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Spartiate
05-22-10, 7:20 am
Hello brothers in the iron.

I have difficulty understanding some nutritional concepts about calories.

Here are my questions:

1. I’ve read over and over again that you need to consume more calories than you spend in order to gain muscle. So if I spend a total of 2500 calories a day, I would need 3000 calories to gain muscle? Is this concept true?

2. If the above statement is true, does that mean that I gain muscle but the fat sticks around right?

3. What if I consume only what I spend, that is 2500 calories a day? I would gain no muscle and lose no fat? My body would stay the same even though I’m working out gruesomely??

4. I’ve also read that you need to spend more calories than you consume in order to lose weight? But what kind of weight? Muscle weight? Fat weight? Both?

5. Does it mean that building muscle while losing fat is not possible? If it's possible, how many calories would you need do achieve this goal?


Thank you very much for your help.

Wingman
05-22-10, 9:00 am
When it comes to gaining weight it is about calories. But it is what type of weight you chose to gain. Personally, for me, the more protein I get the better I recover and the better I grow. Carbs are where you get energy from. Quick energy. Carbs will get burned before most fats. Now they are different types of carbs. Simple and Complex. Simple comes from fruits, sugars, pretty much anything sweet. Complex come from grains, breads and rice. These do not digest as fast as the simple ones. I would recomend some simple carbs like a banana pre workout. And maybe some grape juice post...Only if u r trying to gain. Fats are stored energy. when ur body does not require anymore energy, it has nothing no more use for any food being fat carbs or protein so it will store as "fat" but not the macromolecule fat...the bad fat haha. now carbs if im not mistaken get digested and used first. however if u r tearing down ur muscles then they need the aminos from the protein. so in this case protein will be digested first. fats are the last to get used, but by no means am i saying stay away from them because they are required for muscle growth. And again, i am only speaking from personal experience i am only an 18 year old kid with a shit ton to learn.

It is possible to lose fat and gain muscle. If this is wat u r trying to do, than i would recomend following Rage's bulkers diet in the iron contest section. i have made my own variation of this and i am gaining great. not a lot of fat either.

Hope this helps.

Toro
05-22-10, 9:45 am
Hey spartiate, ill try to share some of my personal knowledge with you and see if i can give you some answers. Lets go through the different questions:

1. Yes, in order to gain muscle you need to consume more calories than you spend. 500 is suggested by many to be the amount you have to increase your maintainance amount of claories to achive this growth. You want to increase that calorie intake slowly so fat (from excess calories) does not appear is excess. Take note that fat is bounded to build up, this is unavoidable if you are bulking.

2. Yes, in order to lose fat the process is the exact opposite, you need to consume less calories than your maintainance amount.

3. Pretty much, you would get some muscle growth in a starting point (specially if you are beggining to work out) but you will soon reach a plateau in which yo cant grow anymore muscle due to lack of calories.

4. The idea behind this is to obviously keep your hard gained muscle and shed off the fat. To do this you must reduce your calorie intake but making sure you keep those regular doses of protein and your vitamins, minerals and EFAs are in check as well as continue with resistance training on top of the cardio. Some mucle loss is innevitable but it can be greatly reduced.

5. It is possible but only with high bf% and generally if you are starting to work out, as your body starts to gain a good amount of muscle it turns out to be impossible imho. Some people will argue here, but my personal expirience has told me that doing this or trying to gain muscle with a low bf% is a VERY slow process in which i was stuck for a long time where i didnt see any results.

Hope this helps you.

Toro
05-22-10, 9:57 am
Forgot something in point 5. You also have to have in mind your main goal. If you want to add some SERIOUS mass forget about it. If you want to get tonned for the Summer and get a six pack you can do this.