Can't gain muscle while on calorie deficit only for bodybuilders?

[Pitbull1]

Hi,

I want to see if i'm right between a RL friend of mine. My friend says another friend of ours who is almost 400lbs and about 120lbs of LBM and never worked out at 35 years old now would not be able to gain muscle if he started working out as long as he was on a calorie deficit to lose fat.

I feel that that if our friend did start working out regularly and on a calorie deficit to lose fat that the body is special enough to actually grow muscle while losing fat because it really never had to adapt to working out before and it would be shocked into the role of actually building new muscle while losing fat all the while not getting it's baseline needed calories....

who is right

 

[sammy555]

An untrained person can add muscle while losing weight easy, no drugs. I dropped about 20 lb and put 2 inches on my chest when I started in something like 4 months. Just did strong lifts and ate 3 good meals a day, about 1000 calories each. Sweet potato, poached eggs,chicken breast, veg. That type of thing. I was only about 230 lb but in shit shape. Lazy as fuck and living on take out. The fat in your body becomes the calorie surplus that spares the protein to build muscle. It's also possible to lose weight and gain muscle on your first cycle and even lose fat while adding muscle after that if you use tren.

 

[GimmeCombs]

It is without a doubt very well possible to create muscle while being in a deficit, regardless of drugs.

In naturals, it happens very quickly but it also stops very quickly.

The initial gain in muscle tissue is strictly "newb gains" and its the body scrambling to adapt to the new stimuli.

The body puts a stop to it real quick though, and eventually the only thing that occurs is just fat loss.

 

[Jerry2222]

Absolutely possible to build muscle while in a caloric deficit. People do it all of the time. Recomps wouldnt be possible if you couldnt. People without real life experience say things like this because thats what some literature says within the personal training industry. Absolute hog wash.

 

[thehazzle]

He would gain muscle just fine as a newbie. After a few years then no chance.

However if he carb/calorie cycled between under and over his maintenance calories then yeah could still gain muscle and lose fat albeit at a much slower pace than if he focused on just one aspect

 

[little slice]

he's already in a caloric surplus because of al the calories stored in his chubbies

 

[Jerry2222]

He would gain muscle just fine as a newbie. After a few years then no chance.

However if he carb/calorie cycled between under and over his maintenance calories then yeah could still gain muscle and lose fat albeit at a much slower pace than if he focused on just one aspect

Good point. Carb/calorie cycling is a great way to build while cutting. For example if you are low carb, low calorie monday-thursday you can cut then cycle up carbs fri-sun and calories to bmr or slightly above and youll gain more. Schedule the priority workouts around you carb days fri-sunday. Its a classic form of carb cycling but its works for sure. If that person has muscle memory in that equation like he had muscle before but lost it due to inactivity that muscle will come right back. I should say though all of this is assuming the person is using aas. Aas is what makes all of these things possible when typically they arent.

 

[thehazzle]

I'd prefer them to high/med carb on training days specially peri workout to fuel training and recovery and on off days low carb it for fat loss