Can I trade fat for muscle?

eig6
eig6 Posts: 249 Member
edited December 25 in Health and Weight Loss
So I thought I wanted to lose 5 more lbs but I haven't lost any more weight in a while though I've gotten thinner. Is is possible that I could continue to exercise the way Im doing but start eating to maintain this weight and just trade the fat for muscle? This is what my goal is eventually;
goal2-1.jpg

and you can see me now in my ticker and profile pic. I know the girl in the pic is solid muscle so she weighs a lot more than you'd think so thats what makes me wonder if I should be aiming to lose anymore. Right now I'm doing insanity because I dont have access to a gym but at the end of August I will go back to lifting 3x a week and running 2x- 3x a week. Thanks in advance for your help!

Replies

  • Carrie704
    Carrie704 Posts: 176
    you cant trade fat for muscle. they are different types of cells. you can however lose fat and put on muscle :)
    I'm in the same boat, dont look at the scale. Have you had your body fat % measured? Go by how your clothes fit!
  • RCKT82
    RCKT82 Posts: 409 Member
    you cant trade fat for muscle. they are different types of cells. you can however lose fat and put on muscle :)
    I'm in the same boat, dont look at the scale. Have you had your body fat % measured? Go by how your clothes fit!

    What she said!
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    It's tricky to find the caloric balance that might allow you to lose body fat while building muscle at the same time. It can be done, but it's slow. It's much more common to focus on one at a time; eat at a deficit to cut fat for a while, then switch to eating more to pack on a bit more muscle, and through the cycle again.
  • eig6
    eig6 Posts: 249 Member
    Yes I understand they're different but as you build muscle they require more calories so I wonder if it would mean it would burn the fat?
  • eig6
    eig6 Posts: 249 Member
    It's tricky to find the caloric balance that might allow you to lose body fat while building muscle at the same time. It can be done, but it's slow. It's much more common to focus on one at a time; eat at a deficit to cut fat for a while, then switch to eating more to pack on a bit more muscle, and through the cycle again.

    Forever?
  • RCKT82
    RCKT82 Posts: 409 Member
    it'll help accelerate your required calorie intake and may make it easier to hold the deficit. but your run the risk of not fueling your muscles anymore. Your body is going to try to hold onto some fat no matter how hard you try. the close you get to your optimal weight, the harder it gets. It's that notorious last 10 lbs plateau everyone hits!
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    It's tricky to find the caloric balance that might allow you to lose body fat while building muscle at the same time. It can be done, but it's slow. It's much more common to focus on one at a time; eat at a deficit to cut fat for a while, then switch to eating more to pack on a bit more muscle, and through the cycle again.

    Forever?

    No, just until you want to stop gaining muscle!
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    It's tricky to find the caloric balance that might allow you to lose body fat while building muscle at the same time. It can be done, but it's slow. It's much more common to focus on one at a time; eat at a deficit to cut fat for a while, then switch to eating more to pack on a bit more muscle, and through the cycle again.

    Forever?

    You're asking the wrong person for that answer, as I'm still very fat, and have never had to switch to eating at a surplus yet. :laugh:

    At some point, though, I assume that most of us (who don't aspire to be bodybuilders) will reach a point where we're happy with our physique and level of strength, at which point you'd probably just find a calorie level that allows you to maintain that without any more planned. bulking / cutting cycles.
  • eig6
    eig6 Posts: 249 Member
    It's tricky to find the caloric balance that might allow you to lose body fat while building muscle at the same time. It can be done, but it's slow. It's much more common to focus on one at a time; eat at a deficit to cut fat for a while, then switch to eating more to pack on a bit more muscle, and through the cycle again.

    Forever?


    Oh, ok, I was thinking that sounded really hard haha!

    No, just until you want to stop gaining muscle!
  • eig6
    eig6 Posts: 249 Member
    it'll help accelerate your required calorie intake and may make it easier to hold the deficit. but your run the risk of not fueling your muscles anymore. Your body is going to try to hold onto some fat no matter how hard you try. the close you get to your optimal weight, the harder it gets. It's that notorious last 10 lbs plateau everyone hits!

    Thank you and yeah these last 5 have been especially challenging- they just wont go away!
  • AFitJamie
    AFitJamie Posts: 172 Member
    So... I'll let an expert answer the question (See Below), but the short/simple answer is generally "No".. That is, you likely cant do it at the same time... paticularly given your trim physique, but you can do it... Step 1:Lose 5 Pounds of fat; Step[ 2: Gain 5 Pounds of Muscle...

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    The easiest way to do it is to do bulking / cutting cycles. That's what I'm doing. I have some progress photos in my bio. Eat above your TDEE for a while while lifting. Then eat below it for a while again while lifting. Repeat.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    It's tricky to find the caloric balance that might allow you to lose body fat while building muscle at the same time. It can be done, but it's slow. It's much more common to focus on one at a time; eat at a deficit to cut fat for a while, then switch to eating more to pack on a bit more muscle, and through the cycle again.

    Forever?

    No, just until you want to stop gaining muscle!

    Opps. I didn't bother to read responses before I replied. I've only done one bulking cycle and am pretty happy with the amount of muscle I've gained. I'm not sure I'll do it again. When I finally get the fat off I want, I might just keep going at maintenance for a while.
  • Temple_Fit
    Temple_Fit Posts: 299 Member
    Bumping so I can read later
  • GlennH12
    GlennH12 Posts: 1
    You can definitely weigh more even while losing fat. I weighed 145 pounds when I started regular taekwondo training. Six months later I weighed 175 pounds and could still wear exactly the same clothes. Needless to say, I was in much better shape.
  • tauranheart
    tauranheart Posts: 9 Member
    If you want to watch the scale, go purchase one that does body fat estimation.
  • findfan4ever
    findfan4ever Posts: 153 Member
    Yes I understand they're different but as you build muscle they require more calories so I wonder if it would mean it would burn the fat?

    The simple answer to this question is yes. As you increase muscle it does require more energy to function. Muscle gets its energy from three different energy systems. The first uses creatine combined with ATP to produce immediate energy. This fuel source is in short supply though as it is stored in the muscle and is first used. The second system uses a special form of stored sugar in the muscle, called glycogen, to produce energy. The other is glucose, or commonly called blood sugar, which is produced in the liver for muscle use.

    The system that requires a more steady form of energy requires lots of oxygen. This is referred to as aerobic respiration, hence aerobic exercise. Aerobic respiration generally uses about 70% fat/30% sugar for the source of energy and can sustain light to moderate aerobic activity for up to 1 1/2 hours. Aerobic respiration also works when NOT exercising as well (during rest and recovery times
    NOT sedentary lifestyles.)

    As your muscle demand for energy increases due to increase metabolism and increased fitness level, they will require energy for movement, recovery, and repair. Keep in mind that DURING high intensity strength training, muscles use the ATP and Glycogen systems as their primary energy sourced. The body will convert body fat into energy during times of rest and light to moderate activity.

    In very short, your muscles will burn body fat as you continue to strengthen and use them. As far as when fat will be used is determined by the intensity level of your training program.

    I know that can be a lot to digest. Please feel free to email me if you have any other questions.
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    If you want to watch the scale, go purchase one that does body fat estimation.

    Those pretty much suck. Mine tells me I'm 33%.
  • mmtiernan
    mmtiernan Posts: 702 Member
    The girl in the picture is a "Success Story" over on nerdfitness.com - you can read about how she remade her body for yourself:

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Yep, Staci at nerdfitness is an inspiration to a lot of women: she educated herself and sought to understand how proper training and nutrition can greatly impact and reshape ones body. Most importantly, she kept challenging herself and continued to break barriers.
  • kazzari
    kazzari Posts: 473 Member
    you cant trade fat for muscle. they are different types of cells. you can however lose fat and put on muscle :)
    I'm in the same boat, dont look at the scale. Have you had your body fat % measured? Go by how your clothes fit!

    I'm pretty sure that's what she meant. She didn't say turn fat into muscle. It looks like she's been at this long enough to know that. If you replace fat pounds with muscle pounds without losing weight, you are essentially trading fat for muscle.

    This is exactly where I'm at, except I have more fat on my belly to swap out. But I'm eating at maintenance at hitting the weights hard to use calories that would have gone to support existing fat to build muscle.
  • eig6
    eig6 Posts: 249 Member
    The girl in the picture is a "Success Story" over on nerdfitness.com - you can read about how she remade her body for yourself:

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    I actually know who stacy is and she is actually the reason I'm switching to paleo but she did something to lose the weight that I am uncomfortable with doing. She stopped counting calories. This is why I feel like I cant exactly do what she did, because Im afraid to stop counting. Also- she started out from being very thin to building muscle- Im starting out with what I think is at least 5lbs of fat too many- does this matter?

    Yep, Staci at nerdfitness is an inspiration to a lot of women: she educated herself and sought to understand how proper training and nutrition can greatly impact and reshape ones body. Most importantly, she kept challenging herself and continued to break barriers.

    You seemed to suggest that if I simply educated myself (Im assuming on the paleo diet and lifting) I could have her results. I lift when Im in school because I have access to a gym-during summer I dont so I have been doing insanity. On the diet front I have been slowly inching towards a more and more paleo diet- do you think once it is 100% I could quit couunting and still look like Stacy?
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    I didn't imply that you should come to the same conclusions as Staci and adopt paleo or make the same food choices as her - I meant by studying exercise physiology and nutrition you can make the best choices for your goals and individual lifestyle as well as maximizing training.

    I personally do not follow Paleo - if I did, I'd be a very modified follower since I consume lots of cottage cheese and steel cut oatmeal.

    One thing I do not do anymore, though, is count calories because I've been eating the same variety of foods for quite some time. I have nutritional logs for when I cut, maintain or eat at a surplus with portions, not caloric values documented. Thus, even without knowing the caloric values of the foods, I know how much to add in my meal plans. It took some time, but eventually you'll just be able to understand what and how much your body needs throughout the day and won't worry about the numbers anymore.
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