Can you put on muscle even if you are creating a calorie deficit?

I have a deficit between 500 - 1000 calories a day by working out and counting calories.  I have also been lifting weights almost everyday.  I recently read that one can not put on muscle while creating a calorie deficit. Is that correct?

Should I continue what I am doing or stop the calorie deficit, put on muscle and then try to lose the pounds.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Great posts melkor! 

I was going to say that you can gain muscle and decrease weight at the same time, because I have done it, and have also read that you really should do weight training while trying to lose weight as it helps to increase your metabolism.

What I now understand from your posts however is that I am in the "beginnner's luck" state.  Further, the advice to do weight training while losing weight is actually still consistent with your post as the point of helping weight loss is not disputed, but what you are saying is that you will not add muscle bulk, just that weight training will help to maintain what you have, and make what you do have more efficient.

Thanks again, helped make things clearer for me to be sure!

"...and have also read that you really should do weight training while trying to lose weight as it helps to increase your metabolism."

I have also read often on the boards that weight training will increase your metabolism but according to the study Melkor posted here (#9) weight training had no effect on RMR.  RMR was only effected in the cardio group.

 Helps maintain it over time, but the temporary spike in RMR is higher from cardio than from strength training - though the EPOC lasts waaay longer from resistance training than from cardio.

 RMR is mostly a function of your muscle mass and organs, and maintaining existing muscle mass is a function of strength training.

  I think a well-rounded fitness regime includes all three aspects of fitness - strength, cardio and flexibility - if you ignore any of them you're likely to land yourself in trouble down the road. I'd still place a higher emphasis/priority on strength training for the reasons we've covered - maintaining muscle mass in a calorie deficit. But there's a decided limit to how much strength training is useful or even desireable in a calorie deficit, while the same is not true for cardio. It depends a bit on how you structure your training sessions, but 3 hours/week is roughly the useful target for strength training, and any time you've got beyond that you should use to do cardio.

 Oh, and get some stretch/flexibility/mobility work in there as well.

 It doesn't burn a lot of calories and it doesn't impact your strength or cardio capacity, but if you have trouble running from a tight IT band or have mobility problems while lifting from movement inhibitions in shoulders and hips you'll have reduced training effects - and muscle tightness and movement dysfunctions tend to cause long term muscle and joint pain.

 

Three responses:

1) Fitness Management Magazine conducted a study to determine the role of weight training on body composition changes. In this study, 72 overweight men and women were put into two groups. Both ate the same diets and exercised 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks. But one group followed a typical weight-loss exercise program, spending all 30 minutes on aerobic exercise, while the second group did 15 minutes of aerobic exercise (exercycling) and 15 minutes of weight training (Nautilus machines). Here are the results:

Exercise Program Body Weight Changes Fat Weight Changes Muscle Weight Changes

Endurance exercise only -3.5 pounds -3.0 pounds -0.5 pounds

Endurance and strength exercise -8.0 pounds -10.0 pounds +2.0 pounds

But when you start to exercise you tend to gain lean weight (fat-free weight). Thus, when you start an exercise program, you may not lose weight on the scale for a few weeks, or even a few months. This is normal, and you shouldn't worry. Fat weight is being lost, but lean weight is being added at about the same rate. You're losing fat and gaining muscle, so don't sweat it!

2) Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 23, No. 4, 322-330 (2004)
Published by the American College of Nutrition

Effect of Post-Exercise Supplement Consumption on Adaptations to Resistance Training

Janet Walberg Rankin, PhD, Lauren P. Goldman, MS, Michael J. Puglisi, MS, Sharon M. Nickols-Richardson, PhD, Carrie P. Earthman, PhD and Frank C. Gwazdauskas, PhD

Results:

1) Resistance training caused an increase (44 ± 4%, p < 0.001) in muscular strength for all subjects.

2) The training program reduced percent body fat (8%, p < 0.05, –0.9 ± 0.5 kg) and increased fat-free soft tissue (FFST) mass (aka lean muscle) (2%, 1.2 ± 0.3 kg, p < 0.01).

3) MILK tended to increase body weight and FFST mass (p=0.10 and p=0.13, respectively) compared to CHO. Resting total and free testosterone concentrations decreased from baseline values in all subjects (16.7%, 11%, respectively, p < 0.05). Significant changes in fasting IGF-1, cortisol, and REE across training were not observed for either group.

3) A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

Compliments of EAS at:

http://bodyforlife.com/challenge/champions/20 07/bio.asp?comp=the_callihans&cat=Grand%2 0Champion%20Family%20Group

Brandon (the father with the facial hair) added 10 lbs. of Lean Muscle and dropped his body fat into the single digits in 12 weeks.

He stated “I have lost 15 lbs”

Doing the math; he lost 25 lbs of fat while gaining 10 pounds of Muscle netting 15 lbs. of weight loss

Clearly you can lose weight and gain muscle mass at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive

All of which are consistent with

 1) complete beginners who have no previous training history and thus are starting from a net zero developement - "beginner's luck" doesn't last beyond 6-8 weeks in most people, 3-6 months if you're lucky.

Or

Strength is not neccesarily a function of muscle mass - it's also a trainable skill. It's only about 2/3 correlated with muscle size since it also depends on neurological efficiency and motor unit recruitment, plus neuromuscular coordination and other neurological factors. So you can become significantly stronger without increasing muscle mass as your body learns to produce more force with the muscle you already have.

Or putting on muscle in calorie balance - the people involved in the Effect of Post-Exercise Supplement Consumption on Adaptations to Resistance Training study lost 0.9± 0.5kg of fat - 0.4 to 1.4kg in other words, or 0.8lbs to 3lbs over the course of ten weeks, while gaining 1.2 ± 0.3 kg of muscle, or 0.9 to 1.5kg, 1.98lbs to 3.3lbs of muscle over the course of ten weeks.

 Which is what you'd expect from strength training in a calorie balance, really - the term is lean recomposition, and it would have been done more efficiently by alternating bulking and cutting cycles, but efficiency isn't everything.

And the Body for life results are consistent with

3) Deconditioned athletes returning to strength training after a long absence, who regain previous levels of muscle mass.

since the Brandon says "My son had seen what EAS and the Body-for-LIFE Program did for me 10 years ago".

 So while some of those studies were interesting - particularily the effects of strength training on fat loss - there really isn't anything new in there; beginners can and do things that aren't possible for people with more training experience, in a calorie balance you can do a lean recomposition, and deconditioned athletes do regain previous levels of muscle mass much easier than gaining it in the first place was.

I agree that it becomes more difficult in highly trained individuals, especially as body composition improves. But for the average person, it is extremely advantage to incorporate weight training with cardio. The person that loses 10 lbs. of fat while gaining 2 lbs of muscle would have a net loss of 8 lbs. in 8 weeks. With this they attain the "magic" 1 lb. of weight loss per week. They also would improve their body composition by 3-4 % i.e. 180 lbs person with 30% body fat would drop to 25.5%

I likewise am aware that there are cycling that can be used to improve the results with high level athletes and bodybuilders. However, most people are in the first category (average person with high body fat and lower muscle mass). I assume most people on this website are in that category more so than the later.

Thanks for your posts, they are informative. Good luck.

Dr. Gary

 Oh, I agree with you there - the body transformation from lifting is dramatically different than the one involving cardio, as my two favourite studies show. It's why I encourage people to incorporate proper strength training into their regime whenever possible - it simply works better ;)

 And people tend to have an exaggerated notion of how much muscle is possible to build anyway - the steroid abusers in pro bodubuilding give rise to expenctations of gaining 4lbs of muscle in a week, when a natural trainee is lucky to gain 2lbs in a month when the newbie gains run out.

 Newbie gains are nice while they last, but unless you're very special (like Duke or Jasontarin), they eventually run out. Staying consistent with your exercise when the easy gains stop coming... that's where the magic is ;)

I've been weight lifting for about six months aswell as running, and counting calories. I've lost about 60 pounds of fat, and gained much muscle. So to be honest, no, I really don't think it matters.