Losing fat as well as gaining lean muscle

laurajh66
laurajh66 Posts: 4 Member
in Motivation and Support
I was just wondering if anybody could help me out, I currently go to the gym around 3-5 times a week, I am wanting to lose FAT but I also want to gain lean muscle, I much prefer weight training and I do this in every gym session however I also like to fit in some cardio at the beginning of my sessions, I just wondered if it was possible to lose fat through mainly weight training rather than cardio or do I need to do more cardio? I'm worried I may build muscle but not lose fat so and end up increasing my weight.. can anyone help?

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    You'll lose fat in a calorie deficit regardless of what exercise you do or don't do. You aren't going to build a particularly meaningful amount of muscle if you're in a calorie deficit.
  • Niples_
    Niples_ Posts: 53 Member
    I lost 14 lbs of Fat and put on 4 lbs of muscle in the last 50 days. I'm also new to lifting so it's probably not so much new muscle fibers, it's probably a lot of water build up on my muscles.

    I'm lifting 6 to 7 times per week. And doing no more than 20 mins of cardio per day. Sometimes first thing in the morning. Sometimes after I lift.

    You can burn fat doing nothing but weights. It's all about how well you eat. But you will not build as much muscle as you would eating a surplus.

    I'm working with a trainer. I can run ur macros if you give me ur weight and BF%
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    You'll lose fat in a calorie deficit regardless of what exercise you do or don't do. You aren't going to build a particularly meaningful amount of muscle if you're in a calorie deficit.

    Just to add to this, you can get stronger while maintaining a calorie deficit, but gaining an appreciable amount of muscle mass generally requires you to eat at a calorie surplus. And when eating at a surplus while weight training, you'll be adding both muscle mass and body fat.

    Depending on how much fat you have to lose, going through a recomp while eating at maintenance might be a good option for you. Just know that it will be a very slow process.
  • laurajh66
    laurajh66 Posts: 4 Member
    Niples_ wrote: »
    I lost 14 lbs of Fat and put on 4 lbs of muscle in the last 50 days. I'm also new to lifting so it's probably not so much new muscle fibers, it's probably a lot of water build up on my muscles.

    I'm lifting 6 to 7 times per week. And doing no more than 20 mins of cardio per day. Sometimes first thing in the morning. Sometimes after I lift.

    You can burn fat doing nothing but weights. It's all about how well you eat. But you will not build as much muscle as you would eating a surplus.

    I'm working with a trainer. I can run ur macros if you give me ur weight and BF%

    That would be great! My weight is around 140lbs/10st and body fat percentage 23.3%.
  • laurajh66
    laurajh66 Posts: 4 Member
    CafeRacer808 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    You'll lose fat in a calorie deficit regardless of what exercise you do or don't do. You aren't going to build a particularly meaningful amount of muscle if you're in a calorie deficit.

    Just to add to this, you can get stronger while maintaining a calorie deficit, but gaining an appreciable amount of muscle mass generally requires you to eat at a calorie surplus. And when eating at a surplus while weight training, you'll be adding both muscle mass and body fat.

    Depending on how much fat you have to lose, going through a recomp while eating at maintenance might be a good option for you. Just know that it will be a very slow process.

    So would it be possible to still eat less carbs/fats/sugar etc of my recommended daily intake but consume my daily amount of protein if not more to lose fat and gain muscle..? Or do you still need your recommended DI of other nutrients?
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    laurajh66 wrote: »

    So would it be possible to still eat less carbs/fats/sugar etc of my recommended daily intake but consume my daily amount of protein if not more to lose fat and gain muscle..? Or do you still need your recommended DI of other nutrients?

    Weight loss comes down to calories, not specific macros. If you want to lose fat, you need to create a calorie deficit, either by reducing your food intake (calories in), increasing your energy expenditure (calories out), or both. Reducing your food intake will likely have a much bigger impact on your weight loss than exercise alone.

    But like I said, it's possible to slowly lose fat while gaining some muscle mass by doing a recomp. You might find this thread helpful:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
  • Niples_
    Niples_ Posts: 53 Member
    Your maintenance calories including exercises is probably around 2200. To lose 1 lbs a week you want to shave off 500 calories. So avg of 1700 calories. More importantly. Eat at least 140g of protein. At least 48g of fat. And the rest of your calories can be carbs if you want. Which comes out to 177g of carbs. Obviously don't go over ur calories. So if you go over your proteins and fats. Cut calories from the carbs.

    Remember protein and fat numbers are minimums. Carb is a max. You can play around with the carb and fats to fit your preference. Just try not to go under on the protein.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    Niples_ wrote: »
    Your maintenance calories including exercises is probably around 2200. To lose 1 lbs a week you want to shave off 500 calories. So avg of 1700 calories. More importantly. Eat at least 140g of protein. At least 48g of fat. And the rest of your calories can be carbs if you want. Which comes out to 177g of carbs. Obviously don't go over ur calories. So if you go over your proteins and fats. Cut calories from the carbs.

    Remember protein and fat numbers are minimums. Carb is a max. You can play around with the carb and fats to fit your preference. Just try not to go under on the protein.

    I'm curious how you arrived at this number without knowing the OP's height, weight.
  • Niples_
    Niples_ Posts: 53 Member
    Btw, not sure if it applies to you. The biggest change I made to my diet was to only drink water. After I cut off all the sugary drinks that I'm so used to i ended up having to eat more food than before to hit my goals.
  • Niples_
    Niples_ Posts: 53 Member
    CafeRacer808 wrote: »
    Niples_ wrote: »
    Your maintenance calories including exercises is probably around 2200. To lose 1 lbs a week you want to shave off 500 calories. So avg of 1700 calories. More importantly. Eat at least 140g of protein. At least 48g of fat. And the rest of your calories can be carbs if you want. Which comes out to 177g of carbs. Obviously don't go over ur calories. So if you go over your proteins and fats. Cut calories from the carbs.

    Remember protein and fat numbers are minimums. Carb is a max. You can play around with the carb and fats to fit your preference. Just try not to go under on the protein.

    I'm curious how you arrived at this number without knowing the OP's height, weight.

    He did tell me his weight and BF%. Height isn't that relevant.
  • laurajh66
    laurajh66 Posts: 4 Member
    Niples_ wrote: »
    Btw, not sure if it applies to you. The biggest change I made to my diet was to only drink water. After I cut off all the sugary drinks that I'm so used to i ended up having to eat more food than before to hit my goals.

    I don't tend to drink that much sugary drinks.. well I tend to drink water and dilute however apart from when I'm working out and with meals I struggle to drink a lot of water through the day a sit doesn't tend to cross my mind, although I will try and increase my water intake!
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    Niples_ wrote: »
    CafeRacer808 wrote: »
    Niples_ wrote: »
    Your maintenance calories including exercises is probably around 2200. To lose 1 lbs a week you want to shave off 500 calories. So avg of 1700 calories. More importantly. Eat at least 140g of protein. At least 48g of fat. And the rest of your calories can be carbs if you want. Which comes out to 177g of carbs. Obviously don't go over ur calories. So if you go over your proteins and fats. Cut calories from the carbs.

    Remember protein and fat numbers are minimums. Carb is a max. You can play around with the carb and fats to fit your preference. Just try not to go under on the protein.

    I'm curious how you arrived at this number without knowing the OP's height, weight.

    He did tell me his weight and BF%. Height isn't that relevant.

    Sorry, I missed where OP mentioned their weight. But to say height is irrelevant is not accurate. One's TDEE is a function of their gender, age, height, weight and activity level. All other variables being equal, someone who's 5' 140lbs will have a different TDEE than someone who's 5'10 140lbs. Granted, the difference may only be about 150-200 calories/day, but that can easily be the difference between losing, gaining or maintaining, particularly if a person doesn't have much fat left to lose.
  • Niples_
    Niples_ Posts: 53 Member
    edited March 2017
    I started at 186.4lbs. I weighed in at 174.4 thus morning. My trainer has me lugging a gallon of water around everyday day and I finish it most days. For you I'd say try at least 3 liters. On big compound days some times I drink half a gallon during the workout in about an hr.
  • Niples_
    Niples_ Posts: 53 Member
    CafeRacer808 wrote: »
    Niples_ wrote: »
    CafeRacer808 wrote: »
    Niples_ wrote: »
    Your maintenance calories including exercises is probably around 2200. To lose 1 lbs a week you want to shave off 500 calories. So avg of 1700 calories. More importantly. Eat at least 140g of protein. At least 48g of fat. And the rest of your calories can be carbs if you want. Which comes out to 177g of carbs. Obviously don't go over ur calories. So if you go over your proteins and fats. Cut calories from the carbs.

    Remember protein and fat numbers are minimums. Carb is a max. You can play around with the carb and fats to fit your preference. Just try not to go under on the protein.

    I'm curious how you arrived at this number without knowing the OP's height, weight.

    He did tell me his weight and BF%. Height isn't that relevant.

    Sorry, I missed where OP mentioned their weight. But to say height is irrelevant is not accurate. One's TDEE is a function of their gender, age, height, weight and activity level. All other variables being equal, someone who's 5' 140lbs will have a different TDEE than someone who's 5'10 140lbs. Granted, the difference may only be about 150-200 calories/day, but that can easily be the difference between losing, gaining or maintaining, particularly if a person doesn't have much fat left to lose.

    True. But I've played around with tons of formulas even ones that try to account for height and gender. They all come down to the body fat every time. You look at the core of the formulas and all the good ones are estimating Lean Body Mass first and the running the numbers from there. So I just skip the BS and add the LBM to the formula. Tried one with height included just now and it only varied from 1680 to 1715 calories from 5'3" to 5'10".

    Inaccuracies in measuring account for way more than that. It's more important to have a base # to start with and evaluate your progress every 2 weeks. Then adjust by 10% up or down depending on the results.

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