Fat to muscle?

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newyorkgiants123
newyorkgiants123 Posts: 8
in Food and Nutrition
I am currently overweight and would like to lose fat. However, I play american football and have heard that if you want to lose fat, but maintain or even gain muscle you need to eat more calories. So I would like to gain muscle as well.

If I train hard (lifting weights 4 times a week and doing cardio for around 30-45 mins everyday with one rest day), but eat around 20% more calories than my basic metabolic rate requires to maintain my body weight, will I slowly lose fat whilst gaining muscle? Assuming I eat healthy foods and not crap.

Is that possible or will I just get fatter?

Replies

  • ell_v131
    ell_v131 Posts: 349 Member
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    you can't really lose fat while at caloric surplus. You can recomposition your body while eating at maintenance (lose some fat and build some muscle) but it's a very slow process.

    If you play football and are overweight, chances are you already have a lot of lean mass to carry all the fat around. What I think would be good to focus on is a caloric deficit o 250-500 cals depending on how much you have to lose and getting enough protein in. If you lift heavy and go to football training (and have no kidney issues), I would say 1g of protein per lb of lean bodyweight would be alright. This will allow you to preserve the lean mass that you currently have while dropping the fat you don't want.

    Once you get to the body fat percentage you like, you can do a bulking phase in which you'll focus on gaining muscle, but be ready to gain some fat with it, which you will then have to lose in a cut phase.
  • MrsJBro
    MrsJBro Posts: 59 Member
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    I think this website might help you. It'll calculate your BMR (minimum amount of calories you need to survive), but then you can factor in your activity level to determine how much you would need to gain/lose/maintain while being as active as you are. Then you can ensure you have the appropriate amount of calories to lose weight but not starve you body to the point of breaking down muscle.

    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/
  • newyorkgiants123
    newyorkgiants123 Posts: 8
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    Thank you for the response it is much appreciated!
    However, if I lower my caloric intake doesn't that also mean that when I am at rest my body will burn less calories and store fat more easily because it thinks that food is scarce?
    So if I eat a greater amount of calories (healthy foods), but expend a lot of calories through cardio and weight lifting wouldn't my metabolism increase and burn fat/gain muscle. All be it slowly and the more lean muscle I have the more fat I will burn.
  • ell_v131
    ell_v131 Posts: 349 Member
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    No.

    By eating over your maintenance you will gain both muscle and fat. Period. Yes your metabolic rate will increase, but do you want to be 500lbs with high metabolic rate or at reasonable weight and normal metabolic rate?

    Fat doesn't require almost any energy to keep. Muscle does. That's why your focus should be on maintaining the muscle and dropping the fat.

    Yes, as you get lighter your BMR (basal metabolic rate) will decrease. That's a natural thing. 100lbs person doesn't need as much energy every day as a 200lbs person. But your body will not start storing fat because it thinks you're starving. What you're talking about is so called "starvation mode" which doesn't exist in overweight individuals and you would have to eat a very low calorie diet (talking about 800 cals or so) for a long period of time for your metabolism to be affected in a negative way. A healthy 250-500 caloric deficit would have you dropping weight and if you eat enough protein and do resistance training, you will maintain most of your muscle mass.

    If you eat a greater amount of calories (calories are calories, no matter if healthy or not) than your maintenance, you will gain. I am talking about net calories. So for example your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is 2600 cals. Do lose, you will go for a caloric deficit of 500, so your target will be 2100.

    If you want to slowly lose fat and gain muscle, you will eat at maintenance (2600 as per example above), and your progress will be slow. I'm talking about not seeing differences month on month, possibly more like 6 months to 6 months or more.

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