Possible to lose fat and build muscle at the same time?

bump.
i am in the same situation!

Absolutely! In fact, the more lean muscle mass you have, the faster you'll burn fat because it speeds up your metabolism.

Try some interval training - jumping jacks between each set, or skipping rope or the ever-depised burpees. It will keep your heart rate at a fat-burning rate while you do weight training.

It sounds like you're pretty new to lifting, in which case you can do both at the same time. Maintain a modest calorie deficit and lift heavy.

But...

You will see very minimal muscle gains and your body will soon "adapt" to the calorie deficit making it basically impossible to build new muscle with a deficit.

Building new muscle is a painfully slow process. Trying to do both at the same time is a sure fire recipe for wheel spinning.

Pick one (lose weight or build muscle) and focus on that for a few months, then reevaluate.

screw calorie restriction...I say eat more calories...but limit your carbs if you wanna lose those love handles...lot's of protein will help you build muscles while losing fat...Just my take on the matter... good luck

Is it april fools day already?

Hi there,

I am doing the EXACT same thing as you HOWEVER, I am having my post-workout protein to preserve my muscle mass. I have lost weight and built muscle since October. Let me rephrase that, I have lost body fat and built muscle since October 2012. Although the scale looks slow, I have lost tons of inches and my arms and shoulders and back have gained. My hips are much smaller and pants much looser. You need to calculate your lean body mass to preserve that first..(top priority) then take that number and consume that many grams of protein. This is what enables your metabolism to burn the fat. Im with emstethem on this one in regards to calories. Look at it from more of a macronutrients perspective. Your muscle building will burn the fat and your changes in WHAT you eat will affect your calories naturally. Try to sneak in protein and/fiber in anything you eat. Also, post-workout, ingest some carbs to refuel your glycogen stores..I eat a couple of rice cakes (apple cinnamon with a touch of Peanut butter..YUMM-O) or whatever sweet I had been craving..Ill eat it then. I hope this helps!! Good luck!

Thank you! This was put much better than how I put it! As for my carb fix, I crave veggies and berries (blueberries, strawberries or blackberries and heavy whipped cream! yum!) So many people are eating low It makes me sad...they are just setting themselves up for starvation mode... EAT MAN! EAT!

Okay so I read info on the both you and jacksonpt, and you both have valid points HOWEVER moderation is key as well as satiation. What a lot of ppl do is have LF/low cal processed crap that usually hides sugar alcohols or sugars (which are later stored as fat) and load it on because a) they dont look at serving sizes, b) they see LF/low cal, they think its a "free" food and/or c) they eat a ton of it bc theyre searching for the same feeling they get when they eat the real thing, such as whole cream, etc. WRONG! The purer the food, the better. It depends on where a person is starting out. If they are used to eating whole fat butters, creams, etc then initially they should continue to use them but maybe incorporate 1/2 instead (of the real thing) instead of something artificial. Those that don't, like myself, find ways to incorporate other real foods to minimize "fluff" in recipes. I also think everyone is different, and react differently to various intake. For example, I make PB cookies without flour. The PB flavor comes out more and I naturally consume less calories because a) I get satisfied with less bc theyre so flavorful and b) the flour doesnt really do anything for it therefore each cookie has less calories. Or sometimes Ill substitute applesauce for oil in baked recipes. And not to toot my own horn, but Im a great cook, I think that is KEYYYYYYYYYY to long-term weight loss..YUMMY food with less calories. But I dont know if you need to necessarily count. Just go by how your body reacts!! And the less processed foods, the smaller a waist line..No joke!! But again, moderation is key!!

So basically you're suggesting a calorie moderate, high protein, whole food diet?

:X

Nicely put!!

You can either:

1) Eat at a deficit, ensuring your protein is intake is higher than carbs and fats while continuing to lift heavy

2) Eat more, lift heavy and do more cardio.

Either way, protein has to be way up to maintain/build muscle and promote fat loss.

And from what I read in your last post, you seem to be doing everything right. Sometimes belly fat is the last to go but perhaps you can increase the days you lift at your current lifting weight OR lift heavier on the 3 days you train? What kind of cardio are you doing? I have had excellent results in reducing BF% with HIIT style cardio - of course this is in conjunction with eating right, 40-30-30 macros (carbs/protein/fat), weight training, etc. I train atleast 5x a week, some weeks its 7x then I have a rest day or two.