Lose Fat and Gain Muscle – Simultaneously?

First of all, I’ve been reading through these comments and I have to say, it is just amazing and wonderful to see so many people, especially over 55 not giving up on themselves or their health!! My father is 58 years young, literally looks in his 40s, and is a trim 185 at 5’10 and does bootcamp (with a real marine drill sergeant) running, weights, and mountain biking. Without your health you really cannot enjoy life.

As for the topic at hand, I am extremely interested in knowing how to do this. Would Roman’s FLFP be one of the ways to go? Density, lactic acid training, etc, mixed with HIIT training? I am 5’3″ and 133 lbs. I’ve gotten down to 108 but I looked very bad, I’m meant to have curves!!! At a size 2 I really don’t want to lose mass, just tone up without looking overly muscular. I’m shooting for 120-125 lbs and 20% BF. A muscular physique is hereditary in my family (Austrian/Slovenian) and so I am thinking some pilates might help to “lenghthen” my muscles. Those cut abs are still elusive although i could do one armed planks all day long. When you have the strength and the underlying muscle….how do you perserve it and up your metabolism to shed the fat? HIIT training on the treadmill and one hour long BodyPump classes (nonstop lifting that keeps your muscles guessing) have really whipped me into shape and upped my endurance and strength. But, as always, I’m hungry for more. HELP!!! Bikini season is almost here Joel!

Yes please

I’m 17 and also maturing at the moment.
My idol is Ashton Kutcher and I’d really like to get a body like his some day.
Im around 6’1½, am quite muscular, but I have way too much body fat, especially in feet and butt.
Also in my abdominal areas.
SO LET’S HEAR IT!

Hey Joel,

As you can see, I’m a teenage girl and i’ve been overweight for most of my life.
I HAVE good muscle tone, but it’s covered by fat that doesn’t seem to budge.

I’ve been bodybuilding for some time now, and ALL my friends keep warning me that i’ll bulk up, that their brothers, friends, relatives, bla, bla, bla have had that happen to them. At first I didn’t believe them, but now, even though I’m gaining muscle, the fat just won’t go away…I’m out of options and frankly, paitence

Toned isn’t a word, please cease using it, it’s insulting.
You can’t ‘tone’ muscle or fat, you can only increase or decrease either one or both.

Tom Venuto’s Holy Grail program is all about achieving these results… simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss. Yes, it does work.

Wouldn’t you need to train your type 3 muscle fibre to achieve gaining muscle and losing weight at the same time?

I’ll be very interested to hear what you have to say. I’m turning 40 this year, and while I add muscle easily enough if I stick to a good program, I always tend to lose the muscle when I resort to cardio to lose that last 5% body fat keeping me from being shredded.

Lay it on us Joel; can’t wait!

This is one of my life missions. 14 years ago at the age of 17 I weighed 240 pounds and dropped 50 pounds in 4 months on sheer motivation. I spent the next 3 years putting that all back on. Two years later at 22, my family was going through a rough patch and I just didn’t want to eat much. I lost 70 pounds.

From that time till now (age 31) I have studied, worked and sought for ways to put on muscle and trim the last 10 pounds that still lingered. I am upset that I didn’t know at the time how to maintain my lean mass while losing all that weight. I wish I had understood then how much more difficult it is to put on muscle than it is to lose fat (at least for my body). Plus I’m sure it would have been much easier in my late teens/early 20’s. But I wasn’t as motivated back then as I am now.

So here I am at 185 lbs, pretty strong, but with an extra 10 pounds of fat(appx 14%BF) my body doesn’t need to hang on to, and I want to put on more muscle mass. I am extremely motivated. I have read tons and tons of stuff, but don’t know what to believe is right for my body. So I am trying to pick something and stick with it very strictly for at least 30 days to cut the fat off, then really move forward building lean mass while maintaining a lean BF%.

I understand that it takes sacrifice, particularly in diet, and am willing to do so. I have had lots of psychological struggles during this whole experience and understand that the mind plays a huge role in all of this as well.
I am not afraid to work, but I do dance around a shoulder injury and a knee injury.

Thanks for your work

I’ve tried losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time and have had some success. I was able to cut down to low single digit fat% and gain muscle at the same time but after putting on 20pounds of muscle I’ve plateaued and cant seem to gain any more mass.

Hey Joel,
Yes I would definitely like to learn how this is possible to do both. I have spent the last two years working out and changing my nutrition habits. I have tried many of the other fitness professionals techniques/programs and they have worked; I went from close to 160lbs down to 129lbs but still not quite where I want to be and have reached another plateau I believe. Please any info would be very helpful.
Thanks

Good timing, Joel: I’m actually trying to do this at the moment and could use some help. I’m currently ~200lbs at 17% body fat and 6’1″. My current plan during the week involves full body weight training in the morning 3x/week with my “fast” carbs being consumed before and after my workout; the rest of the day consists of “slow” carbs. Then, 2x/week, I do cardio or HIIT and consume only “slow” carbs. I’m not lowering my caloric intake to where I’m hungry a lot, but I’ll let myself have a cheat day every 1-2 weeks. I’d appreciate any tips. Thanks!

please please give me some good tips and exercises for this! absolutely desperate!

About 4 years ago I lost 17 lbs. I actually did it only with my diet. Well some of it was due to stress. I kept the weight off for about 3 years. I definitely wasn’t eating right when I was at work. A few months ago I used your “Xtreme FatLoss Diet”. I lost 10 lbs. I did gain 4lbs. of muscle after that. I have been using weights for well over a year now. Thanks to you and some of your other weightloss friends I am learning the proper way to use weights, and also diet together. I still have some belly fat to get rid of, and a little on my hips and thighs. Other than that my body is pretty well toned. My stomach has always been a problem area for me! I am a (almost 41) year old female. My body looks better now than it has for a long time! I would like to get rid of the rest of my belly fat and have a nice flat muscular one! Bathing suit weather will be coming (eventually!). I live in Western PA. It is 27 degrees here today. Aleta

sounds good man

Definitely want to hear more!

Looking forward to hearing your tips!

Have tried to lose fat and build muscle at the same time, eneded up very soft looking and not much stronger.

Can’t wait!

Hey Joel,

I would love to know how to lose the last 5-10 pounds of belly fat while still building muscle in my shoulders, arms, and chest. I turn 50 in 3.5 months and have decided to be in the best shape of my life when the day arrives. However I appear to be stuck slightly although by going into a pretty severe caloric deficit 3 days a week (cardio days) and basically maintenance calorie levels on strength training days I have dropped another 5 pounds over the past 3 weeks.

I gotta know the secret. I’ve been trying to do exactly what you are talking about, weight training with fat loss diet. I’ve lost 14 lbs this year, and am now at my “goal” weight, but I want to contine shed fat, but gain muscle in proportion to “maintain” my weight.

Hi Joel,

I’m really looking forward to your next posts, you’ve been helping me a lot with all these information! That’s a subject I’m interested at because I thought it wasn’t possible to do it at an efficient rate!

Cheers from Brazil!

Since January I have put on almost 6kgs of muscle without any fat (kept my abs).
I am an endo/meso body type so not putting on fat is a big deal for me.

I have done this following Tom Venuto’s new transformation book. I have followed him for years and trust everything writes.