Gaining muscle on calorie restricted diet??

[tpz4sheezy85]

First off, I used to be in phenomenal shape 10yr ago but I let myself go and kinda forgot a lot of what I knew or just wanted to see if there was any new info from studies on this subject. The main reason I'm curious is because of muscle memory. Last time I worked out consistently was 5 yr ago for maybe 3 and half months or so and I gained a lot of muscle and strength (my bench went up from 185 to 300 in about 4 months. I was still over weight so I couldn't tell exactly how much muscle I gained but I def felt harder. Anyways is it possible to gain muscle while on calorie restricted diet? My main goal is to lose fat. I'm 5'6" at 206. I've lost 22lbs in about 6weeks so far and my goal weight is around 160. If it's not possible why do people trying to lose weight lift weights? Is it just to increase their metabolism? I know more muscle equals more calories burned but if you can't gain new muscle aren't you kinda spinning your wheels or is it just to help keep the muscle you have when on a low calorie diet? Oh yah , I'm currently eating around 1500 cal a day and doing light cardio 5 days a week. Thanks a lot!

[BecomingSmaller]

You lift to encourage your body to hold onto muscle otherwise you would lose more muscle on a cut. It's about getting the body to prioritise breaking down fat over muscle for it's energy needs.

[W.I.N.]

You lift to encourage your body to hold onto muscle otherwise you would lose more muscle on a cut. It's about getting the body to prioritise breaking down fat over muscle for it's energy needs.

This, and you can gain muscle on a deficit if you're a beginner or coming back after a long hiatus, it just won't be long before you stall and it's not that much muscle anyway. The main objective as said above is prevent muscle loss, can even get away with a bigger deficit than if you weren't working out.

There are studies on this if you look it up, it's pretty interesting stuff.

[loggerboots]

I was ripped in my twenties primarily by doing bodyweight exercises. In my late forties now, was up to about 210+ pounds last year (was 165 or so in my prime) and decided to make a change. I started losing weight over the winter by dieting and started working out again like I did in my twenties (though a bit more intelligently this time around).

I suppose It's possible that I had decent muscle under the fat while I was fat, but I'm convinced I've been able to build muscle while losing 35+/- over the past 6-7 months. So, no studies, but I do believe muscle memory definitely helps and that it's possible to build up a bit while in a defecit. Others will disagree.

I should add that all my bodyweight exercises seem to have plateaud (I hope to unstick them when I've hit my body fat % goal next month and start to eat more).

I have "before" and current pics in my profile (no shirtless selfies in "before" though. So folks can judge for themselves

I'd say give it a try. Work out hard, eat at a small deficit (I started at 1800 calories which was too low and made it hard to hit my macros so raised to 2000). Make sure to get plenty of protein - I tend to get 170-200 grams per day.

[BecomingSmaller]

You can build some, I was similarly convinced as I started working out in the gym during my 100 pound cut, but as the fat was stripped away it became obvious towards the end that it wasn't a whole lot of muscle.

[Luclin999]

You won't really "Build" or "gain" any new muscle in a deficit.

You may however "regain" or recover some muscle mass lost due to atrophy. Once a muscle is built up even if some of that mass is lost due to lack of exercise over time it is fairly easy to regain due to the fact that the cell nuclei which where increased during the initial growth are never lost.

That is what allows for somewhat rapid regrowth of "lost" muscle mass.

That is also why it is relatively easy for people who were once in really good shape to go back to that condition after they have let themselves go.