Which BMI to switch focus from weight loss to muscle gain?

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I used to be on the verge of obese (6'2, 240), but I have lost 55 pounds in six months, from a combination of running, high levels of Vitamin D, and skipping meals.

I would like to focus on gaining muscle eventually. I gain muscle pretty easily. I'm wondering at what point one should switch from focusing on weight loss to muscle gain.

I currently have a BMI of 25. Since this is the upper range of "normal," should I switch focus now, or wait?

Ignore BMI

You have done wonderful to lose that much

We are the same height and I'm a lean, trim, 14 stone.

Body Fat is 10-15% and abs looks great.

Its time to get lifting.

I would recommend on starting to build muscle now, as the more lean muscle tissue you build, the more fat that will burn. And GOOD WORK losing that much weight that fast!

BMI is flawed math, and should be abandoned. By using BMI, I am "too fat" at age 45 and just under 6' tall and around 185 lbs. BUT.... My body fat is 4.8%, which is leaner than an olympic runner. If it says I'm "too fat" and there is so little fat that you can see veins on my abs, that's proof of BMI being a joke.

Charles

I should have added that a good portion of my regimen has involved breast stroke and butterfly several times a week (35 laps in a 50 yard pool), so I have already gained significant muscle. So not sure if I should hit weights now or just continue what I'm doing.

4.8% body fat! WOW! your diet must be immaculate

I've made quite a dramatic change in my overall physique (actually documented on these boards ^^), going from flat-out obese to now being quite buff, and from what I've gathered, there is no "right way" to do it. I am with Charles on this one, bodyweight exercises as well as moving iron is quite more benifitial to losing weight than any cardio workout. My approach was, to wrap it up in a metaphor "Tearing down the house and building a new one on a clean foundation". I went down to very low weight (on the edge of being underweight if you wanna bring in BMI), and build my physique up from there. While there's a little more to it than this, I'd like you to consider that losing tremendous amounts of bodyfast AND bulking up on muscle are two concepts mutually exclusive to one another. If you want to get your body to use its fat depots, you gotta stay below your daily energy requirement with what you eat. Whether you do that by increasing your requirement, eating less or a combination of the two is up to you. If you want to build muscle, you gotta eat at least your requirement. Afer all, where's the additional mass gonna come from if not from enough intake. Of course, you can become physically stronger, build good overall muscle and lose weight at the same time, no question, but for me, it worked tremendously to tackle these things one at a time.
If you are the type that definitely wants visible abs, you'll have an easier time doing it by losing bodyfat. They start to show around 12% bodyfat and get very visible at around 8 (this is where I am at the moment), and it is definitely easier to lose bodyfat than building up comparable amounts of muscle.
So, short answer to wether you should start now or wait: It depends on what you want. What are your overall goals?

In my case I wish I cut my bodyfat a tad more before starting lifting. I was at 17-20% bodyfat and 180lbs before starting lifting, and after was 195 at the same bodyfat. So now I'm 185 (last check) and trying to get down to 170 or so. I gained about 10lbs lean mass total, not really training for mass at all but central nervous system gains.

So here's your issue, assuming you were fat before, you probably had at least some muscle mass just from overfeeding, sumo wrestlers for example technically have some of the most "lean mass" out of all athletes, and they don't even lift. When you cut weight, especially doing it really fast, you lose muscle mass. So lifting is a good thing to do as part of a exercise program to prevent it.

What I'd say is do stuff fairly submaximal (maybe like 60% of 1rm on compound lifts) so the body doesn't have to take in a lot of calories to do the lifts. My experience it was really hard working in the "strength" rep range (like 1-3 reps) and trying to lose weight as I'd be so hungry all the time, and it's not good to use caffeine as a replacement for food. You'll see lots of powerlifters with high bodyfat because of this, it's easy to eat yourself into lifting more weight. So where P90x admittedly does decent is it gives you some light basically girl weight type stuff to do just to signal the body to keep the muscle mass. So basically, probably something like 10x3 or something on the compound lifts would be good to do, then when you're at a bodyfat you wanna be at, go for the lower reps per set/more weight option and eat a decent amount more. Once you're at a low bodyfat, it'll be easier to keep weight off as you'll teach your body to set itself at that point.

But yeah, basically the choice is gain muscle fast, gain fat also, lose fat fast, lose muscle also. At least this is my experience. So doing a little lifting would be basically the middle ground of these programs. Charles is right in that once you do have muscle mass, weight is easier to lose, as it burns more calories. You can also eat more and not worry as much with the muscle mass, as extra muscle mass increases your basal metabolic rate.

Yes, when I say no fried foods, I mean NONE in my case, and since fitness is my main special interest, it's easier to focus on, I guess. Very few (and very small portions of those few) desserts, and NO soda or alcoholic beverages. Water only for drinking. Ultra-low body fat isn't necessarily healthy for everyone though, as it's associated with causing insomnia and mood issues for some people, and it's not good if you get any serous illness which might cause unwanted weight loss, as there's nothing to lose except for muscle tissue.



This sounds like an aerobic workout, which is excellent for heart health, muscle tone and fat loss, but it doesn't really build any muscle mass. Anaerobic exercise is needed for muscle building; weight lifting in particular. You're doing something right though, if you've already put on muscle mass. Adding weights will be helpful too.

Charles

I had the fitness obsession for about seven years, was right there with kx250rider. All the responses have been what I experienced so no need to repeat.

I am old and cancered up now. The fact of my activity level and being mobile at all I blame on the exercise routines from all those years.
Building and maintaining a maximumly healthy body is paying back everything I put into it and more. Getting old and frail is inevitable but coming into it with double the health gives double the time to stay active.
I was originally planning on a long healthy old age.
But am more than willing to trade time for quality, I am not bedridden. I blame the years of fitness training.

How the fitness is maintained is individual choice, as long as the work is done the benefits will accrue.