Title says it all, i want to lose weight and also build some muscle, ive have been hitting the gym and cutting my calories by 500-900cal for the past two months, while i am seeing some muscle growth, its not very substantial or something people around me will notice, ive also lost about 2kgs which is not much so i am thinking of doing a 200cal surplus for a month to see how it goes I wanted to get some advice as well as read other people’s experiences
Eating at a deficit makes trying to gain muscle a slow process. If you would like to gain muscle faster, your strategy of going surplus seems right. Keep at it, you are doing the right things and it will show eventually! Additionally, here’s some broad suggestions in case some resonate with you and others.
Diets and regimens work differently for different people. So I would preface everything by - what works for me or someone else may not work for you and you’ll need to do some trial and error to figure out what would work the best for you.
I read somewhere that you count calories to manage weight and exercise to get into/maintain shape. So that’s my TL;DR.
Personally, I’ve never been able to gain muscle and reduce weight at the same time. This means my total muscle mass is not increasing however my body is getting more in shape (which is what I’m trying to do). For some people they are able to gain muscle mass despite losing weight especially if they are just starting out with weight training. Don’t be discouraged if you fall in the first group. Once you understand your caloric intake, you can modify your diet and exercise to make it work for your goals.
Idk why but my coach directly put me into the machines and did not make do any of those compound exercises, i think that it maybe because i was (and still am) in a very bad shape, i am not obese but i have extremely low muscle mass (consequently high fat mass), heck i can’t even do a simple push-up even after two months, still doing knee pushups
I don’t think it’s a big deal to start off using machines. If you’ve never really worked out much it can be a bit less intimidating and if that gets you to workout out more go for it. Yet if you have a coach I would start asking them about doing the compound exercises and teaching you good form. Even if you are in really bad shape practicing doing the movement unloaded will help you understand how your body moves and what good form feels like.
I also think one of the biggest hurdles people new to exercise (especially strength training) is patients. It takes wayyyy longer than you expect to build up enough muscle to do some of the bodyweight exercises (pushups, pull ups, etc.) I don’t say this to discourage you but to re-set your expectations. You will see improvements but it does take time to get there Please Don’t give up. it’s really worth it
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It took me eight months of training before I could do a simple pushup. I’m so glad I never gave up.