Maximising fat loss whilst building muscle

a lot of us want to lose fat and build some muscle at the same time. The good news is it’s doable, but it works best when you keep things simple. Focus on getting enough protein with each meal, keep lifting (even basic strength training makes a difference), and use your walking for extra calorie burn.

As for macros, you don’t have to overcomplicate it and hitting your protein goal first usually makes everything else fall into place. The rest can be balanced between carbs and fats depending on what feels better for your energy.

Most importantly, be patient with the process and fat loss might feel a bit slower when you’re also building muscle, but the changes in strength and body shape are worth it.

There is a thread that describes what you are talking about, it's called "Body Recomposition". Basically you eat in a very small deficit (and I mean VERY SMALL SLIGHT deficit) and lift weights simultaneously. This will very slowly burn fat while hopefully allowing you to very slowly build muscle. It is a very slow process. You are in theory trying to swap fat for muscle. If you have a decent amount to lose this isn't the preferred way.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat#latest

If you eat in a deficit, you will burn fat but you will also lose muscle mass. It's inevitable. This is why lots of people will work out/exercise during a weight loss journey to try and maintain as mush muscle mass as possible. Then as you get closer to goal you can raise your calories, find maintenance levels and start adding muscle.

Good luck!

Generally speaking, we can't "maximize" muscle gain while losing fat.

We can lose fat at a very moderate pace, and at least preserve existing muscle mass . . . and I do mean "moderate". If we're lucky, we might even gain a little muscle, but we're not going to maximize muscle gain in a calorie deficit. (Think about it: We're trying to gain one kind of tissue, lose another. Those may not be completely incompatible, but it's going to be a delicate balance.)

How fast one can lose is pretty individual. Things besides loss rate matter: Age, nutrition, strength program, genetics, sex, starting body composition, strength training history, and more.

We can lose fat somewhat faster than "very moderate", and reveal existing muscle. That's kind of what happened for me, starting as a blobby li'l ol' lady . . . but a pretty active one. There were some muscles under my substantial fat layer. I can't swear I lost zero muscle mass alongside fat loss, but my athletic performance stayed consistent. (No, it wasn't terrible - for my age - when I was fat. It's a myth that fat people can't be reasonably fit.)

We can maximize fat loss, and be much more likely to lose lean tissue alongside that fat loss, too - including muscle mass. Researchers estimate we can only metabolize X calories of stored body fat daily per pound of fat we have on our body. Beyond that, our body will turn to burning other kinds of tissue to make up the deficit (and maybe subtly down-regulate our calorie expenditure in various ways to limit the damage). The implication is that people who value muscle mass should lose weight more slowly as they get lighter for best results.

If instead we want to maximize muscle gain, that's most likely to happen in a calorie surplus, i.e. while gaining weight.

There's also that recomposition option: Pretty steady body weight, gradually gain muscle mass, using stored body fat as part of the fuel.

One thing to watch out for: Sometimes people think they've gained muscle because they got stronger, and their body fat percentage went down a lot. But the math is tricky: If someone has 25% body fat at 220 pounds, they have 165 pounds of lean mass. If they lift and reduce calories, lose down to 180 pounds and 15% body fat, that sounds good . . . but they now have 153 pounds of lean mass. They lost 12 pounds of lean mass. Is that good or bad? Hard to say. We probably want to lose some lean mass alongside fat loss, though ideally not bone or muscle. But don't assume a reduced body fat percent and a strength increase means muscle mass gain. If only! 😆

The real question for a specific person is "What's the best balance between fat loss and muscle gain for ME, and how can I best get there?"

We'd need to know more about you to even remotely guess what a good specific plan for you would be. Lots of good advice above, but a bit of "blind men and the elephant" because we lack those details.

Generically, to balance muscle retention, maybe slow muscle gain, while losing fat, some controllable elements would be:

• Relatively small calorie deficit for slow fat loss
• A good, progressive strength training program faithfully performed
• Good nutrition, especially but not exclusively ample protein

Some cardio is good, but overdoing cardio (or the combined stress of cardio + strength work) is bad for all of weight loss, muscle gain, or cardiovascular development. "Overdoing" is also defined individually. That's a whole other subject we argue about here. 😉

Best wishes!

 I think at 45, my athletics days are long gone 😅

Tweet, flag on the play! What are you talking about? I'm 48, stronger than I've ever been in my life (got the lifting numbers to prove it), thinner than I've been in decades, and running better than I have since I was a teenager. My endurance today isn't what it used to be (but working on it) and recovery takes far longer than it used to do. But I definitely consider myself athletic, so why not you?

Dude you must be one imposing dude! Especially with a rugby background!

Not sure how tall you are and you probably have loads of muscle already so preserving and reactivating is probably more of a priority than building anything new!

For tall and muscled people a BMI in the low overweight range probably represents fat levels that shorter people would have within normal BMI.

So shooting for a 27 or so, at a lark, would make sense, And that may well be near that 115 kg mark (are you over or under 205.75cm -- 6ft 9")?

But to get there without eating into the nice muscles? Maybe do eat a bit more than 1500 Cal, especially if you want to be athletic too.

Your TDEE should be well north of 2500. Frankly even 2500 should be a deficit with activity.

So keeping things to a dull roar while processing in the direction you have been from your previous high levels... that would sound good to me!

how long did it take you to go from 210 to 137? The math will tell you fairly close what your actual calorie deficit has been over time. Also, the lighter you get the fewer calories your maintenance calories will be.

full disclosure: I have not read all the previous responses.

imo, it is possible to lose fat and build muscle, but difficult. To get body re-composition results, you are better off to do cycles of fat loss and muscle building. To know if you are being successful working toward your goals you need to keep track of your progress.

A few resources I find helpful/interesting on this topic include:

• Legion Athletics —> They are a supplement & coaching company. I do not advocate their services and have no affiliation with them. I have read the book 'Thinner, Leaner, Stronger'. I do like their articles in the Learn menu.
  • https://legionathletics.com/newbie-gains/
  • https://legionathletics.com/energy-balance/
  • https://legionathletics.com/body-recomposition/
  • https://legionathletics.com/body-recomposition-infographic/
• Coach Viva —> They are a coaching company. I do not advocate their services and have no affiliation with them. I have done a free Un-Stuck call with them. I do like their YouTube videos.
  • https://bodyfat.coachviva.com/ —> I do like this body fat calculator because after the third entry, it gives you a status and general guidance. Any body fat calculator of this type is going to be an estimate only. This one calculates the % and also gives the lbs of both body fat and lean mass.
• Health Status —> I'm not exactly sure what Health Status does to make money; I think all advertising revenue. They have some deceit calculators and articles. Again, I do not advocate their services and have no affiliation with them.
  • https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator/ —> I like this body fat % calculator because it uses four different algorithms (Army, Navy, Marine & YMCA).