Very confused--does going from a sedentary to active life style translate to leaner body over time?

sethmachine

Hi,

I've been reading some wikis from the reddit fitness here: https://thefitness.wiki/faq/can-i-lose-fat-and-build-muscle-at-the-same-time/. Apparently it is unlikely to both gain muscle and lose fat in the same period of time.

However, if I go from a relatively sedentary life style (desk job 9-5) and begin hitting the gym 3-5 days a week (with a trainer) but no attempt to get a caloric surplus or a caloric deficit, wouldn't my body naturally become leaner (+ muscle, - fat) over the long run?

So if we have two different states of lifestyle:

Sedentary lifestyle:

sedentary job + maintenance calories (not starving/not deficit) = you're body stays the same but gradually loses muscle as you inevitably age.

More active lifestyle:

sedentary job + regular workouts/weight lifting + maintenance calories = ?

Which one of these is the likely outcome?

a) body still stays the same (fat + muscle comp don't change)
b) gradual (but slow) change in fat + muscle comp
c) ???

sijomial

"Apparently it is unlikely to both gain muscle and lose fat in the same period of time."

Utter nonsense, it's totally normal and expected if someone is training effectively and eating around maintenance.
Just think of it as getting in shape - exactly what generations of gym goers have been doing since gyms became a thing.

DancingMoosie

Think about it this way: if you preserve the muscle you already have by doing resistance training, and most of the weight you lose is fat, your bf% is now lower even if you did not build muscle.

MikePTY

B is the correct answer. It's called body composition. It is a slow process. But if you eat at or around maintenance and workout/lift heavy, you will slowly gain muscle and lose fat.

The whole "you are unlikely to build muscle and lose fat" thing is really targeted towards people in calorie deficits, as it becomes harder to do that the bigger deficit you go into. But even then, it's not so cut and dry and depends on various factors.

jennifer_417

If you're not tracking your calories at all, there's no way to know. Exercise is great for you in lots of ways, but the way it contributes to weight loss is by burning calories.

AnnPT77

B, with the proviso that "maintenance calories" is dynamic, i.e., it will of course be a different number of calories in the sedentary scenario (fewer calories) vs. the active one (more calories).

FWIW, I actually lived something like the second scenario for a little over a decade: I had a very sedentary job (and had had for a couple of decades previously), stayed at a pretty steady body weight (which happened to be an obese body weight!), but added a good bit of regular exercise (having previously been quite inactive). I got stronger, fitter and a bit smaller/firmer at roughly the same body weight. It wasn't until I lost weight that the bit of added muscle under the fat became noticeable.