Building Muscle in Caloric Deficit

CAN YOU BUILD MUSCLE IN A CALORIE DEFICIT???

This seems to be the golden question lately. Here is the honest answer….YES YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN. All these others diets out there promote Calorie Surplus, yes for the most part they work, BUT if you want to add clean muscle gains then you can do so by remaining in calorie deficit. I will admit it is not the easier of the options to do but the results speak for themselves. I’ve been in this stage the past year or so. Adding lean muscle bit by bit, I’m not too concerned to pack on a great deal of added size and have to deal with the extra fat that comes with it. Don’t be fooled by the diets out there, fat increase will occur with calorie surplus diets. I am strictly speaking from my personal experience of what I’ve seen first-hand that works.

Science Behind It

We know that the human body is designed to sacrifice muscle when weight loss occurs. When you are overweight, your body is more prone to support increased muscle even when calories have dropped. It’s actually harder for someone who is lean to add muscle in a calorie deficit. Typically just the way the body operates.

How Do We Fix This

Simple….PROTEIN

When you are in a caloric deficit you are in taking less food overall- therefore you need to make adjustments to your protein/carbs/fats intake. To build muscle and drop fat at the same time you must increase your protein intake. A good bet is 1.5-2.0 Grams Protein X Bodyweight. Your carbs and fats intake will drop in order to meet your new daily caloric intake. I would not suggest just to start downing shakes to meet your protein needs, they will help but they are only truly beneficial at certain times. There is a wide variety of proteins sources available: chicken/fish/eggs & whites/beans/meats/Nuts and seeds

Next….Training

Your body knows one thing and one thing only. That is to SURVIVE! It is not concerned about building muscle. So now at this point you need provide a stimulus that lets your body know that muscle is needed. High intensity training will maximize this stimulus. Squats, deadlifts, presses are essential exercises that will maximize this.