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is it possible to lose fat and gain muscle at once?
- Thread starter dpopiz
- Start date
KarenMarie
Elite Member
Don't have scientific facts, but I have lost 8.75 inches and 2.5% Body Fat in the last 6 weeks, yet only lost 2 pounds on the scale.
edit: that is 2.5% not 1.5%
edit: that is 2.5% not 1.5%
Not unless you are a complete beginner, have incredible genetics, and/or are on drugs.
Building muscle requires eating more calories than you burn. Losing fat requires burning more calories than you consume. These two requirements are kind of at odds with each other, unfortunately.
Building muscle requires eating more calories than you burn. Losing fat requires burning more calories than you consume. These two requirements are kind of at odds with each other, unfortunately.
engineereeyore
Platinum Member
Just like KarenMarie, I don't have scientific evidence, but I worked out 3 days a week for a year and never lost more than 5 pounds from the beginning of the year to the end of it. Some peoples bodies may naturally replace fat with muscle. My legs and arms were never so developed, but my weight was the same almost. Just that stinking gut that won't go away. :|
I don't see why it isn't possible. If you are already fat somewhat, execising your muscles will burn that fat. All you need to eat to build more muscles is high protien. That will provide the building blocks for building new muscle cells (which are more dense and weigh more than fat cells). The existing fat you have in your body can be used as energy for those muscles to burn. In fact, the more muscle you have, the more fat your body burns. . .that's assuming you don't substitute by eating a lot of carbs. I see no reason why with a diet high in protien and low in fat and carbs, you cannot both loose fat and gain muscle at the same time.
The idea that the fat you burn will be used to synthesize new muscle is a good one, but unfortunately unless you are a complete beginner, have exceptional genetics, and/or are on drugs, doesn't work too well in practice.
brikis98 is right on in that you are better off focusing on 1 goal at a time.
KarenMarie
Elite Member
I was under the impression that muscle weight would replace muscle weight on a careful diet.
For me, I cut my calories to 1,500 a day. I eat carefully balanced meals with an occasion Whey protein smoothie.
I have lost fat and built muscle.
I don't know your stats (height, weight, bodyfat, etc.), but I am speaking from the perspective of a male who is trying to attain 200+ lbs. of muscle at <10% bodyfat, which is incredibly difficult to do. Once you get beyond a level of progress, the body is not going to simply burn fat to build muscle anymore, unless you have exceptional genetics or are on drugs.
Although you are right that a careful diet is important to maximize results.
No. Sorry. Your body normally uses protien to build. It normally uses carbs and then fat (in that order) for energy. However, in a pinch, assuming your body has no fat or carbs left to metabolize for energy, it CAN convert to using protien for energy. Excess calories, of any kind, get converted to fat. If your body has excess fat, it will resort to tapping into that fat as an energy source before it taps into its supply of protien. This leaves your body free to use the protien as new building blocks for new muscle cells.
What I meant was, the process of building muscle requires a certain amount of calories above and beyond what would be required if you weren't trying to build any muscle. Obviously anything beyond THAT amount will be stored as fat. Protein is obviously required, although the exact amount is debateable. I shoot for 1.5g/lb. bodyweight.
I am not saying the fat you burn will be synthesized into new muscle. I am saying fat is excess energy. Muscle can only be built from protien (amino acids more specifically). There is no way to convert fat to protien. But fat can provide the energy your body needs to carry out exercise and do work leaving any protien you consume free to be used to synthesize new muscles.
although you are correct that to get the best results, you should focus on 1 at a time, you can still get results even if you don't fall into the categories you listed above (beginner, genetics, drugs). your progress will be slow, but i can tell you from personal experience, it'll happen.
if you lift 3 days a week and do cardio 3 days a week with healthy diet (favoring more protein and less carbs, fats, etc) i absolutely gaurantee you will lose fat and gain muscle. however, the amount of muscle you will gain will be less than if you just focused on lifting (and the appropriate diet for it). likewise, the amount of fat you'll lose won't be as much as if you focused on cardio (and the appropriate diet for it).
still, it's worthwhile, especially if you are a beginner. going for both is an excellent way to get your body into good shape and set it up for a more focused approach to each of those goals later on.
Right, but the extent to which that happens is entirely determined by genetics. Instead of using fat for energy, your body may instead prefer to break down your muscles to reduce the amount of energy you require. This is why it is difficult to cut down to a very low bodyfat without losing any muscle, as I am currently finding out. Taking it slowly helps, but you can't beat your genetics.
I assume you meant muscle weight will replace fat weight? Yes this can happen. This is why people can gain strength and definition and even loose clothing sizes by working out and exercising but don't really loose very much body weight. Muscle is much heavier and more dense than fat. So if you took 2 identically sized jars, one full of muscle and one full of fat, the one full of fat would weigh considerably less than the one full of muscle. In other words, a pound of fat takes up much more space than a pound of muscle. But keep in mind, muscle isn't going to just magically replace fat no matter what diet you eat if you do not exercise your muscles.
that sounds more like a plateau and in my experience, you break through that by changing your routine (and possibly your diet). after about 2.5 years of lifting, i got stuck for ~6 months lifting roughly the same weight and my body weight was stuck too... i recently found that changing to more of a powerlifting routine (4-6 reps, 2-3 sets, 3-4 min. between sets) helped a LOT and i've made some pretty big jumps in weight again (both what i lift and my own weight).
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