How to lose weight and still grow muscle🤔

usmcnas

Hello i am 18 years old 6’0 198lbs i joined the United States marine corps in November and been training ever since. Bootcamp is in August and i still dont see myself in the right place i want to be with my body. I am struggling with losing stubborn body fats on my stomach and chest. I do a lot of cardio running miles every week and i stay perfectly on my calorie level i just need some tips on what to do to help this process should i be in a deficit? Should i work out on cardio still and lift weights? And if you were in this situation what did you focus on either eating or exercise to get to where you are?

djaxon1

Have you lost any weight ?
A calorie deficit is quicker for wt. loss than exercise
It takes time.

mmapags

You've posted multiple threads on the same topic and gotten some good answers. Go back and read those.

diliveslife

You can't. I hate to be the bearer of bad news- but pick one. Gain muscle or lose weight. Do one, then the other.

If you have a decent amount of muscle then as you lose weight you will start to "see it" more. Adversely, think of how many people lose weight and look "skinny fat"- you know what I am talking about.

Looking at your stats (which isn't saying much because bodies are SO different) I would keep losing weight while doing some weights to keep as much muscle as possible, get your protein in, then see where you are at 190. If there is a nutrition shop around you can use their body reader to get your body fat % as a guide and tweak it.

If you have abs they will show with weight loss - but you won't know until you get your BF % down to about 15% for some its more. Some people can see abs at 20% - it just depends on your body. For me, being Hispanic & female, I carry weight in the middle and don't see abs until I have pretty much cut all carbs besides sweet potato for a few weeks- and am down to about 13-15% body fat, and I do core daily along with weights or resistance training- and get at least 100grams of protein per day.

Its not sustainable for me to keep that diet all year- so I generally don't see abs until I have an event or just happen to be on a health kick, but also try not to get too from it at any point (Max body fat of 25%)before I kick it back in gear. Keep in mind I have been 12% body fat at 180lbs & 20% body fat at 150lbs depending on the year/diet/muscle etc. So it really depends on what you want to focus on. If you like to do a LOT of heavy cardio, it can be hard to keep as much muscle on as you'd like. When I was lower weight but higher body fat I was running marathons. Lower body fat I was bodybuilding and only cardio to cut weight towards the end of a building phase.

usmcnas

@diliveslife thank you for sharing information with me. I have a good amount of muscle on me I haven’t checked my body fat % in awhile but i know i need to cut more to see more of my muscles i just dont want to burn off my muscles too.

usmcnas

@djaxon1 ever since ive been training i lost almost 25 pounds and thats on just working out (cardio and lifting) I didn’t know what a calorie deficit was until a few months ago and i was on a really big deficit for a few weeks and lost a lot of pounds but relapsed and got hungry again now im a little intimidated of doing that again.