Do you get leaner, as you gain muscle mass? Recomp Question... Help plz.

Trump

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100% agree as I am white and don’t wear glasses

Everybody needs to pick a realistic physique to achieve. Nobody on this board is going to look like Larry Wheels.

I’m not “hating” on you I’ve had the same discussion with people I am mentoring.
 

Rhino99

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Yes you can be strong and lean. Just actually track your food and eat 1-1.2g of protein per lb of goal body weigh per day, eat 20-22 total calories per lb of goal body weight per day, with the balance of fats and carbs tailored to what works best for you (you'll have to tinker here) - but don't go below 50g of fat or 100g of carbs per day.

Yes muscle tissue is the most metabolically demanding tissue in the body. By increasing your lean mass, you'll elevate your resting metabolic rate, which (as long as you're consuming enough protein each day because many enzymatic and nervous system cascades require amino acids) will pull from stored fat, especially after you've depleted intramuscular glycogen post-training.

Not to derail, but whaaaatttt?
Help me out here.
My TDEE is about 2800
Im 6/2 and 240 today.
I am in a deficit at 2100 calories with breakdown as follows:
carbs 35% - 184g
fat 25% 58g
protein 40% 210g

I feel when i eat at maintenance I gain, if I eat more than that I gain a lot.
If im trying to get lean or lean bulk then according to your statement I should be at 4600 c a day.

Can that be correct? Thats almost 2000 calories over maintenance.....
 
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Don’t let Instagram fool you. Larry is freakishly huge in person. The guy sat in front of me and literally took up 2 chairs. He is a genetic freak who takes full advantage of it through his dedication and work ethic. Not to mention he’s been at it since his early teens. I’m aware that he’s not the point of this thread but to call people gay ****boys because of how they feel about the man is pretty shitty.
 

CJ

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Not to derail, but whaaaatttt?
Help me out here.
My TDEE is about 2800
Im 6/2 and 240 today.
I am in a deficit at 2100 calories with breakdown as follows:
carbs 35% - 184g
fat 25% 58g
protein 40% 210g

I feel when i eat at maintenance I gain, if I eat more than that I gain a lot.
If im trying to get lean or lean bulk then according to your statement I should be at 4600 c a day.

Can that be correct? Thats almost 2000 calories over maintenance.....

The problem with a TDEE calculator is that we vary greatly as individuals, and our own TDEE can be changed by how we've been eating/burning Cals prior. As you eat less Cals, your body will adapt and become more efficient at using them, thus lowering your TDEE. Same applies to the way up.

Most people trying to lose drop into too big a deficit to start, the body responds, person gets frustrated because they can't eat any less they're so low already, they say **** it and go back to what USED to be their TDEE but isn't any longer, freak out and drop Cals massively again, and the cycle keeps repeating.

No meaningful weight is lost, and their TDEE is so low that it seems impossible to be true.
 
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Rhino99

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The problem with a TDEE calculator is that we vary greatly as individuals, and our own TDEE can be changed by how we've been eating/burning Cals prior. As you eat less Cals, your body will adapt and become more efficient at using them, thus lowering your TDEE. Same applies to the way up.

Most people trying to lose drop into too big a deficit to start, the body responds, person gets frustrated because they can't eat any less they're so low already, they say **** it and go back to what USED to be their TDEE but isn't any longer, freak out and drop Cals massively again, and the cycle keeps repeating.

No meaningful weight is lost, and their TDEE is so low that it seems impossible to be true.

I understand all of that, but tdee is a starting point.....how can there be such a massive difference between that and what hurt is saying....tdee = 2800, hurt = 4600.
 

Gibsonator

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So, OP, "if" you were ghey, and i don't know how big of an "if" that is, between these two, who would you choose sticking or getting stuck by?;
a) Larry Wheels
or
b) Dwayne the rock Johnson.
Asking for a friend.
disclaimer: no homo.
 
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Don’t let Instagram fool you. Larry is freakishly huge in person. The guy sat in front of me and literally took up 2 chairs. He is a genetic freak who takes full advantage of it through his dedication and work ethic. Not to mention he’s been at it since his early teens. I’m aware that he’s not the point of this thread but to call people gay ****boys because of how they feel about the man is pretty shitty.

Yeah I forgot this is 2019 isn’t it
 

CJ

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I understand all of that, but tdee is a starting point.....how can there be such a massive difference between that and what hurt is saying....tdee = 2800, hurt = 4600.

Easily, because he did it right. Slowly upping Cals to gain weight, body adapts, add a little more, body adapts, repeat. Now you're at an optimal place to start weight loss. You're TDEE has been increased to 4600 and you have a lot of room to work with on the way down.

Those calculators are just good guesses, a reasonable starting point based upon the masses. There's a wide spectrum.

We're all a little different, but the process is the same.
 
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So, OP, "if" you were ghey, and i don't know how big of an "if" that is, between these two, who would you choose sticking or getting stuck by?;
a) Larry Wheels
or
b) Dwayne the rock Johnson.
Asking for a friend.
disclaimer: no homo.

I’m from Canada, we’re huge on the whole LGBTQ thing up here. I’ll take C, all of the above
 

hulksmash

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I check the thread, since I tried to help, and see its worse

7V3EVvs.png
 

Hurt

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Not to derail, but whaaaatttt?
Help me out here.
My TDEE is about 2800
Im 6/2 and 240 today.
I am in a deficit at 2100 calories with breakdown as follows:
carbs 35% - 184g
fat 25% 58g
protein 40% 210g

I feel when i eat at maintenance I gain, if I eat more than that I gain a lot.
If im trying to get lean or lean bulk then according to your statement I should be at 4600 c a day.

Can that be correct? Thats almost 2000 calories over maintenance.....

TDEE is a poor metric to use as it’s so variable and most people aren’t good at self-assessment of activity level etc... and that number sounds very low for someone of your size.

I have no idea what your lean mass is but at 240lbs your resting metabolic rate should be in the neighborhood of 2400 cal/day (roughly it falls around 10 cal/lb of lean mass/day)...that’s just RMR...then factor in the thermic effects of both digestion and exercise, and you’re burning much more.

If you say you “gain on maintenance” then by definition, that’s not maintenance...how are you calculating that?

...obviously a lot of other factors matter as humans are highly variable, the use of anabolics skews things, how hard you train, getting enough rest, etc
 

Hurt

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TDEE is a poor metric to use as it’s so variable and most people aren’t good at self-assessment of activity level etc... and that number sounds very low for someone of your size.

I have no idea what your lean mass is but at 240lbs your resting metabolic rate should be in the neighborhood of 2400 cal/day (roughly it falls around 10 cal/lb of lean mass/day)...that’s just RMR...then factor in the thermic effects of both digestion and exercise, and you’re burning much more.

If you say you “gain on maintenance” then by definition, that’s not maintenance...how are you calculating that?

...obviously a lot of other factors matter as humans are highly variable, the use of anabolics skews things, how hard you train, getting enough rest, etc


It sounds like you’re using the TDEE number you came up with to be maintenance...so you’re GAINING by eating 2800 cal/day at 240lbs?

how long have you been doing this?

How much have you gained at that caloric input? ...and when you say “gain” is that coming in the form of lean mass or?

How long can you stay at that input until gains diminish and at what weight will that be? (Eg 250,260?)

Also, how are you tracking? A lot of times people I work with will think they’re eating X calories, but when we peel back the onion, they’re really eating Y calories.

If I were going to put you on a plan for maintenance, I’d anticipate calories to be in the 3,360 cal/day range.

I’d also increase your protein intake.
 

hulksmash

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TDEE is a poor metric to use as it’s so variable and most people aren’t good at self-assessment of activity level etc... and that number sounds very low for someone of your size.

I have no idea what your lean mass is but at 240lbs your resting metabolic rate should be in the neighborhood of 2400 cal/day (roughly it falls around 10 cal/lb of lean mass/day)...that’s just RMR...then factor in the thermic effects of both digestion and exercise, and you’re burning much more.

If you say you “gain on maintenance” then by definition, that’s not maintenance...how are you calculating that?

...obviously a lot of other factors matter as humans are highly variable, the use of anabolics skews things, how hard you train, getting enough rest, etc

Well, he said he "feels" he gains on maintenance, so he's either equating surplus with maintenance, or he's tricked himself into thinking he's gaining.

Either way, like you said, **** TDEE.

I only thing I go by is BMR+activity level. It works for me. However, I always say I burn less calories than I actually do, so I can guarantee accuracy.

Since I do slave labor for 13-14 hours Mon-Sat, I may have to allow myself more calories. I let the scale, waist of clothing, and mirror show me I need more or less calories from where I set the calorie limit at.

Now desk jobs and related? That's way harder to know how many calories you should limit yourself. I'm glad I don't have to worry with that.
 

Hurt

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Well, he said he "feels" he gains on maintenance, so he's either equating surplus woth maintenance, or he's tricked himself into thinking he's gaining.

Either way, like you said, **** TDEE.

I only thing I go by is BMR+activity level. However, I always say I burn less calories than I actually do, so I can guarantee accuracy.

Since I do slave labor for 13-14 hours Mon-Sat, I may have to allpw myself more calories. I let the scale, waist of clothing, and mirror show me I need more or less calories from where I set the calorie limit at.

Now desk jobs and related? That's way harder to know how many calories you should limit yourself. I'm glad I don't have to worry with that.


Youre probably actually using RMR unless you have a metabolic hood laying around and have calculated your BMR.

Also, folks forget the thermic effect of food, which can actually be in the neighborhood of 10% of daily caloric expenditure, especially if eating a protein rich diet.
 

Rhino99

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So when I said 'gain', I meat fat....some of it may e muscle also but when I start gaining fat I back off the calories a bit.
Now, my goals are different than a lot of guys here....I'm fairly big as it is so I'm just trying to lean out but on the other side of that coin I got down to 225 6 months ago and looked like I had no muscle tone at all.
I'm kind of caught in a peculiar position....
Any recommendations would be appreciated.
 

hulksmash

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Youre probably actually using RMR unless you have a metabolic hood laying around and have calculated your BMR.

Also, folks forget the thermic effect of food, which can actually be in the neighborhood of 10% of daily caloric expenditure, especially if eating a protein rich diet.

Correct-yes, it's RMR I use, not BMR.

Funny you mention TEF. I take into account the thermic effect of food for my wife, but not for myself. I might start doing that.

I don't worry about TEF since my body is like a boiler in a coal-powered boat. I find it pointless to personally worry about TEF.

We're now passing out from heat exhaustion, refused lunches, getting dehydrated, and staying hot as hell. I don't think TEF really matters to me until winter. I hope I'm right.
 

hulksmash

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So when I said 'gain', I meat fat....some of it may e muscle also but when I start gaining fat I back off the calories a bit.
Now, my goals are different than a lot of guys here....I'm fairly big as it is so I'm just trying to lean out but on the other side of that coin I got down to 225 6 months ago and looked like I had no muscle tone at all.
I'm kind of caught in a peculiar position....
Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Simple.

Get to your balanced point of being as lean as possible while being as muscular as you can.

To clarify, at 225lbs you looked like you "had no muscle tone at all". So, you need to avoid going to 225lbs. Your balanced sweet spot may be 240lbs-I don't know, but you do.

That's the most logical and simple thing to do.
 

Rhino99

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Agreed, but I'd like my bf to be 10-12% at that balanced point....
 

Hurt

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Agreed, but I'd like my bf to be 10-12% at that balanced point....

If you’re really gaining fat on 2800 cal/day I’d start playing with macro ratios. I would definitely increase your protein to 240-250g/day at a minimum...a lot of times fat retention can be attributed to low protein intake (not that yours is extremely low by any stretch) - but I’d definitely like to see that number higher...especially if using anabolics.
 

hulksmash

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Agreed, but I'd like my bf to be 10-12% at that balanced point....

If it were me, I would first get the LBM needed to be happy at 10-12%.

You know I hate claims without evidence, but it's commonly said that 15-20lbs adds 1-inch to your arms. Let's use that since we don't have other viable options.

Remember your were 225 at ~12% BF. You had 198lbs of LBM at that time. You had no "muscle tone" at 198lbs LBM. Thus, you should aim for 215lbs of LBM (maybe even 210lbs will suffice).

To reach that, you need to be 245lbs at 12% BF.

Bulk to 265lbs with a 15% BF limit. That gives you 225lbs of LBM at 15%. Then cut to 245lbs at 12% BF and you should be where you want!

NOTE: Do realize this is all in mathematical theory! Nothing goes as clean and linear when working with the human body! I gave you a point to work towards, that is all!
 

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