Maximising fat loss whilst building muscle

GarethArmstrong6267

Hi everyone,

I am back joining with my fitness pal as of today and restarting my weight loss journey. I am looking for some tips to help me maximise my weight loss (fat) whilst gaining muscle. Has anyone been or currently going through this scenario? And what did you do?

I get a bit lost with all of the micro nutrients to be honest too.

I am not shy in getting in the steps by walking and do have a gym just around the corner that i am going to make a lot more use of again.

Any tips would be great

Thanks in advance

Gaz

tomcustombuilder

attempting to lose fat while building muscle is a very slippery slope. It can work in certain situations. That would be when somebody is just starting to weight train and has a decent amount of fat on them. Most people should concentrate on one or the other with muscle maintenance being a goal while losing fat.

Look in the mirror and decide if you need to lose fat or build muscle then prioritize that decision.

rudyzenreviews

a lot of us want to lose fat and build some muscle at the same time. The good news is it’s doable, but it works best when you keep things simple. Focus on getting enough protein with each meal, keep lifting (even basic strength training makes a difference), and use your walking for extra calorie burn.

As for macros, you don’t have to overcomplicate it and hitting your protein goal first usually makes everything else fall into place. The rest can be balanced between carbs and fats depending on what feels better for your energy.

Most importantly, be patient with the process and fat loss might feel a bit slower when you’re also building muscle, but the changes in strength and body shape are worth it.

Retroguy2000

Your best results from recomp will happen if your starting point is a novice lifter and you have a lot of fat to lose.

That's not to say it can't be done in other conditions, just that it's maybe less optimal than dedicated cut and lean bulk cycles in those situations.

You'll preserve the most muscle in a cut with a deficit <500 calories (smaller than that is better), and get plenty of protein at least 0.8g per pound lean body mass, and lift frequently with progressive overload.

briscogun

There is a thread that describes what you are talking about, it's called "Body Recomposition". Basically you eat in a very small deficit (and I mean VERY SMALL SLIGHT deficit) and lift weights simultaneously. This will very slowly burn fat while hopefully allowing you to very slowly build muscle. It is a very slow process. You are in theory trying to swap fat for muscle. If you have a decent amount to lose this isn't the preferred way.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat#latest

If you eat in a deficit, you will burn fat but you will also lose muscle mass. It's inevitable. This is why lots of people will work out/exercise during a weight loss journey to try and maintain as mush muscle mass as possible. Then as you get closer to goal you can raise your calories, find maintenance levels and start adding muscle.

Good luck!

nossmf

Is your goal more cosmetic (I wanna look good) or athletic (I wanna perform in sports) centered?

If your goal is more athletic, focus on adding the muscle first.

If your goal is cosmetic, focus on losing the fat first while keeping the muscle you already have. Even if it doesn't appear so, you actually have more muscle than you realize already, it's just hidden under a layer of fat. By cutting the fat, you reveal the muscle beneath, so you can look more muscular even without actually building any new muscle.

AnnPT77

Generally speaking, we can't "maximize" muscle gain while losing fat.

We can lose fat at a very moderate pace, and at least preserve existing muscle mass . . . and I do mean "moderate". If we're lucky, we might even gain a little muscle, but we're not going to maximize muscle gain in a calorie deficit. (Think about it: We're trying to gain one kind of tissue, lose another. Those may not be completely incompatible, but it's going to be a delicate balance.)

How fast one can lose is pretty individual. Things besides loss rate matter: Age, nutrition, strength program, genetics, sex, starting body composition, strength training history, and more.

We can lose fat somewhat faster than "very moderate", and reveal existing muscle. That's kind of what happened for me, starting as a blobby li'l ol' lady . . . but a pretty active one. There were some muscles under my substantial fat layer. I can't swear I lost zero muscle mass alongside fat loss, but my athletic performance stayed consistent. (No, it wasn't terrible - for my age - when I was fat. It's a myth that fat people can't be reasonably fit.)

We can maximize fat loss, and be much more likely to lose lean tissue alongside that fat loss, too - including muscle mass. Researchers estimate we can only metabolize X calories of stored body fat daily per pound of fat we have on our body. Beyond that, our body will turn to burning other kinds of tissue to make up the deficit (and maybe subtly down-regulate our calorie expenditure in various ways to limit the damage). The implication is that people who value muscle mass should lose weight more slowly as they get lighter for best results.

If instead we want to maximize muscle gain, that's most likely to happen in a calorie surplus, i.e. while gaining weight.

There's also that recomposition option: Pretty steady body weight, gradually gain muscle mass, using stored body fat as part of the fuel.

One thing to watch out for: Sometimes people think they've gained muscle because they got stronger, and their body fat percentage went down a lot. But the math is tricky: If someone has 25% body fat at 220 pounds, they have 165 pounds of lean mass. If they lift and reduce calories, lose down to 180 pounds and 15% body fat, that sounds good . . . but they now have 153 pounds of lean mass. They lost 12 pounds of lean mass. Is that good or bad? Hard to say. We probably want to lose some lean mass alongside fat loss, though ideally not bone or muscle. But don't assume a reduced body fat percent and a strength increase means muscle mass gain. If only! 😆

The real question for a specific person is "What's the best balance between fat loss and muscle gain for ME, and how can I best get there?"

We'd need to know more about you to even remotely guess what a good specific plan for you would be. Lots of good advice above, but a bit of "blind men and the elephant" because we lack those details.

Generically, to balance muscle retention, maybe slow muscle gain, while losing fat, some controllable elements would be:

• Relatively small calorie deficit for slow fat loss
• A good, progressive strength training program faithfully performed
• Good nutrition, especially but not exclusively ample protein

Some cardio is good, but overdoing cardio (or the combined stress of cardio + strength work) is bad for all of weight loss, muscle gain, or cardiovascular development. "Overdoing" is also defined individually. That's a whole other subject we argue about here. 😉

Best wishes!

GarethArmstrong6267

Hi, thanks for the replies ☺️ my ideal would be to roll back the years by 23 years when I played rugby. I was between 115 and 120kg and barely any body fat. I am currently down to 137kg but its obvious that I still have a large amount of fat to go. My starting weight at the beginning of this journey was a ridiculous 210kg.

I am doing 45 minutes weights and at the moment doing 12km on an indoor bike on a moderate setting 5 to 6 times a week and getting in around 10k steps per day. Calories wise I am eating around 1250kcal to 1450kcal per day.

I would say that its mainly a cosmetic change for me but I also obviously want to be fit too. I think at 45, my athletics days are long gone 😅

nossmf

 I think at 45, my athletics days are long gone 😅

Tweet, flag on the play! What are you talking about? I'm 48, stronger than I've ever been in my life (got the lifting numbers to prove it), thinner than I've been in decades, and running better than I have since I was a teenager. My endurance today isn't what it used to be (but working on it) and recovery takes far longer than it used to do. But I definitely consider myself athletic, so why not you?