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

  • Badbones@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Recomp, it’s slowwww. Here’s my journey so far doing a bit of what you described. Hope it helps with expectations.

    I had a lot of weight to lose and not sure what my goal was besides shedding fat at the start. Midway through my journey I realized muscles were cool and focused on that.

    I (5’10"M) went from 330 to 260 with a standard caloric deficit with some cardio mixed in from March - October 2022. Weight came off fast but my body needed a break.

    Started weightlifting at maintenance/ slight caloric surplus at the very start of November 2022 up until March/April 2023. I gained about 10lbs during this timeframe. Wasn’t intending to gain weight, but I was sooooo hungry from the weightlifting.

    With the amount of fat I had it was hard to notice gains and definition until about 3-4 months in. 6 months in it was much more apparent to myself and other people. I was doing a 6 day PPL routine the entire time. Shoulders, back, and arms became my main visual indicators that everything was working. Strength gains were increasing as well so I knew I was on track.

    From April until now I started a cut and dropped from 270 down to 250 and the muscle definition is way more noticeable now. My strength gains have slowed down dramatically on this cut though. I’m at about a 600-800 calorie deficit. Recovery time is definitely longer as well.

    The 6 months ‘recomp’ pause was great. It let my body catch up and I think it even gave my skin a chance to catch up. Muscle filling in the gaps definitely helped too.

    2 months is definitely short. Keep grinding and it will snowball into bigger changes.