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Maintain weight - Fat to muscle

H

Hannibal

New member
I started lifting at the beginning of the year to reduce fat to a target weight, which I have now achieved. For the past few years my training has been focused 100% on endurance (competitive cyclist), which finally led to structural and functional problems and injuries. When I started lifting I was pretty shocked at how weak I was, especially squats and dead lifts.

My goal at this moment is to maintain weight but increase LBM in place of fat. Although at target weight I'd still consider myself a skinny fat person. Is this possible from a calorie sense of just eating at maintenance and continue my lifting, or is it better tackled with a different approach?

Bearing in mind I'm doing 12-15hrs a week cardio, on top of the 3 x a week weight sessions.
 
what's your height and current weight?

do you know how much LBM and BF you have now (given you say you are skinny fat)?

you may need to increase your intake to 10-15% above maintenance (do you know what your maintenance is?)

really all depends on where you're at now as to how much fat you need to lose still or just needing to gain LBM.
 
Hannibal said:
I started lifting at the beginning of the year to reduce fat to a target weight, which I have now achieved. For the past few years my training has been focused 100% on endurance (competitive cyclist), which finally led to structural and functional problems and injuries. When I started lifting I was pretty shocked at how weak I was, especially squats and dead lifts.

My goal at this moment is to maintain weight but increase LBM in place of fat. Although at target weight I'd still consider myself a skinny fat person. Is this possible from a calorie sense of just eating at maintenance and continue my lifting, or is it better tackled with a different approach?

Bearing in mind I'm doing 12-15hrs a week cardio, on top of the 3 x a week weight sessions.
Click to expand...

Could the so many hours of cardio be increasing your cortisol levels to such an extent that it becomes hard for you to maintain muscles let alone build some.

Food for thought...


Fadi.
 
Well, that is a lot of cardio. If you're only doing it for body composition reasons I would replace that with HIIT. If you're still competing then that's a different story.


What's your diet like?
 
chocchillimango said:
what's your height and current weight?

do you know how much LBM and BF you have now (given you say you are skinny fat)?

you may need to increase your intake to 10-15% above maintenance (do you know what your maintenance is?)

really all depends on where you're at now as to how much fat you need to lose still or just needing to gain LBM.
Click to expand...

I'm 67-68kgs (174cm) at the moment which I feel at my happiest having dropped down from 72ish. Have been 65 pre injury days but I feel a lot better at present weight.

No real idea of LBM/BF.

I dropped down steadily eating 1650c and at present eating 2000-2100. I then add extra calories based on cardio levels. I do it this way as my volume can really vary each week, sometimes down to below 10hrs, others above 20 depending on events/life/work/weather.... Have found doing it this way in the past easier to maintain weight rather than the same amount of calorie per day.

Fadi said:
Could the so many hours of cardio be increasing your cortisol levels to such an extent that it becomes hard for you to maintain muscles let alone build some.

Food for thought...
Click to expand...

Have been giving this a lot of thought lately. Have always considered myself healthy, but recently have really been questioning that. Cycling is a passion though, never have to force myself out the door but I really need to work on other areas of my fitness that are lacking.

Minchia said:
Well, that is a lot of cardio. If you're only doing it for body composition reasons I would replace that with HIIT. If you're still competing then that's a different story.


What's your diet like?
Click to expand...

Yes still competing and as mentioned above it is a passion so will always continue. I'm also lucky to have spare time and love being outdoors so not to many sacrifices are required for regular riding.

My diet has been pretty poor up to this year with a focus only carbs but not protein and fats. Daily I now aim for 1g per kilo of fats, 2g per kilo of protein and carbs vary depending on volume.
 
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you sound like you are doing the right things.

I'm probably at odds with most people here in that I don't see the issue with doing a lot of 'cardio'. I mean, you want to be fit and healthy and get some body recomp going but you're also a competing sportsman so ditching the cycling would be pointless (and no fun!).

it's possible you might need to up the calories a bit more. the protein and fat targets are minimums only.

Would be good if @MaxBrenner had a look in. he's worked with a variety of elite athletes looking to lose fat and increase LBM, while still competing.

Whatever you try, give it a few weeks to see what effect any change has. if it's working, keep doing it.

have you got a weight training program designed for your goals or are you winging it?
 
I've been following the beginners program off this site 3 times a week Tues, Thurs & Sat. On the Saturday I give the squats and dead lifts a miss as its when I'm doing my longer rides, though I add extra upper body exercises such as dips and chins. Warm up is usually some skipping and burpees.
 
Hannibal said:
I've been following the beginners program off this site 3 times a week Tues, Thurs & Sat. On the Saturday I give the squats and dead lifts a miss as its when I'm doing my longer rides, though I add extra upper body exercises such as dips and chins. Warm up is usually some skipping and burpees.
Click to expand...

If you're going to miss any exercises, I would not be missing the squats and deadlifts, if I were you!

Rather than missing anything, you should move your routine around to suit the cycling regime you have.

Then it's "eat at maintenance calories" per day if you are trying to lose fat and maintain muscle as you do so.
 
OP,

IMO, calories are far to low given your activity levels..... How long have you been weight training for?
 
chocchillimango said:
If you're going to miss any exercises, I would not be missing the squats and deadlifts, if I were you!

Rather than missing anything, you should move your routine around to suit the cycling regime you have.
Click to expand...

I can't really move things around though and have to do my weight sessions at the times I am doing them. Ideally I don't want to drop the squats/dead lifts on Sat evenings but take this weekend, I have 4hrs planned Sat am and 3 Sun am on the bike, so it gets too much from a recovery sense. I may try and slowly introduce it though and see how I go. Thanks
 
MaxBrenner said:
OP,

IMO, calories are far to low given your activity levels..... How long have you been weight training for?
Click to expand...

2100 calories is based on no exercise. Due to variance in cardio volume, I look at my hrs on the bike for the coming week and add about 800 calories per hr I have planned. Takes a bit more working out but have found in the past I have better weight control this way.

I started the beginners program late January this year. Haven't really done any weight training prior to this.
 
Hannibal said:
2100 calories is based on no exercise. Due to variance in cardio volume, I look at my hrs on the bike for the coming week and add about 800 calories per hr I have planned. Takes a bit more working out but have found in the past I have better weight control this way.

I started the beginners program late January this year. Haven't really done any weight training prior to this.
Click to expand...
You must remember, what you think you need might not actually be what you need ;)

Once you have your appropriate caloric requirements and macro balance, stick with the BP and just give it time. :)

Rome wasn't built in a day
 
As a cyclist who is trying to recomp / bulk I'm very interested in how your gonna go.

To make it more complicated I'm IF'ing also.

Keep us posted Hannibal.
 
tomtomtom said:
As a cyclist who is trying to recomp / bulk I'm very interested in how your gonna go.

To make it more complicated I'm IF'ing also.

Keep us posted Hannibal.
Click to expand...
IF uncomplicates things....one of the main reasons the ppl (including myslef) follow IF is the uncomplicated nature of it and just having no food related stress other than how much to eat in one go :D
 
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