Best way to lose body fat and gain muscle
Travislrone
Posts: 5 Member
Hi. My name is Travis and I'm looking to completely transform my body. I weigh 199 lbs even, have a body fat of 21.9% per a weigh scale, and I'm looking to have around 6-13% body fat. Not quite sure about the projected weight as of now. I know nothing... NOTHING. I know I needto lift weights, but not sure as to how. What program is recommend, what's best for me to reach my goals, etc. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance for your patience!
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Replies
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This might help you: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
Checking out the Gaining Weight and Bodybuilding section might also be a good place to get more guidance to build muscle. Good luck!1 -
If you want to lose fat, I’d suggest taking care of (most of) that first. Then just do stronglift 5x5 until you start to get more into it and figure out a better program that works for you.3
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For the most part you won't be able to do both at the same time (newbie gains are possible) unless you recomp, and I'm sure the experts will say at your BF% cutting would be more ideal. Set your goals to lose no more than a pound a week, log everything as accurately as possible, get in enough protein (minimum .8 grams per pound of lean mass), and choose a beginner program from the post linked above.4
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Ok. This all sounds great. I guess the next question I want to ask is how do I begin successfully cutting? It seems that even when I try to eat at a 500 calorie deficit that my weight and body fat either doesn't change, or they both go up a little as if eating at maintenance. Am I doing something wrong? I thought that you focus on getting your BMR calories in and then begin a deficit from there.0
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Use the tools MFP gives you. Set your calorie goals using MFP's wizard, log all the food that passes your lips, and buy a food scale and start weighing things for accuracy. You're going to need a calorie deficit to lose weight and drop your body fat. You're also going to need a fair amount of patience. It takes time, don't rush, cut yourself slack along the way, and be consistent.
Second thing, start lifting now, or find a workout/exercise regimen that you like, can maintain, and be consistent with it as well. You may not gain a lot of muscle now, but once the weight is gone and the body fat is closer to the 10% level you can increase calories, increase weight training, and build muscle. Even then it may take some bulk/cut cycles to obtain the exact goal you want. You don't have to exercise to lose weight, but without it your fitness will suffer, and in the end when you're standing in the mirror with less fat on your body, what you want to see is some muscle. That's gained through exercise and lifting/resistance training.2 -
22% on a weigh scale is only accurate within anywhere from 5 to 10%. They are not a very accurate way of testing. They can differ greatly based on water % in your body etc. But if you are somewhere close to 22% that isn't a lot of body fat. You can gain muscle lean mass and lose fat at the same time no problem. I'm doing it now but I have a lot more fat than that to lose. I use body comp imaging to know the exact body fat and lean muscle mass I am carrying. And please don't listen to people that say lose only 1 or 2 lbs a week cause "that's the healthy way". That is complete old science B.S. If you do things right you can lose as much fat as you want. I am losing from 3 to 4 lbs of fat every week by keto and intermittent fasting and doing cardio and weight lifting. Go on youtube and look up Dr. Eric Berg for more in depth info on that kind of thing. And Thomas Delauer for more of the muscle gain end of things combined with intermittent fasting and keto. If you do things right and transform your metabolism into keto adapted fat burning then you can lose as much fat as you want because your body doesn't suffer any energy loss or organ function because your body burns as much as it wants from fat storage. Weight loss of fat should only be slowed down when body fat % get very low where there is actual risk of the body catatonic-ally using muscle to burn as energy instead of fat. Being keto adapted means your body no longer runs on burning glucose from carbs (sugar) intake because you stop ingesting so much carbs and instead eat a diet of around 5 to 10% carbs, around 25% protein and around 70% good fats poly/moly fats. I've lost 47 lbs in 77 days and have tons of energy and feel great. Also to ensure you build muscle while you are working out and eating right make sure you consume around .4 to 1 gram of protein per lb of your body weight. Any less you won't gain muscle at a good rate and any more than that your body can convert to glucose which is not good.11
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Although I don't use IF or Keto, Thomas Delauer's stuff on youtube is really good stuff in my opinion, so I'll second @PaulChasinDreams on that one.1
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PaulChasinDreams wrote: »22% on a weigh scale is only accurate within anywhere from 5 to 10%. They are not a very accurate way of testing. They can differ greatly based on water % in your body etc. But if you are somewhere close to 22% that isn't a lot of body fat. You can gain muscle lean mass and lose fat at the same time no problem. I'm doing it now but I have a lot more fat than that to lose. I use body comp imaging to know the exact body fat and lean muscle mass I am carrying. And please don't listen to people that say lose only 1 or 2 lbs a week cause "that's the healthy way". That is complete old science B.S. If you do things right you can lose as much fat as you want. I am losing from 3 to 4 lbs of fat every week by keto and intermittent fasting and doing cardio and weight lifting. Go on youtube and look up Dr. Eric Berg for more in depth info on that kind of thing. And Thomas Delauer for more of the muscle gain end of things combined with intermittent fasting and keto. If you do things right and transform your metabolism into keto adapted fat burning then you can lose as much fat as you want because your body doesn't suffer any energy loss or organ function because your body burns as much as it wants from fat storage. Weight loss of fat should only be slowed down when body fat % get very low where there is actual risk of the body catatonic-ally using muscle to burn as energy instead of fat. Being keto adapted means your body no longer runs on burning glucose from carbs (sugar) intake because you stop ingesting so much carbs and instead eat a diet of around 5 to 10% carbs, around 25% protein and around 70% good fats poly/moly fats. I've lost 47 lbs in 77 days and have tons of energy and feel great. Also to ensure you build muscle while you are working out and eating right make sure you consume around .4 to 1 gram of protein per lb of your body weight. Any less you won't gain muscle at a good rate and any more than that your body can convert to glucose which is not good.
I am going to be one of those that says running aggressive calorie deficits cause you to lose muscle not maintain or build muscle.
You are dropping water weight doing keto, You must be running upwards of a 2000 calorie deficit and have a lot to lose. You can build some newbie gains in a deficit but these taper off leaving you with being able to maintain at best if you do a combination of muscle sparing events during weight loss.
Keto is not the best/optimal method for build muscle, OP you do not have to revert to doing keto in fact carbs are best when building muscle.5 -
PaulChasinDreams wrote: »22% on a weigh scale is only accurate within anywhere from 5 to 10%. They are not a very accurate way of testing. They can differ greatly based on water % in your body etc. But if you are somewhere close to 22% that isn't a lot of body fat. You can gain muscle lean mass and lose fat at the same time no problem. I'm doing it now but I have a lot more fat than that to lose. I use body comp imaging to know the exact body fat and lean muscle mass I am carrying. And please don't listen to people that say lose only 1 or 2 lbs a week cause "that's the healthy way". That is complete old science B.S. If you do things right you can lose as much fat as you want. I am losing from 3 to 4 lbs of fat every week by keto and intermittent fasting and doing cardio and weight lifting. Go on youtube and look up Dr. Eric Berg for more in depth info on that kind of thing. And Thomas Delauer for more of the muscle gain end of things combined with intermittent fasting and keto. If you do things right and transform your metabolism into keto adapted fat burning then you can lose as much fat as you want because your body doesn't suffer any energy loss or organ function because your body burns as much as it wants from fat storage. Weight loss of fat should only be slowed down when body fat % get very low where there is actual risk of the body catatonic-ally using muscle to burn as energy instead of fat. Being keto adapted means your body no longer runs on burning glucose from carbs (sugar) intake because you stop ingesting so much carbs and instead eat a diet of around 5 to 10% carbs, around 25% protein and around 70% good fats poly/moly fats. I've lost 47 lbs in 77 days and have tons of energy and feel great. Also to ensure you build muscle while you are working out and eating right make sure you consume around .4 to 1 gram of protein per lb of your body weight. Any less you won't gain muscle at a good rate and any more than that your body can convert to glucose which is not good.
^ Other than the first sentence, ignore the rest of this post. Berg is nothing more than a chiropractor who is way overstepping his education/training and has run afoul of the law in the past for his junk science recommendations, and keto is not magical - in fact, it's the least optimal approach to building muscle.
I'll just leave this here, from somebody who's not a snake oil peddling chiropractor and actually has education and research credentials in the fields of nutrition and training:
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PaulChasinDreams wrote: »22% on a weigh scale is only accurate within anywhere from 5 to 10%. They are not a very accurate way of testing. They can differ greatly based on water % in your body etc. But if you are somewhere close to 22% that isn't a lot of body fat. You can gain muscle lean mass and lose fat at the same time no problem. I'm doing it now but I have a lot more fat than that to lose. I use body comp imaging to know the exact body fat and lean muscle mass I am carrying. And please don't listen to people that say lose only 1 or 2 lbs a week cause "that's the healthy way". That is complete old science B.S. If you do things right you can lose as much fat as you want. I am losing from 3 to 4 lbs of fat every week by keto and intermittent fasting and doing cardio and weight lifting. Go on youtube and look up Dr. Eric Berg for more in depth info on that kind of thing. And Thomas Delauer for more of the muscle gain end of things combined with intermittent fasting and keto. If you do things right and transform your metabolism into keto adapted fat burning then you can lose as much fat as you want because your body doesn't suffer any energy loss or organ function because your body burns as much as it wants from fat storage. Weight loss of fat should only be slowed down when body fat % get very low where there is actual risk of the body catatonic-ally using muscle to burn as energy instead of fat. Being keto adapted means your body no longer runs on burning glucose from carbs (sugar) intake because you stop ingesting so much carbs and instead eat a diet of around 5 to 10% carbs, around 25% protein and around 70% good fats poly/moly fats. I've lost 47 lbs in 77 days and have tons of energy and feel great. Also to ensure you build muscle while you are working out and eating right make sure you consume around .4 to 1 gram of protein per lb of your body weight. Any less you won't gain muscle at a good rate and any more than that your body can convert to glucose which is not good.
^ Other than the first sentence, ignore the rest of this post. Berg is nothing more than a chiropractor who is way overstepping his education/training and has run afoul of the law in the past for his junk science recommendations, and keto is not magical - in fact, it's the least optimal approach to building muscle.
I'll just leave this here, from somebody who's not a snake oil peddling chiropractor and actually has education and research credentials in the fields of nutrition and training:
I like when you show up.
edit: OP here is a thread regarding recomp if you are interested.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p13 -
Thanks for that RoxieDawn and AnvilHead. It was really tempting to go and try the method that he was speaking of due to it supposedly being "newer science" and super talked about as of recent. So the ideal weight for someone of my height is listing on websites around about 160. Based off of all of this I should just focus on cutting in a calorie deficit while incorporating resistance training until I reach my goal weight of 160 to lower my body fat % and then I should use body recomposition to maintain that weight while slowly building muscle and losing more body fat until I'm satisfied. Did I get all of that, lol? So much info!3
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Travislrone wrote: »Thanks for that RoxieDawn and AnvilHead. It was really tempting to go and try the method that he was speaking of due to it supposedly being "newer science" and super talked about as of recent. So the ideal weight for someone of my height is listing on websites around about 160. Based off of all of this I should just focus on cutting in a calorie deficit while incorporating resistance training until I reach my goal weight of 160 to lower my body fat % and then I should use body recomposition to maintain that weight while slowly building muscle and losing more body fat until I'm satisfied. Did I get all of that, lol? So much info!
You did very well. Good luck to you!!!3 -
Travislrone wrote: »Thanks for that RoxieDawn and AnvilHead. It was really tempting to go and try the method that he was speaking of due to it supposedly being "newer science" and super talked about as of recent. So the ideal weight for someone of my height is listing on websites around about 160. Based off of all of this I should just focus on cutting in a calorie deficit while incorporating resistance training until I reach my goal weight of 160 to lower my body fat % and then I should use body recomposition to maintain that weight while slowly building muscle and losing more body fat until I'm satisfied. Did I get all of that, lol? So much info!
Eating Tide pods and snorting condoms have been "super talked about as of recent" too. But I have no interest in trying either of them.
And both of those things make about as much sense as following anything from Berg, Fung or dietdoctor.5 -
Lol so much brain washed crap info here!!! Water weight loss lol!!! I've lost 47 lbs in 77 days with NO caloric deficit!! Do you even know what keto adapted means?? Do you even know the science of intermittent fasting? Obviously NOT. I LIVE IT and I have the body composition imaging scan results to prove the fat loss and muscle gains to prove it. So if any of you pretend no it all wanna put your money where your mouth is I'll put up $1000 wager to anyone whow thinks they know better. Not hard to do right if your so correct lol??? OP if you wanna be stuck like others with tunnel vision and listen to the old B.S. science that's your parogative but you should at least realize there's other options for you and keep an open mind.
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Travislrone wrote: »...So the ideal weight for someone of my height is listing on websites around about 160. Based off of all of this I should just focus on cutting in a calorie deficit while incorporating resistance training until I reach my goal weight of 160 to lower my body fat % and then I should use body recomposition to maintain that weight while slowly building muscle and losing more body fat until I'm satisfied. Did I get all of that, lol? So much info!
Sounds like a sound plan to me. Same thing I did, and I'm in year 3. When building muscle though you have to allow some weight gain. Muscle weighs more than fat after all. But, what I did was set a goal, then I cut below that goal by about 10 lbs before starting recomp and some smaller bulk phases. My original goal for my height was 190 which is about 5lbs under the 'overweight' BMI category for my height. Today I probably have 30-40% more muscle than I had when I hit that goal, and I weigh in the 200ish range. People tell me I look like I have not gained any weight and look much healthier. The number on the scale isn't everything. Takes patience, but it works. I plan to cut up to 10lbs off this summer, but honestly if I manage to build more muscle I may not even cut that much and will still look better in the mirror (to me anyway).
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Just a couple of points to add to some of the excellent advice given by Anvilhead and RoxieDawn....
" I'm looking to have around 6-13% body fat"
There is a whole world of difference between 6% and 13% body fat in terms of methods, timescale and dedication required between these two numbers.
"I thought that you focus on getting your BMR calories in and then begin a deficit from there."
Hell no!!
BMR is your calories in a fasted state laying down in bed. Your deficit is taken from your estimated weight maintenance calories (a.k.a. TDEE).
MyFitnessPal gives you a TDEE minus exercise calories goal.
Do have a read of the sticky threads pinned to the tops of the various forums - there's loads of good info there.1 -
Just a couple of points to add to some of the excellent advice given by Anvilhead and RoxieDawn....
" I'm looking to have around 6-13% body fat"
There is a whole world of difference between 6% and 13% body fat in terms of methods, timescale and dedication required between these two numbers.
"I thought that you focus on getting your BMR calories in and then begin a deficit from there."
Hell no!!
BMR is your calories in a fasted state laying down in bed. Your deficit is taken from your estimated weight maintenance calories (a.k.a. TDEE).
MyFitnessPal gives you a TDEE minus exercise calories goal.
Do have a read of the sticky threads pinned to the tops of the various forums - there's loads of good info there.
Good catch there, I missed the BMR comment all together. I'd do as @sijomial suggests and learn the difference between TDEE, BMR, and even the difference between NEAT and TDEE. MFP, by default as far as I know, uses NEAT which means any exercise you do that hasn't been calculated into your calories must be added into your daily goals (IE: Exercise can net you more calories to eat) otherwise it'll increase your deficit, sometimes more than is healthy. TDEE, which is what I use has my exercise factored into my daily calories already, so I don't add calories from exercise, but I do the same exercise each week at the same intensity and same length of time (well as much as humanly possible anyway). When my apps enter exercise for me into MFP's log, I either delete the calories it gives me or change them to 1 calorie so it doesn't screw up my macros and calorie goal.
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PaulChasinDreams wrote: »Lol so much brain washed crap info here!!! Water weight loss lol!!! I've lost 47 lbs in 77 days with NO caloric deficit!! Do you even know what keto adapted means?? Do you even know the science of intermittent fasting? Obviously NOT. I LIVE IT and I have the body composition imaging scan results to prove the fat loss and muscle gains to prove it. So if any of you pretend no it all wanna put your money where your mouth is I'll put up $1000 wager to anyone whow thinks they know better. Not hard to do right if your so correct lol??? OP if you wanna be stuck like others with tunnel vision and listen to the old B.S. science that's your parogative but you should at least realize there's other options for you and keep an open mind.
The first (bolded) sentence of this post is 100% correct. And completely in context with the remainder of that post.
As posted above, keto is a sub-optimal diet for muscle gain. ATP resynthesis is impaired, which has a deleterious effect upon quality and intensity of workouts. Carbs are also anti-catabolic, which helps retain lean body mass while in a deficit. Depending on how the macros are set up, the ketogenic diet can also have sub-optimal protein levels for muscle protein synthesis - another bad thing when trying to gain muscle. Overall, not a good idea unless one's main objective is a lot of water weight loss in the initial stages of the diet. Keto is very good for that.
The research quoted/paraphrased by Aragon in the infographic above comes from reliable, knowledgeable, evidence-based researchers who are educated in physiology, nutrition and training - not chiropractors who are out of their league (Berg) and nephrologists who are trying to sell books (Fung).5 -
Spliner1969 wrote: »Just a couple of points to add to some of the excellent advice given by Anvilhead and RoxieDawn....
" I'm looking to have around 6-13% body fat"
There is a whole world of difference between 6% and 13% body fat in terms of methods, timescale and dedication required between these two numbers.
"I thought that you focus on getting your BMR calories in and then begin a deficit from there."
Hell no!!
BMR is your calories in a fasted state laying down in bed. Your deficit is taken from your estimated weight maintenance calories (a.k.a. TDEE).
MyFitnessPal gives you a TDEE minus exercise calories goal.
Do have a read of the sticky threads pinned to the tops of the various forums - there's loads of good info there.
Good catch there, I missed the BMR comment all together. I'd do as @sijomial suggests and learn the difference between TDEE, BMR, and even the difference between NEAT and TDEE. MFP, by default as far as I know, uses NEAT which means any exercise you do that hasn't been calculated into your calories must be added into your daily goals (IE: Exercise can net you more calories to eat) otherwise it'll increase your deficit, sometimes more than is healthy. TDEE, which is what I use has my exercise factored into my daily calories already, so I don't add calories from exercise, but I do the same exercise each week at the same intensity and same length of time (well as much as humanly possible anyway). When my apps enter exercise for me into MFP's log, I either delete the calories it gives me or change them to 1 calorie so it doesn't screw up my macros and calorie goal.
That's a bit confusing, but can I ask if I'm getting that all? I should figure up my TDEE, since MFP uses NEAT, and plug that number in to my daily calorie intake. That with exercise will create the needed deficit, or do I take 500 from that number and then eat from that with exercise? I'm understanding things a lot better now though and I'm ready to piece it all together, lol! You have all been AWESOME!0 -
The big difference between myfitnesspal and the more usual TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) methods is simply the way you account for your exercise. The maths behind that is a bit more complex which means it's sensible to use the right tool for the job. Select the method, select the tool, use the tool rather than work it out yourself.
Myfitnesspal gets you to estimate your exercise calories on the day so you get a variable daily amount to eat which keeps you on track for your selected rate of loss.
TDEE sites get you to estimate your weekly exercise in advance and an average amount of exercise calories is added to your daily goal so you have a same day every day calorie goal. (Either don't log your exercise or log as zero calories).
You can see that over the course of a week or longer you should end up in the same place.
A lot of personal preference over which method suits a person.
For me I would hate have the same goal every day (would feel more restrictive), my exercise varies massively (none to 9hrs as two extremes), a lot of my exercise needs fuelling on the day (I cycle a lot).
Other people like the discipline and planning aspect of a same day goal and have a regular exercise routine.3
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