How do you loose weight when you are putting on muscle?

The short answer is that you can't do both at the same time. You will need to choose between building more muscle and losing a little fat for a little while.

One, you are not gaining muscle.. if you were, the weight would be going up and not down due to the gain of muscle and fat. Two, what you are most likely seeing is water retention from the muscles repairing themselves.. not actual muscle gain.

You also only have 19 pounds to lose.. which is not much. So it's going to come off slower anyway... whether you are building muscle or not.

Just keep eating at a deficit and you'll be fine.

The short answer is that you can't do both at the same time. You will need to choose between building more muscle and losing a little fat for a little while.

i see this said on here alot, but i don't believe it. what is the origin of this assertion? i'd like to see something to back it up.

have you ever seen what happens to a Marine recruit during basic training? they lose weight. they lose fat. and they gain muscle as a result of all the PT. clearly you can do both with alot of exercise.

If you don't believe it, I suggest you read more or don't believe everything you are told.

Take into account the first law of thermodynamics for a good starting point.

Secondly, human biology and how the body works. This would involve hormones secreted by the pancreas namely insulin and glucagon.

Insulin shuttles glucose round the body to the liver and muscles. It does a lot more than this but that is a primary role. A spike in blood sugar causes insulin to be released and transported accordingly.

Now, for every action there is an equal and opposite reason.

This is where glucagon comes in. With low blood sugar, glucagon is released to extract fuel from another source, fat cells in particular. This is then converted to glycogen to compensate for the lack of in the blood and the transport happens in the same way.

The pancreas cannot perform both functions at the same time; see the comment regarding the first law of thermodynamics.

You can either being in a fat burning or fat use (storage if excess is present state) at any one time. Given that carbohydrates are the prime macronutrient to raising blood sugar you'd have thought that most people would have figured out to stop shovelling food down their throat with wanton abandon and let glucagon remain active for a long as possible to utilise body fat. Guess again.

You can build muscle and burn fat in the same day, timing what and when you eat. However, it is biologically impossible for your body to do it at the same time.

Dear OP,

Keep doing exactly what you are doing as it sounds like it's working toward your actual goal. Ignore all the chatter about what can and can't be done in a deficit because it's irrelevant. Continue your workouts, maintain your calorie deficit, limit your sweets to one day per week. If you're having trouble staying under on calories then adding some cardio is a fine idea. Try hard not to overeat on your training days. That's pretty much the formula I used for myself this year and I've been pleased with the results so far.

Keep on keeping on,

Dave

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)