How to lose weight and still grow muscle🤔

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usmcnas
usmcnas Posts: 27 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello i am 18 years old 6’0 198lbs i joined the United States marine corps in November and been training ever since. Bootcamp is in August and i still dont see myself in the right place i want to be with my body. I am struggling with losing stubborn body fats on my stomach and chest. I do a lot of cardio running miles every week and i stay perfectly on my calorie level i just need some tips on what to do to help this process should i be in a deficit? Should i work out on cardio still and lift weights? And if you were in this situation what did you focus on either eating or exercise to get to where you are?

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  • djaxon1
    djaxon1 Posts: 82 Member
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    Have you lost any weight ?
    A calorie deficit is quicker for wt. loss than exercise
    It takes time.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    You've posted multiple threads on the same topic and gotten some good answers. Go back and read those.
  • diliveslife
    diliveslife Posts: 42 Member
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    You can't. I hate to be the bearer of bad news- but pick one. Gain muscle or lose weight. Do one, then the other.

    If you have a decent amount of muscle then as you lose weight you will start to "see it" more. Adversely, think of how many people lose weight and look "skinny fat"- you know what I am talking about.

    Looking at your stats (which isn't saying much because bodies are SO different) I would keep losing weight while doing some weights to keep as much muscle as possible, get your protein in, then see where you are at 190. If there is a nutrition shop around you can use their body reader to get your body fat % as a guide and tweak it.

    If you have abs they will show with weight loss - but you won't know until you get your BF % down to about 15% for some its more. Some people can see abs at 20% - it just depends on your body. For me, being Hispanic & female, I carry weight in the middle and don't see abs until I have pretty much cut all carbs besides sweet potato for a few weeks- and am down to about 13-15% body fat, and I do core daily along with weights or resistance training- and get at least 100grams of protein per day.

    Its not sustainable for me to keep that diet all year- so I generally don't see abs until I have an event or just happen to be on a health kick, but also try not to get too from it at any point (Max body fat of 25%)before I kick it back in gear. Keep in mind I have been 12% body fat at 180lbs & 20% body fat at 150lbs depending on the year/diet/muscle etc. So it really depends on what you want to focus on. If you like to do a LOT of heavy cardio, it can be hard to keep as much muscle on as you'd like. When I was lower weight but higher body fat I was running marathons. Lower body fat I was bodybuilding and only cardio to cut weight towards the end of a building phase.
  • usmcnas
    usmcnas Posts: 27 Member
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    @diliveslife thank you for sharing information with me. I have a good amount of muscle on me I haven’t checked my body fat % in awhile but i know i need to cut more to see more of my muscles i just dont want to burn off my muscles too.
  • usmcnas
    usmcnas Posts: 27 Member
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    @djaxon1 ever since ive been training i lost almost 25 pounds and thats on just working out (cardio and lifting) I didn’t know what a calorie deficit was until a few months ago and i was on a really big deficit for a few weeks and lost a lot of pounds but relapsed and got hungry again now im a little intimidated of doing that again.

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