Building muscle while trying to lose weight.

Jesse The Body Ventura

Jesse The Body Ventura

Winger
I assume requires some sort of black magic?

I'm late forties and decided I needed to lose some weight but wouldn't mind building up my frame a bit. So I'm doing IF on the 18/6 ratio Mon to Fri and I'm down to 175lbs. However I'm probably only eating around 1600 / 1700 cals which according to some YouTube experts won't help me build muscle as all that is spent just breathing. Worried to eat lots more as it seems counter productive. Drinking only st weekends now, have started eating fecking quark now man.

I'm gyming 3 times a week, say 10 reps of 5 sets near my max but not seeing any benefit. I don't get sore and don't get a sweat on, my muscles just hit a hard block and won't push. Started putting in some cardio but again don't know if that is counter productive...

Or is the fact I'm old mean that's my lot 🤡
Don't get a sweat on either lifting weights which I reckon doesn't help.
 
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If you're serious about it, speak to a personal trainer. They'll advise you about the best workout plan for you and also give you diet advice.
The main thing? Consistency.
Good luck
 
You are over-complicating what is a simple process and saying thing's like you don't get a sweat on is quite frankly ridiculous. You have also stated you want to build up your frame yet see eating extra calories as counter productive, this in itself again is ridiculous.

If you want to build muscle you will need to be in a Calorie surplus, i.e. consuming more calories than your body requires, aim for 1gram of Protein per KG of bodyweight as a minimum.

If you don't 'get a sweat on' you are either doing something wrong or you have the same issue as Prince Andrew.

The key way to ensure muscles are being challenged and therefore grow is to ensure you are stimulating the muscle enough and progresivley overloading the muscle with each workout. You are not going to increase much muscle mass if you continue to lift the same weight session after session.

There is nothing wrong with adding cardio into a fitness / weights based plan, but you need to consider that you are likely going to be burning more calories and therefore your bodys expenditure is going to be higher and therefore require more calories to 'gain muscle'

It isn't really a difficult process and it gets over complicated by numerous PTs / Vloggers etc.

Build Muscle - Train Hard, Progressive Overload, Eat in a surplus and be consistent
Cut - Train Hard, Train as close to overload as much as possible, Eat in a deficit and be consistent.
 
Jesse The Body Ventura said:
I assume requires some sort of black magic?

I'm late forties and decided I needed to lose some weight but wouldn't mind building up my frame a bit. So I'm doing IF on the 18/6 ratio Mon to Fri and I'm down to 175lbs. However I'm probably only eating around 1600 / 1700 cals which according to some YouTube experts won't help me build muscle as all that is spent just breathing. Worried to eat lots more as it seems counter productive. Drinking only st weekends now, have started eating fecking quark now man.

I'm gyming 3 times a week, say 10 reps of 5 sets near my max but not seeing any benefit. I don't get sore and don't get a sweat on, my muscles just hit a hard block and won't push. Started putting in some cardio but again don't know if that is counter productive...

Or is the fact I'm old mean that's my lot 🤡
Don't get a sweat on either lifting weights which I reckon doesn't help.
Click to expand...

If you're coming back from a lay off or are a total novice, you'll have a period where you can reduce body fat % and gain muscle. Beyond that you need to cyclically rotate between periods of gaining muscle and losing fat.

Your current intake of calories will be roughly around your BMR and is pretty low. If you've got quite a bit of timber to shift, the biggest issue with going ultra low calorie is largely one of getting in sufficient vitamins and minerals rather than seeing your muscle waste away.

I'd suggest spending a period of picking a routine to follow, then after a few weeks of having a play around at that, decide whether you want to lose fat or gain muscle first.
 
Cheers lads, I'm not overweight I just want to shift the belly. As I feel lifting weights isn't burning that many calories for me and I'm not doing that much cardio eating excessive calories just feels wrong.

Tdee calculator reckons I should be eating about 150g protein and 80g cards and I'm trying to stick to that.

Weights wise I do a full body, 1 horizontal pull / push. Same for vertical, a hip hinge and a leg exercise. Increasing weight when I can do it whilst trying to maintain form. Been going about 5 months but last 2 I've tweaked it a bit.

Just seem to have plateaued and still can't shift the gut.
 
Jesse The Body Ventura said:
Cheers lads, I'm not overweight I just want to shift the belly. As I feel lifting weights isn't burning that many calories for me and I'm not doing that much cardio eating excessive calories just feels wrong.

Tdee calculator reckons I should be eating about 150g protein and 80g cards and I'm trying to stick to that.

Weights wise I do a full body, 1 horizontal pull / push. Same for vertical, a hip hinge and a leg exercise. Increasing weight when I can do it whilst trying to maintain form. Been going about 5 months but last 2 I've tweaked it a bit.

Just seem to have plateaued and still can't shift the gut.
Click to expand...
Persevere
 
Jesse The Body Ventura said:
Cheers lads, I'm not overweight I just want to shift the belly. As I feel lifting weights isn't burning that many calories for me and I'm not doing that much cardio eating excessive calories just feels wrong.

Tdee calculator reckons I should be eating about 150g protein and 80g cards and I'm trying to stick to that.

Weights wise I do a full body, 1 horizontal pull / push. Same for vertical, a hip hinge and a leg exercise. Increasing weight when I can do it whilst trying to maintain form. Been going about 5 months but last 2 I've tweaked it a bit.

Just seem to have plateaued and still can't shift the gut.
Click to expand...

The weights and eating right will help you cut fat. Super setting helped a lot for me.

Have you tried cardio which requires some strength and cardio work. Get them fast twitching fibres engaged?

I go to a boxing class which focuses on core strength and fast twitching muscle fibers and it's helped shift some weight without losing muscle. In fact my arms and shoulders are better than ever.
 
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