Focus on gym progress or losing weight?

kingofpoplives · 2015-06-01T17:23:10+00:00

As a newb, you should still be able to get stronger even while you're losing weight.

JackGoldsteinWrites · 2015-06-01T16:37:27+00:00

Unless you take anabolic steroids, you will only add muscle in an overall caloric surplus. In other words, don't half-ass 2 things, do one thing properly.

Some beginners will add strength and make physiological adaptations during a weight loss phase, but generally speaking, you should focus on becoming as lean as you want first and then worry about strength.

You may only serve one master. You can stay in touch with the others, but you must prioritize. Even if you do no cardio whatsoever and get lean just by lifting and dieting.

Once you attain your goal leanness, you can turn up the calories (GRADUALLY).

Credentials:

Went from 300 lbs obese to 180 cut in 18 months. Bench press went from 115 lbs to about 175 pounds in that time, which I attribute entirely to "beginner gains"
Started powerlifting after cut, back to 220 and then re-cut for weight class. Totalled 1,475 lbs at 183 lbs after 2 years of powerlifting.

The #1 thing I did to get my weight down was diet. The #1 thing I did to get my squat / deadlift numbers up was stopping all cardio and eating as many cals as possible.

processedfoodkills · 2015-06-01T16:12:52+00:00

When I started I was 5'10" and 220 lb. I did lifting and cardio on alternating days until I was at 200 (roughly 2 months). Now I run about 2 days a week and lift 4. I am seeing continual muscle growth and a steadily (though slowly) lowering BFC.

FrameWalker · 2015-06-01T16:41:57+00:00

Eat at a caloric deficit and lift. The cardio helpsbyou get to that deficit, but so does the muscle you carry on your body Don't worry about going up in strength too much, just focus on maintaining what muscle you already have. Make sure to get plenty of protein.

balalasaurus · 2015-06-01T18:36:03+00:00

Never. Stop. Lifting.

Also there is no excuse to eat garbage. You can still stay on the SKD and lift. I do.

If that doesn't work for you though, check out the TKD or CKD (I'd personally stay away from this though). Ketogains will have more information for you.

LeGrandDiableBlanc · 2015-06-01T20:04:49+00:00

I find that if I eat a shit ton of clean calories from keto friendly sources (eggs, meat, dairy, nuts), I can steadily lose body fat and gain muscle mass. I'm eating 4k calories+ of this type of food daily.

It is a slower process than straight bulking or straight cutting, but it IS possible to both gain muscle mass and lose body fat at the same time. I'm more interested in functional strength and health, so physique is a distant third benefit for me.

It is also very much worth noting that rest is essentail for building muscle mass. I took a week off of working out after overdoing it a bit, and I actually gained some muscle mass in that time. My body used that time to repair all of the damage to my muscles, which is exactly how muscles grow. Make sure to take at least 1-2 days of rest per week, and make sure you're sleeping enough.

WarlaxZ · 2015-06-01T17:54:04+00:00

Why can't you do both? Continue to do you 5x5, but continue to be at a calorific deficit. You have plenty of calories in your body which you need to burn up, just keep pushing hard. Don't eat junk whatever you do, you dont need a surplus whilst you still have a BF% higher than what your target is.

NiftyDolphin · 2015-06-01T18:07:19+00:00

I want to lose another 20-40 lbs.

My weight has been slowly creeping up, and not a lot of it is muscle (I was 15 lbs lighter at one point).

I don't want to use lifting as an excuse to eat garbage

It sounds like your lifting is sabotaging your weight loss and you know it.

I'd lose the weight first. Combine your weight loss with some bare bones lifting regime that you know will not undermine your weight loss efforts.

dreckmal · 2015-06-01T18:56:43+00:00

Always lift. However, I am much like you in that I need to focus on losing the gut before making serious gainz.

Don't worry about throwing up big numbers until you hit your goal weight. Once you hit that, then increase your healthy food intake and look to make the gainz.

kick_the_hamster · 2015-06-01T19:22:05+00:00

Focus on dropping weight and keep a caloric deficit, not massive though. Keep lifting. When you start closing into your target up the calories a bit towards maintenance and keep hovering around there. You will start recomposing but slowly slowly. You will add some muscle which it will be metabolically active, that means it will burn more calories.

Keto is a great way to preserve muscle as your body access fat first, not carbs and certainly not breaking down muscle to make fuel.

Thizzlebot · 2015-06-01T19:41:36+00:00

I've gone from a 4xl to an xl

Lol I read the gym comment and thought you were doing for sets of one then no sets of one lol

Leastohm · 2015-06-01T19:49:53+00:00

I may be an outlier, but I went with a Keto diet, but I did not limit myself. I ate as much as I wanted when I wanted, it just had to be healthy (nuts, avocado, veggies, grass fed beef, etc). I killed all empty carbs, ate fruit only before and after workouts, and stopped drinking alcohol or anything else with calories. The result, I dropped 20 lbs in 2 months, trimmed an additional 8 over the following 3 months to slightly below my target weight, while my arms, pecs and back got noticeably bigger. I don't think I ever reached a state of caloric deficit during this period, but I lost a lot of fat anyway.

So if your body is like mine, you can have both. But, if you can't, I'd lose the weight first. Reducing your fat boost your testosterone, which gives you more energy and helps you build muscle faster.

Also, /r/fitness is a better sub for this kind of information.

Edit: Typos galore.

RemyPrice · 2015-06-05T01:20:22+00:00

Carb Nite Solution by Dr. John Keifer.

Get ripped and jacked at the same time, while still eating carbs.

SaintMarinus · 2015-06-01T19:16:32+00:00

Hey man!

My advice would be to focus primarily on building muscle. The weight loss will come with it. Also, enough playing around with these odd diets. Just eat healthy and portion well.

When you start weight training you won't initially lose weight. At first, you might even gain weight. This is because you are likely working muscles that you haven't used for years. Also, muscle weighs more than fat.

If you don't know it all ready, your body is constantly burning calories. The more muscle that you have on your body means more calories it will burn. So, give weight lifting about a month and a half and you should see results.

I like to be as efficient as possible so I do crossfit. In 45 minutes to 1 hour I'll be done with my workout which consists of core exercises, cardio, and olympic lifting. Not only do I build muscle, but I also burn high amounts of fat from the intense workout.

When you start weight lifting just make sure you don't wander in the gym and pick up weights. There is a science behind it! Let me know if I can be of more help to you.

RSM

Title	Focus on gym progress or losing weight?
Author	Mr_Get_Right
Upvotes	4
Comments	17
Date	June 1, 2015 2:56 PM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/3835zs/focus_on_gym_progress_or_losing_weight/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/focus-on-gym-progress-or-losing-weight.149595 https://theredarchive.com/post/149595

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