Thread: Not sure whats happening. Please help

Well if that's the case your burning fat but obviously keeping lean muscle, wouldn't be able to say much without knowing more specifics of diet.

Originally Posted by nyf1nest

Well if that's the case your burning fat but obviously keeping lean muscle, wouldn't be able to say much without knowing more specifics of diet.

How is this possible though? I want to maximize fat loss so shoul I lower my calories further?

A pound of bodyfat holds about 3500 calories' worth of stored energy. Muscle provides about 600 when it's lost (if a pound of human muscle is anything like a pound of lean sirloin).

Now, gaining muscle "costs" more than this - I've read some estimates that suggest it takes just over 2000 calories to build up a pound of muscle, so if you are at a deficit, but not dropping much weight, consider this: what if you recompose while on gear? Partitioning is enhanced on gear. The same surplus while "on" will net you more weight gain because even though metabolically it's costly to do so, you'll invest more calories in muscle-gain while "on" than you normally would.

For consideration: 3500 calories

• = one pound of fat, lost OR stored (it doesn't cost much to store fat so let's assume it's nothing for now)
• = drop about six pounds of muscle (gram for gram, muscle doesn't provide as much energy as fat)
• = gain about 1.5 lbs of muscle (3500/2200 - remember, while storing fat costs the body almost nothing, storing muscle is metabolically EXPENSIVE)

In other words, suppose you're bulking, and find that over two months you've consumed an extra 35,000 calories.

While 35,000 extra calories could mean an extra ten pounds if it all turned to fat, it could mean an extra 16 lbs if that gain came entirely from muscle. (With livestock, this is referred to as increased feed-efficiency.)

I'm rambling.

To the OP, yes, drop your calories some more if you want to drop fat even faster. Personally, I'd enjoy the muscle gains for a while if my body let me, but you just want the fat off and a greater deficit will do this.