Can you burn fat while building lean muscle?

altairego21
altairego21 Posts: 52 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello. I am a 19 year old female and weigh about 143lbs and have a height of 5'3. Most of my fat is located in my upper body. I want to be able to get a flat stomach with having lean muscle in my arms and legs and butt. To do this I was wondering if there was a way that i can burn my fat off my body while building lean muscle? On a typical day I warm up on the elliptical for 10 minutes then train either upper body or lower body with weights, I never train abs because I feel like its pointless but after i do the 30 minute weights I run for about 20 minutes. I dont want to do to much cardio because i want to be curvy but still lose my fat, see my problem.

My goal is to basically shed 10-15lbs of fat without losing my muscle. Should I focus on my marcos to get me to lose fat and just continuing the strength training to train my body or should I just stick with cardio machine? Should I do both cardio and weights to help me burn 15lbs of fat? Please help! Thank you so much!

Replies

  • spiffychick85
    spiffychick85 Posts: 311 Member
    Well I know you can burn fat (eating at a deficit) while maintaining some muscle (strength training)...but the only case study I have followed is my own so I'm going off of my own results. I will say this...my body looks so much better while losing weight and strength training vs without the weights :) I'm sure someone will be along shortly with more knowledgeable information lol
  • Gallowmere1984
    Gallowmere1984 Posts: 6,626 Member
    Some people (including Scooby) make compelling arguments for it given a proper diet and training setup. Even those who make such arguments will admit that after many years of training, it becomes near impossible. Whether it actually plays out in reality, I couldn't say from personal experience.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Gallowmere1984 wrote: »
    Some people (including Scooby) make compelling arguments for it given a proper diet and training setup. Even those who make such arguments will admit that after many years of training, it becomes near impossible. Whether it actually plays out in reality, I couldn't say from personal experience.

    This basically. If it is possible, it will be in small quantities and be a very slow process.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    lnmuse wrote: »
    My goal is to basically shed 10-15lbs of fat without losing my muscle. Should I focus on my marcos to get me to lose fat and just continuing the strength training to train my body or should I just stick with cardio machine? Should I do both cardio and weights to help me burn 15lbs of fat? Please help! Thank you so much!

    Eat in a small to moderate deficit and continue strength training. As long as you don't go crazy with your deficit, eat enough protein, and keep up strength training, your muscle should be fine. A smaller deficit may help you to keep being able to add more weight to the bar at this point. You kind of have to experiment with that a bit as some people are more affected by others by a deficit.

  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    If you are starting out, it's best to stick with the basics--eat at a deficit, hit your macros, lift weights, do whatever combination of weights and cardio you prefer. There is no point in trying to follow a more complicated program. In the beginning it won't make any difference, and by the time it might make a difference, your body will have changed and you'll need to come up with a new approach anyway.

    Don't make it more complicated than necessary--put that energy into being consistent with your intake and doing quality workouts. That will be 1000x more effective than any training plan, diet plan, or supplement.
  • rolenthegreat
    rolenthegreat Posts: 78 Member
    You might be looking for 'recomp'. Try this thread.
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
  • BoxerBrawler
    BoxerBrawler Posts: 2,032 Member
    It's hard but not impossible. Have to make sure you're eating the right foods, the right amount of protein and at the right times. When I go on a cut cycle my calories go down and my food choices become very specific. I focus more on cardio and cardio lifting vs. lifting heavy weights. I also add more protein and I add a multi V as well as Gluatamine and L Carnatine to my regimen. Still lose some muscle mass with the fat loss but not as much as you would without a proper nutrition plan and supplementation. On Bodybuilding.com there is a nice list of the "Best Foods for Cutting". All foods one should eat when trying to lose fat but maintain muscle. As far as losing fat and building muscle... I wouldn't do both at the same time. Unless you're a professional body builder or fighter there's no reason to be that strict with your plan. Lose the body fat first... tear it down. Re-build it with muscle and do it again and again until you're where you want to be body fat and muscle mass wise. Carb and calorie cycle once per week so keep your metabolism from bottoming out during a cut cycle.
    Hope some of this has helped...
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    cushman5279 wrote: »
    It's hard but not impossible. Have to make sure you're eating the right foods, the right amount of protein and at the right times. When I go on a cut cycle my calories go down and my food choices become very specific. I focus more on cardio and cardio lifting vs. lifting heavy weights. I also add more protein and I add a multi V as well as Gluatamine and L Carnatine to my regimen. Still lose some muscle mass with the fat loss but not as much as you would without a proper nutrition plan and supplementation. On Bodybuilding.com there is a nice list of the "Best Foods for Cutting". All foods one should eat when trying to lose fat but maintain muscle. As far as losing fat and building muscle... I wouldn't do both at the same time. Unless you're a professional body builder or fighter there's no reason to be that strict with your plan. Lose the body fat first... tear it down. Re-build it with muscle and do it again and again until you're where you want to be body fat and muscle mass wise. Carb and calorie cycle once per week so keep your metabolism from bottoming out during a cut cycle.
    Hope some of this has helped...

    No, just no.

    1) Food choice doesn't matter
    2)Meal timing doesn't matter
    3)There is no reason to change your lifting focus
    4)Glutamine & L-Carnitine are not needed
    5) Bodybuilding.com is a terrible resource for nutritional advise
    6)Carb/calorie cycling is not required
    7) The metabolism doesn't "bottom out" unless you do things very wrong.
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