chick/fanzine sites, but scientific, peer-reviewed studies.
Terminal starvation, yes. The body will cannibalize itself to keep the brain and heart going until the very end.
I don't believe muscle loss happens to any degree worth thinking about in casual dieting, so there's no NEED conserve/build muscle during dieting.
I may be corrected, but this sounds like another myth, echoed in the shallow media to fill column inches, that people use to distract and scare themselves, to keep them from dieting or from continuing to diet.
Another myth is that putting on muscle will burn significant calories in resting state. I read a "scientific" article a couple months ago by an exercise physiologist who demonstrated that +20 pounds of muscle burned only few more calories/day, not 100s and 100s. How many people, esp women, are going to add 20 lbs of muscle while trying to lose weight?
The entire idea that losing weight REQUIRES burning off calories in exercise is total BS.
=================
"To summrize briefly, liver glycogen provides 1 d or so of glucose for the brain as hepatic gluconeogenesis from musclederived amino acids is initiated in association with production of the ketone bodies acetoacetate and b-hydroxybutyrate. As blood concentrations of these ketone bodies increase, so do their concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid, and their metabolism by brain displaces glucose utilization (2) and __accordingly spares muscle protein.___"
"But if so, why do bears, or penguins or seals, and probably other marine mammals that may starve for many months or even a year survive on their adipose tissue alone without significant muscle loss?'
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/68/1/1.pdf
". In fat-fed rats, cardiac and skeletal muscle were the principle tissues in which protein was conserved, and this adaptation was lost when body fat stores were nearing exhaustion. In both groups nitrogen excreted in the urine early in the fast was derived mainly from protein lost from muscle, liver, and to a lesser extent intestine. Later in the fast, the principal source was muscle. These findings indicate that ___during starvation in the rat the conservation of protein occurs principally in skeletal and cardiac muscle___. "
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/246/5/E383
When you're LEAN, like the following guys, then you can lose lean body mass with, eg, 40% caloric restriction. (40% caloric restriction below the normal consumption is not casual dieting (.6 x 2000 = 1200 cal/day), it's starvation).
"Three weeks of caloric restriction alters protein metabolism in normal-weight, young men"
http://ajpendo.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/289/3/E446
The other myth is that you need LOTS of protein/day, many ounces from all sources. Pure BS. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/12/2008 1:21:31 AM | For muscle growth I ingest 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of lean mass, and work on a calorie surplus.
For weight loss I recently used a ketogenic diet to shed excess fat quickly, but have also used calorie deficit and super hydration with a gallon of icewater a day, which not only flushes out the system, but (I am told in some Musclemag article) burns around 160-180 calories.
I wanted to try an MCT diet for My next cut, using Virgin Coconut oil, as it has a lot of good qualities.
As regards your other comment, muscle is metabolically active and burns more calories than any other body tissue, even at rest. I rechecked some data and muscle burns 3 times the amount of calories as fat, but at a significantly lower rate than I was led to believe.
Many sources state that muscle burns around 50 calories a day at rest, I think it's actually around 15% of that >.<
Anyway, at work now, so gotta dash | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/12/2008 3:31:52 AM | | If you want to lose weight and gain muscle mass just eat healthy don't cut back on food when you need it. You have to eat every 2 hours, 5 to 6 small meals. This will boost your immune system. I lost 10 lbs just by eating small meals every 2 to 3 hours than the regular 3 meals a day. Drinking ice cold water is a waste of time and bad for your health. Drinking plenty of water will help you lose weight though. Coconut oil will help you lose weight also but it won't be much maybe a few pounds in 6 months but all that adds up. Flax, olive oil and coconut oil are the healthy fats you want in your diet they help you keep full. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/12/2008 2:04:26 PM |
I don't believe muscle loss happens to any degree worth thinking about in casual dieting, so there's no NEED conserve/build muscle during dieting.
I think that very much depends on your build to start with. If you're not that toned and at an average or high bodyfat percentage in the first place, then it makes sense. If you're running at something like 10% bodyfat with a 25+ BMI though (i.e a lot of muscle and very little fat), your body is going to burn the abundant muscle in preference to the scarce supplies of bodyfat. If that wasn't the case, bodybuilders would have a much easier time cutting those last few % away for competition! | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/13/2008 12:27:43 AM | The other myth is that you need LOTS of protein/day, many ounces from all sources. Pure BS
I have to concur. The scientific data shows that we will synthesize most of our amino acids from carbohydrate and that the net gain in mass over a 24 hour period is insufficient to put us into a negative nitrogen balance. A complete protein is recommended over the repair cycle. They have done studies to look at the timing of amino acid ingestion and theres no critical period within the first few hours of training.
But at the same time, its pretty logical to load some kind of substrate after heavy exertion and protein makes sense. But the old 2 grams a day per kg of body weight doesnt seem to have much scientific support. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/13/2008 12:39:53 AM |
But at the same time, its pretty logical to load some kind of substrate after heavy exertion and protein makes sense. But the old 2 grams a day per kg of body weight doesnt seem to have much scientific support.
I'm the first person to turn to scientific studies to back up what I think, but anecdotally speaking, I've seen my best gains on a high protein diet and the same can definitely be said of quite a few of my friends. God knows if this is purely coincidental, but I think for anybody looking to build muscle then going for at least a gram of protein per pound of lean mass is probably a good idea. | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/13/2008 5:07:12 AM | | It's about balance and lifestyle. If you want to build muscle mass, you have to work your muscles hard. They will then need fuel to rebuild. They can synthesize this from your stored fat, or if you don't have enough of that, you'll have to supply it in the diet. If you are already quite lean, you'll want to have a protein rich diet after your workout for a couple days. Then lean it out. I'm a fan of the two hard days of exercise a week regime because I feel that muscles need time to heal and grow. If you tear them down every day, you won't get any muscle growth, just lean strong muscle (and maybe some injuries). | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/13/2008 5:29:40 AM |
If you want to build muscle mass, you have to work your muscles hard. They will then need fuel to rebuild. They can synthesize this from your stored fat
What?!
If you are already quite lean, you'll want to have a protein rich diet after your workout for a couple days. Then lean it out.
What?! | |
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| Can you cut back on calories and still add muscle mass?
Posted: 5/13/2008 8:48:07 PM | Don't confuse losing weight with losing fat. They two things are different.
So I have to wonder what the real question is.
Can you cut back on calories and gain muscle. Who knows, we would have to know how many calories you eat now and how many you burn per day.
Can you lose body fat % and gain muscle, of course you can.
Can you lose weight and gain muscle, very unlikely. Not impossible but close to it.
Actually the fatter your are the more likely it is you might gain a little muscle while you lose weight, but it is still unlikely. Your body can use stored fat as energy and food you consume to build muscle in a calorie deficict situation, but don't count on it. It would take ideal conditions, and by that I mean diet, exercise, and rest. Plus you will need a good amount of stored fat to do it. As you get leaner and are still losing weight you are not going to gain any muscle, you will however lose a little.
Usually if you want to build muscle you have to eat more calories then you burn. In other words you have to gain weight or stay the same weight, once you begin to lose weight it is very difficult to gain any muscle. | |
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