Calories towards Muscle or fat?

[Mrmojoerisin]

Hi I have been eating below my bmr for months and have had success in dropping fat (Nearly 40 pounds) and I am curious what exactly controls how one manages to gain muscle without gaining fat?

Simply put, I am aiming to eat between 1600 and 2000 calories a day, yet if I go above my bmr (estimated to be 2100) what determines whether these calories are stored as fat of build more muscle? I do moderate strength training three times a week and have noticed subtle gains and improved definition but for when I go over I do not want calories to be stored as fat again. What can be done to avoid fat storage?

[nakkiz]

Hi I have been eating below my bmr for months and have had success in dropping fat (Nearly 40 pounds) and I am curious what exactly controls how one manages to gain muscle without gaining fat?

Simply put, I am aiming to eat between 1600 and 2000 calories a day, yet if I go above my bmr (estimated to be 2100) what determines whether these calories are stored as fat of build more muscle? I do moderate strength training three times a week and have noticed subtle gains and improved definition but for when I go over I do not want calories to be stored as fat again. What can be done to avoid fat storage?

Are you confusing bmr with tdee?

Excess calories will be used to build muscle, and some to be stored as fat. This is unavoidable.

Your muscle building process will be very very slow at 1600.

[PhiSig2298]

You can't exclusively build muscle without gaining fat. Best thing to do is to eat in a modest calorie surplus, lift heavy & get lots of rest. If you try gaining lbm without gaining any fat, you'll just spin your wheels

[mazbdkgo]

You can't exclusively build muscle without gaining fat. Best thing to do is to eat in a modest calorie surplus, lift heavy & get lots of rest. If you try gaining lbm without gaining any fat, you'll just spin your wheels

actually there are studies showing you CAN gain lbm and decrease/maintain fat level
However the surplus of calories would be so small and so hard to track that would be impossible to do in a real life situation as nobody knows exactly how many calories they burn on the daily. So it is recommended to eat 200-500 calories above your estimated maintainence to ensure you are in a position to gain mass

[ShyGuyXS]

Excess calories will be used to build muscle, and some to be stored as fat. This is unavoidable.

^ This *assuming you're in a surplus. If you aim for a lean bulk of around 2-3 pounds per month, fat gains will be reasonably small.

OP, you seem to be confusing BMR with TDEE in your post. Eating below TDEE will cause weight/fat loss. A long period of eating below BMR, however, could have undesirable effects. 1600 calories is way too low for you and your given stats.

[Mrpb]

If you're lucky and train well you could be gaining muscle and dropping body fat on a bulk. It happens.

The best way to minimise fat storage while eating a surplus:
- eating a small surplus that only leads to ~2 pounds per month weight gained.
- follow a proven program of resistance training. If you're a beginner ideally this should be 3x times a week full body.
- eating slightly more on your workout days than on your rest days may help
- eating high protein (1 gram per lb or higher, up to 1.5 gram per lb) may further help keeping fat gains down.