Can I lose fat and gain muscle at the same time?

You can gain strength without gaining an ounce of muscle, too. So don't necessarily assume that strength = mass.
I have gained SOME muscle mass weight lifting over the past 5 months while dieting. Not very much.

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Seems to be working for me so far over a period of a couple of months. I've been getting more strict and better at it as I go with the help of MFP.

The key thing i have to remember when im looking at my stats is the difference between weight loss and fat loss. I've set my targets to lose 1lb per week and am adjusting my diet to meet the plan MFP has given me for that goal. My daily allowance is 1800 calories and i'm normally on or slightly under that, I'm keeping a nice balanced diet which is reasonably healthy and keeping my protein intake on the high side of what MFP suggests.

I am not losing 1lb per week, but then I don't care, as my main goal is not actually weight loss, its fat loss and gain a bit of lean muscle / a bit more of a toned look. I was 85.5kg and i'm currently 83.8kg my goal being 81kg. I wont care if I dont reach 81kg as long as i lose a bit of body fat replaced by lean muscle, which may actually end up increasing my weight given that muscle weighs more than fat. Currently its working, im slimming but also gaining some muscle.

I understand that for more serious Muscle building for large size it's maybe not an option or possibility, but for a subtle change swapping some fat out for some lean muscle, with the right diet and excersice plan and depending on the build and the person etc.. I reckon its possible to lose fat (not weight) and gain muscle.

Certainly working for me and I'm happy with my progress, also just my personal view.

Whether or not YOU PERSONALLY can will depend on your metabolism. But if you look at the biochemistry, then yes, it is completely possible, and many people including myself have done it. It is more likely to work if you are very obese to start with.

The reason is that not all calories are created equal. The chemical reaction that uses carbs for energy in your body works *completely* differently from the chemical reaction that burns fat & protein for energy. The chemical reaction that burns fatty acids also requires amino acids (protein). It's roughly three parts fat to one part protein in order to keep the reaction going. Kind of like the way a fire requires both fuel and oxygen in order to burn. So, many people who are trying to burn fat don't eat enough protein, and their bodies harvest the needed protein from their muscles, and that's why they lose both fat and muscle. The solution is to make sure & eat enough protein.

Here's an *extremely oversimplified* breakdown, just to give you an idea:

Say I’m eating 2000 calories and my activity level is burning 2200 calories.
I eat 200 calories in carbs. I eat 600 calories in fat. I eat 1200 calories in protein.

My body burns the 200 calories of carbs right away. Most people's bodies prefer to get their energy from carbs. OK, so our total is now:
Remainder of what I’ve eaten: 600 fat, 1200 protein.
Energy still needed: 2000 calories.
My body burns the 600 calories of fat, and because the chemical reaction is 3 parts fat to 1 part protein, that also burns 200 calories of protein. So now we’ve burned a total of 1000 calories.
Remainder of what I’ve eaten: 1000 protein.
Energy still needed: 1200 calories.
Here’s where it gets interesting: all of my remaining calories were protein, but protein can’t be burned for energy all by itself. My body needs to harvest fat from its stores in order to burn the protein I've eaten.
So the next calories I burn (again, at three parts fat to one part protein) are 900 calories of stored fat and 300 calories of protein.
Remainder of what I’ve eaten: 700 protein.
Energy still needed: 0.
So we’ve now reached our 2200 calories of energy… but wait, if you look at the protein, we ate 1200 calories of protein but only burned 500 of them.
The rest of the protein can be used to repair and build muscle (and hair, fingernails, etc; protein is used for many things).
But this is how you can eat a calorie deficit, lose fat, and build muscle all at the same time.

Of course, as I say, this is very oversimplified. Just like any fire requires a spark to start it, any chemical reaction in your body requires hormones & chemical catalysts to start the reaction. Things like insulin, that instruct your cells about whether to store or burn calories at various times. And everyone's body is going to be different with regards to how efficiently it uses different chemicals & nutrients. That's why some people are perfectly healthy Vegans, and some people are perfectly healthy Paleo eaters. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the wide variety in the human genome.

For example, I have a condition called "insulin resistance" or "hyperinsulinemia" which means that my body is lousy at processing carbs. It never mattered whether I ate a calorie deficit or not, I constantly gained weight as long as I included carbs in my diet. So frustrating! People always assumed I was cheating on my diet. When I was finally diagnosed, and lowered my carbs to 25-30g per day, suddenly that did the trick and I've been losing steadily ever since, for the first time in my life. My doctor does a BMI test every month, and he has told me that in addition to losing a lot of fat & water weight, I have also gained a small amount of muscle. I'm certainly not going to bulk up while also losing fat, but gaining muscle is not impossible if you look at the biochemistry.

fat can be lost weekly , muscle takes more time to build , but yes you can build and lose at the same time

This argument always interests me. I'm always one to go along with the science. It makes sense to me if you're losing weight you can't also be gaining muscle.

But here's what confuses me personally. I'm stronger. I know that I am. I don't measure myself but my chest, shoulders, back, arms.. I'm seeing pretty good results all over. (Yes I just started working my legs too don't yell at me!) I get that most of that is probably just fat coming off so I look more defined.

But if I'm not gaining muscle how am I stronger? Especially since I guess I should be losing muscle actually, I'm still in a calorie deficit and losing weight.

Thanks.

You can condition the muscle you do have, which results in strength or endurance gains without any additional Mass.

bump!

I don't think you can. I tend to agree with Lyle McDonald on most things.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html

I'm doing a traditional bulk / cut cycle and I am not an advanced body builder. Basically when you are dieting your body is being given less energy than it needs to survive, so it breaks down fat cells. It can't use the fat to build muscle and it certainly isn't going to use what little calories you are giving it to build muscle.

But I do think you should go for a half pound a week to a pound a week in order to PRESERVE as much muscle as possible.


Also, although, I can't prove it and don't know for sure myself I've heard that Scooby is not a very reliable source.