how important is calories for gaining muscle?

S

stalefish

0
hey
i want to weight lift and lose fat.
but if calories is a MUST to gain muscle then i will have to take alot of calories ... or vice versa .. i need to decide ..
so i need to know this ..
i eat plenty of protein ... but do i need to overload in calories or what to gain good muscle ?

can i gain muscle good enough with a low cal diet and weight training ?
thnx hoep someone can help
 
It's a fine line you have to walk - too many calories and you're bulking, and too little and you're cutting. My suggestion is try to eat a moderate calorie, low-fat (definitely not non-fat) diet high in protein and carbs. The ratio for Protein:Carbs:Fat would probably be best at 40/40/20 or 50/30/20.

If you'd like I can post a diet I've made for my friends. Not coincidentally, it's the same diet I eat :)
 
It's still important to have a calorie surplus...protien by itself will NOT build muscle. It takes carbohydrates to build it too because that's the quickest form of energy our body can use, so you need to eat plenty of carbs and good fats too, and dont forget water!
 
ok
but i still eat alota protein and a good amount of carbs.
its not like on atkins or ne thing ...

in the morning i eat plenty of carbs ... then lunch im still eatin up those carbs and even the snack after lunch is mostly carbs.
then when dinner comes along thats when i usually start takin it easy... ill just eat chicken breast and veggies or whatevr. a small snack at night is non carb too.

i dont know if thats enough or not ...
if i were to be cutting ... then would i have to do cutting exercises too ? or could i just do the typical exercises and just diet and i will still cut?

im so frusterated ... i dont know what i want more ... i really want to lose body fat because ive wanted to for so long ... but i really want to gain a good muscle mass too ... and winter is coming so being low fat isnt too important .. but i still want to be cut :(
blah!
 
there isnt such a thing as a cutting exercise...you do the same exercises that you would do when you cut as when you bulk, the diff is calorie intake and amount of cardio. If you dont want to get fat when you bulk up your calories a little by little while hitting the weights hard, itll make sure all the extra calories go into building muscle and not into gaining fat.
 
i thought that there are toning exercises .. kinda like flyes and more isolation ones.
what would be the point then to workout while dieting, if you cant even gain muscle on a low cal diet?
 
The reasoning is that there isnt a differnet exercise which causes you to gain/maintain muscle, you do the same exercise you would if you wanted to gain, but with a calorie deficit your muscles will just be maintained. Isolation exercises are almost always a waste of time, and high rep exercises destroy muscle fast. But you need to weight train hard to maintain the muscle or else you run the risk of losing both fat and muscle
 
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