Another newbie question! Re: Calories

[Snappy]

My primary goal is to ditch some fat (I'd ultimately like to lose 35 lbs) but I realize that drastically cutting calories will result in muscle loss, too. I am also pretty certain that my metabolism is a bit f**ked up right now, so I'm starting out by building muscle.

Here's my question.
I know that in order to gain muscle, you've got to have a positive calorie balance, but I was wondering for how long should I do this? I've read quite a few posts about people's eating cycles here, but I'm not in the midst of training, I'm just starting out again. Should I start doing a 6-day diet/1-day refeed type thing, or just focus on gaining muscle for, I don't know, a month, and then work out a diet plan?

I haven't been keeping track of my carbs/fats/proteins in an exact way, but I've been eating pretty balanced, and am going to start being really concientous with the numbers now.

Thanks in advance! (Especially for your patience.)

 

[Gladiola]

I know that in order to gain muscle, you've got to have a positive calorie balance

Should I start doing a 6-day diet/1-day refeed type thing

Not really. If you have 35 lbs to lose, then I would presume you are overweight & if that is the case, you can lose fat & maintain lean muscle mass on a caloric defecit - you could even gain LBM & lose fat at the SAME TIME if you are overweight & just starting to train again, so don't worry about that.

Considering no one really knows exactly what your caloric need is, I would use the thread on 'how many calories do you really need' & have a SLIGHT deficit (200 cals) or so. Just see how that goes. I always think it's best to be conservative. If you are just starting out, you WILL gain LBM without *any* changes in diet (just your muscles adapting).

Refeeds are only necessary if you are doing ketosis.

I recommend a split of 35% pro, 45% carbs, 20% fat. That should yield you plenty of protein if you're eating maintenance level cals & so long as it's all *clean* you should get stronger & lose fat. (Many of us will tell you in our experience, a calorie is not a calorie. 100 Cals from candy & fruit don't act the same in your bod!).

You can use www.fitday.com to keep track of it all. Just focus on eating CLEAN (IMO that's the hardest part!) & getting your regular workouts in, then tweak & refine from there.