Gaining muscle but not losing fat?

kelsiehoagland

Hello everyone,

I've been working out for two months. I've read that, the more muscle you gain, the more calories your bodie burns in a resting state. So I've been doing cardio on a recumbent exercise bike for 20-30 minutes (20 minutes during the first month and 30 minutes during last month and this month) with anywhere from 0 to 5 level resistance (I have bad knees, so I'm trying not to hurt myself). And then I do about 40 minutes of body weight strength training, leg day is 2-3 days a week (variations of being on my hands and knees doing leg lifts, and some machine use like the leg press at 35-50lbs and the abductor/adductor machine at 30lbs), and abs and arms 2 days per week (10lbs weights for arms for bicep curls and moves I don't know the name of, and various Pilates abs moves).

I've been noticing that I'm getting thicker. I'm so happy that I'm gaining muscle because I have a disease that causes muscle atrophy (Charcot Marie Tooth Disease), but I would really like to know how to lose some of this fat.

I'm at 20% body fat right now, I want to be 15%, 113 pounds, 5' tall, 23 years old.

My diet is pretty good. I eat whole grains, chicken breast, tuna and tilapia, eggs, vegetables, fruit, flax milk, plain Greek yogurt, stevia to sweeten anything that needs sweetened, limited sugary foods, I use small amounts of coconut oil to cook with.

I no longer track calories/food intake because I used to and became obsessive a couple years ago. However, I try to keep track of my protein intake and I think I get about 60-80g a day.

Tl;dr
I just want to lose some body fat.

IsaackGMOON

It is true that the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn as muscle is more metabolically active than fat... however, the amount of muscle needed to burn a significant amount of fat is quite a lot.

OP, are you deliberately eating in a caloric surplus with adequate protein consumption and a progressive overload?

You're probably not building muscle with 60-80g per day. But then again, this is a grey area seeing as you aren't tracking your calories at all - there's no way to tell if you're in a caloric surplus or deficit without you actually tracking your food consumption.

You could be gaining fat, you could be gaining muscle.

You could be losing fat, and thinking you are gaining muscle as it becomes more visible.



TL;DR
You're probably not gaining muscle.

To lose fat... you need to create a caloric deficit. Lift heavy weights to preserve muscle mass and eat adequate protein.

biodigit

In order to lose weight/fat, you must eat less than your burn. It's simply a matter of Calories in vs. Calories out. It is awesome to hear that you're gaining muscles despite the disease you have. Bravo to that! Gaining muscle/weight is an indication that you're eating in surplus, which would literally make it next to impossible to lose fat. Generally you cannot do the same, unless they're newbie gains or you recomp.

tl;dr

Generally you cannot lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Can only do either or.

Yi5hedr3

Always do your strength training first using and burning off your glycogen, then do cardio which will burn the fat stores.

IsaackGMOON

Yi5hedr3 wrote: »

Always do your strength training first using and burning off your glycogen, then do cardio which will burn the fat stores.

What's the point of this?

TinyTexn59

Up your weights on the strength training or up your reps if the weight is too much. There are ratios online for protein at your weight and you really should make sure you are getting adequate protein to add muscle. That would be the only thing to track. I am 5'2" and I leg press 350 4 reps of 20. Toe press 250 4 reps of 30. No knee problems or muscle atrophy.

loulamb7

Since both your weight and BF% are good, you might want to consider recomposition. Pick and follow a good lifting program, looks like you are currently rolling your own. Read this thread http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

kelsiehoagland

Thank you everyone

cafeaulait7

Congratulations on gaining some muscle!! I have a nerve problem that causes pain when I use certain back muscles many ways, so they are very, very disused I do PT for them, though. I also lift --isolation lifts-- to try to get all the other muscles nice and strong. I'm at maintenance and doing recomp now for those last few lbs. I also go over some days and don't mind, because that's just bulking a bit

Your body fat is low enough to go with recomp or a bulk, really, imho. If you are good at/fine with losing some weight later, you'll get the best muscle results from a bulk, so think about it

kelsiehoagland

I haven't really considered bulking because I don't really know a lot about it. If you have more information and feel like telling me about it, I'd love to learn more. I'll also read up online

kelsiehoagland

IsaackGMOON wrote: »

It is true that the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn as muscle is more metabolically active than fat... however, the amount of muscle needed to burn a significant amount of fat is quite a lot.

OP, are you deliberately eating in a caloric surplus with adequate protein consumption and a progressive overload?

You're probably not building muscle with 60-80g per day. But then again, this is a grey area seeing as you aren't tracking your calories at all - there's no way to tell if you're in a caloric surplus or deficit without you actually tracking your food consumption.

You could be gaining fat, you could be gaining muscle.

You could be losing fat, and thinking you are gaining muscle as it becomes more visible.



TL;DR
You're probably not gaining muscle.

To lose fat... you need to create a caloric deficit. Lift heavy weights to preserve muscle mass and eat adequate protein.

I just wanted to note that I have definitely gained a little muscle, but I understand what you mean. I have probably only gained muscle mass because I was new to exercising anyway. Now it's time to make big changes with my diet and probably consider bulking or something.