Can you loose fat and build muscle at the same time? That’s a question that is debated a lot in the fitness industry. First off you need to know your goal. Do you want to build muscle ? Are you happy with your current body composition? I don’t feel you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Now this is only my opinion based on the research I have done and what I have seen with my own body composition.
Here’s the science behind it. If you gain some muscle mass within a certain time period, your metabolism will speed up. You’ll burn more calories at a faster rate and you may actually end up shedding some fat because you gained a little muscle. But what really changed ? It was your body composition and distribution of fat/ fat loss.
So what is your goal? If you want to build muscle, you NEED to be in a calorie surplus. These are the variables you can control as much as possible to create the best environment for gaining muscle:
• Eat MORE than you burn
• Proper macronutrient split
• Minimal cardio
• Heavier weight-lifting sessions (8-12 reps for hypertrophy is most common), longer rest periods
• Larger separation of body part splits to focus more on each muscle group
If you want to lose weight, you need to be in a caloric deficit. These are the variables you can control as much as possible to create the best environment for burning fat:
• Eat less than you bun
• Macronutrient split specific to fat loss
• More frequent cardio for longer durations (preferably a mix of HIIT with steady state for at least 30 minutes a day, 5x a week)
• Faster-paced weight-lifting sessions, higher rep ranges, shorter rest periods, keeping HR high throughout
• Can combine more muscle groups and even incorporate total body workouts
You cannot both gain muscle and lose fat at the same time and get the results you want. If you think you can do everything all at once because you want to build muscle and shed fat it just won’t happen that way. To maximize your time, your expenses, your energy, your efforts and all other resources you are putting into changing your body composition, you need to focus on one or the other. Either gaining muscle or losing fat for a certain period of time in order to truly get great quality, long-term, measurable results.
Reference: Nicole Wilkins