Losing fat, preserving muscle...

[Stacy]

I've read it's hard to gain muscle while you're following a restricted calorie diet to lose fat. If that's the case, to maintain muscle mass should one lift heavier and do less cardio with the idea that doing more cardio would burn even more of the muscle (along with fat) that you're trying to keep?? What got me thinking is this...I have knee problems so increasing my cardio in order to lose body fat isn't much of an option so I try to compensate by reducing my overall caloric intake, but by doing this at the expense of losing too much muscle? If so, would lifting more prevent this??

Any thoughts??

Thanks!

 

[t_jania]

I started a new plan last week and it's working so far. But I can't really say what kind of results I'm getting because it's just been a week. But I have lost 3 pounds so far. I'll stick with this for 2 months and then see what changes I might want to make. It's all trial and error.

I've restricted my calories to 1500-1800 per day based on my height and weight and BMI. I'm 5'5", was 137 and BMI if 24. My goal is to lose fat and lean out. So I'm counting fat and protien. I'm doing 20-30% fat, so my fat gram range is 30-60grams of fat, 60 grams being the absolute high end if I have 1800 calories. I try to stay closer to 30-45grams. The kicker is that I've increased my protien. I'm trying for 100-110g protien per day. I've incorporated egg protien to make shakes to reach my goals and that's working for me so far. If I had the same calorie limits, but ate icecream all day, I doubt I'd have much success. But eating clean foods and being accountable to my journal has helped.

I think the key to leaning out without losing muscle is to keep up the weight training and to have more protien and less fat. I checked out a couple of websites to find some nutritional information. I would suggest you go to your favorite search engine and do a search on "Lean Out" and you'll find links to bodybuilding sites.

Everyone has a different philosophy. You'll need to do some reasearch and figure out what's good for you. Just like Cathe doesn't look like Brenda, who doesn't look like Ceedee, every person's body responds better to their own dietary needs. One size does not fit all. So research it, try something and then modify.

 

[naughtoj]

Stacy.......I do believe that. However, body type matters. Clearly, if you are an ectomporph and you are trying to put on muscle mass, then less cardio would behoove you........to an extent. I would never dip below the general requirement to maintain cardiovascular fitness (say, three 20-30 min sessions per week). I gotta tell you, if I was ectomorph, I would lift heavy, increase calories slightly, do Body for Life style cardio (three 20 min HIGH intensity sessions per week) and then concentrate the rest of the time on lifting heavy 8-12 reps, 3 sets per exercise.


However, I am pretty much mesomorph, so building muscle ain't too hard for me. I can do it even with lots of cardio. The only reason all that cardio is keeping you from putting on muscle is because there is a calorie deficit or you are breaking even. You need to be in the positive with the calories. So..if you cannot sacrifice your thumping Cathe cardio sessions......eat even more. I can do cardio 5 days a week and still put on good muscle from my weight workouts. However, then I have to watch for overtraining since I always tend to push so hard. If I wanted to absolutely optimize muscle? I would likely do 2-3 cardio sessions per week, intense, 45-60 min and all the rest lifting, eating more, supplementing whey protein afte weight workouts. You could also try creatine, but I won't swear by that. It worked somewhat for me but to be honest, probably not enough to be worth the $. Mostly, it provided me with a psychological advantage.


I will tell you that I very much believe there has to be two distinct stages when trying to get that "bodybuilder" look, especially if you are ectomorph. 1) Bulk up, 2)Lean down. Now.....I don't think you have to follow the two stage program if you are just looking to look fit and toned. But, I do think if you are looking to look like something out of a fitness magazine, that you get the best results splitting your goals into two stages.

Tammy has some good advice too. Many programs can work for you, it is all trial and error. Good Luck in building your buff bod!

 

[WD]

I think what you eat is probably the biggest component. Keeping fats low is important. Don't eliminate them altogether though. You have to figure out how to manipulate your metabolism so you burn fat and keep the muscle. Usually simple carbs in the morning will be burnt off, but by evening stick with mostly low fat proteins. If you are trying to lose weight this will take longer but be the best way to preserve muscle. I do loads of cardio, which is why I probably am not as big as I could be. I think I build pretty easily in the upper body area but all of the cardio keeps me from my lower body goals. It is hard to give it up. I have lowered the time spent each day on cardio, still doing it 5-6 days a week. I am seeing a little more definition in my lower body doing this. I would personally think adjusting what you eat and keeping up the weight training would be the best option with lower impact cardio, not lowering calories to much.
Diane Sue