Some basic questions

1PBCE1

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Hi all.

I'm learning about nutrition and losing weight for the fist time in my life. Lost 6kg in 3 weeks and it feels great. I have a couple of noob questions though (in fact, after reading them, they're a bit stupid, but I'm struggling to get my head around them):

1) I understand that as I'm eating a caloric deficient diet to try and lose fat, I will put on little to no muscle. I'm continuing to lift though, so what happens with strength if I'm not gaining muscle? Will it just be a case of limited to no progression?

2) It's not weight I want to lose perse, it's body fat. I'm assuming I use the caloric deficient diet to first lose the body fat, then move to an over-carloie diet and stricter lifting programme to then put the weight back on, but mostly as muscle?

3) Instead of 'wasting' the weight I currently have, is there something else I can be doing to help convert it into muscle? Or is it just a case get smaller then get bigger?

I understand this is all a slow process. Just want to make sure my thought processes are on the right track. Many thanks.
 
Hi all.

I'm learning about nutrition and losing weight for the fist time in my life. Lost 6kg in 3 weeks and it feels great. I have a couple of noob questions though (in fact, after reading them, they're a bit stupid, but I'm struggling to get my head around them):

1) I understand that as I'm eating a caloric deficient diet to try and lose fat, I will put on little to no muscle. I'm continuing to lift though, so what happens with strength if I'm not gaining muscle? Will it just be a case of limited to no progression?

2) It's not weight I want to lose perse, it's body fat. I'm assuming I use the caloric deficient diet to first lose the body fat, then move to an over-carloie diet and stricter lifting programme to then put the weight back on, but mostly as muscle?

3) Instead of 'wasting' the weight I currently have, is there something else I can be doing to help convert it into muscle? Or is it just a case get smaller then get bigger?

I understand this is all a slow process. Just want to make sure my thought processes are on the right track. Many thanks.
Good for you man for getting at it and starting out. That's awesome! I hope you stick with it and it works out well!

Anyways your questions are all very valid and these are things that people still argue about sometimes.

You can still make progress in your lifts and strength, but it will slow down a bit. That's fine as plenty of lifters still lift heavy even when they're cutting. So don't worry about it too much because it's natural. When you burn fat your muscles may also appear bigger because the muscles underneath your fat will start to appear. This is getting lean and cut.

You're pretty spot on with the losing weight and gaining weight program. Also your body will naturally burn off fat because it is excess bodyweight so that's what it'll get rid of. You also want to do plenty of cardio because that, along with lifting, and a sound diet is a phenomenal combination. The cardio will help you burn fat and the lifting will help your body get toned. Yep then you'd want to eat in a clean surplus and you can focus on growing your muscles.

Lift. Many people that lose weight do mostly cardio and diet, but they don't lift. Lifting helps strengthen your muscles so that they don't waste away when you lose weight. So just keep on lifting and you'll be pleasantly surprised with the results. This is where you can use your excess body weight to an advantage. So basically by lifting, along with cardio, and a deficit diet, you won't get as small as you would with cardio and diet alone, which is a good thing.

I hope this helped. Good luck again and don't get discouraged. As long as you continue to put in the work, the progress will come. Cheers.
 
Many thanks mate. Will definitely keep things up - feeling good is addictive!
 
What Nez said was all on point. One additional thing that has always worked for me during cutting weight is BCAA drinks 3x a day between meals. No calories and gives your body plenty of aminos to use so it doesn't have to catabolise muscle to get them.

Between lifting, a diet with plenty of protein and BCAA, I seem to lose very little actual muscle mass while dropping weight.
 
What Nez said was all on point. One additional thing that has always worked for me during cutting weight is BCAA drinks 3x a day between meals. No calories and gives your body plenty of aminos to use so it doesn't have to catabolise muscle to get them.

Between lifting, a diet with plenty of protein and BCAA, I seem to lose very little actual muscle mass while dropping weight.
Hmm I don't use many supplements, but was considering trying out BCAAs when I start cutting again. Very ironic, but I'm genuinely interested. Any brands you'd recommend or tips on using them?
 
Hmm I don't use many supplements, but was considering trying out BCAAs when I start cutting again. Very ironic, but I'm genuinely interested. Any brands you'd recommend or tips on using them?

Scivation xtend or BPI Best BCAA. I tend to go xtend for higher BCAA and it's not as overpoweringly sweet.
 
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