loose fat but build muscle??

thedodgeruk
thedodgeruk Posts: 132 Member
edited October 1 in Health and Weight Loss
to loose fat you need to eat less caloires than you burn per day .
but to build muscle you need to eat more than you burn so that your body can make muscle

this is what i can gather , so how do you loose fat and build muscle then ?

Replies

  • moefitt
    moefitt Posts: 15 Member
    As your muscle mass increases, your fat level decreases. More muscle will "burn" away fat. To increase muscle mass, you'll have to ramp up the intensity of your exercise. Cardio (walking, jogging, running, swimming) will help you burn calories, which in turn will help you lose fat. Resistance exercises will help increase muscle mass.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
    As far as I know (and this is how I'm doing it) you concentrate on one goal at a time. For me I am eating more than I burn to try and gain muscle, lifting weights alot, eating enough protein etc. The aim is to gain mainly muscle and as small amount of fat as possible. Then I'll go on a slight deficit when I don't want to gain anymore fat, probably about 2-300 calories a day deficit. The aim there is to lose fat and hold onto as much muscle as I can. It's much easier that way rather than trying to do both at the same time, and is how bodybuilders etc do it before competitions.

    However, if you're very new to working out you may make some muscle gains while on a deficit and losing weight. This will end at some point though and you'll have to work on one at a time.
  • It's a challenge to do both at the same time. Most people try and fail because we get so stuck in looking at the scale to measure our success. Adding muscle while loosing fat makes the scale not move much which makes people loose heart. I tried and I saw a big boost in my muscle mass but then the fat stopped going away and I was just getting heavier. I don't want to be a strong fat guy. I'm now focused on getting to a healthy weight and then I'll try to gain muscle.
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