Lose Fat and Gain Muscle – Simultaneously?

oik
i will liek 2 know
plz!
by3!

yeah, For the first time when i went to the gym my primary aim was to build muscle…and one more thing was overweight…i certainly gained muscle but lost only a very small amount of fat, so i dont think that we can build muscle and burn fat simultaneously!!!!!!!!

I think what some people are missing is Joel is talking about gaining muscle and losing fat not gaining muscle and losing weight. I would be very interested to know how to do this ( the former ).

This has been an on going goal for me for a long time. At 55 years of age, I have about given up, so I have decided to work for more muscle and hope that burns the belly fat. It is a slow process but maybe some day.

Sounds really interesting… Hope to hear more good stuff!

I’m in…tell me how

I am losing weight and gaining muscle but I was also very out of shape.
I am 43 and have not worked out in a LONG time but I started about 3 months ago and I am dieting along wth treadmill, weight training and body weight training.
I am not getting as big as I would like but I do see a big difference.
Any adivse on how to get bigger would be greatly appreciated.

At age 46 I have been struggling to lose 30+lbs. I have changed my eating lifestyle(no bread,no junk food, only water & black coffee, nuts,fruit, veggies, lean meats) 3miles on eliptical and some bodyweight intervals. Hopefully some of this weight I am unable to shed is turning to muscle, but I would love to know what I am doing wrong or need to change. Thank you for your website.

Joel, everyone knows that secret. Its called steroids………LOL
Seriously though I’m interested in the natural way so tell us more.

Hey Joel. Great topic. VERY INTERESTED in your thoughts. I understand that it can be done with the right mix of weight training and nutrition so your body utilizes more fat stores as energy — this way you can keep up a very small calorie surplus — but to do this, you need to eat the right foods, and be very careful with the carbs. I am really wondering if Cheat Your Way Thin is the way to go with the Carb Cycling/maximize Leptin approach. I have been engaged in weight trainng and now hitting TT pretty hard. I plan to try out Ballentine’s TT for muscle growth after I complete the latest program. In the past, though, I have had to go through growing and cutting phases, but have never achieved the amount of muscle growth I would like. I am trimming down nicely on your program, however (down 7 pounds or so this month), and should be in the high single digit BF range about now. So, please bring on your thoughts. Thanks!

This is comment #105

I’m curious

I want to hear more. Can’t wait for Sunday!

I weigh 133 lbs. I don’t need to lose more weight but I want to shed some body fat, especially from my stomach and waist. I am 5’7″ and don’t think my weight should go below 130lbs. Is there a way to MAINTAIN weight and LOSE body fat??

After that I would like to get stronger – I could really use more muscle. I would love to burn fat while building muscle if it can be done. Otherwise I would be happy losing the fat first and then working on building muscle.

This is more fine tuning of metabolic effective changes in nutrition & excersise effort? Can’t wait to hear more.

Nutrition plus right -TT-‘type’ of intensity is foremost.

Looking forward to receiving next sending from you, Joel et al. Thankyou.

Yeap, I’ve tried but failed miserably.
Now, I go for bulking first till I reach around ten to twenty pounds heavier to my goal weight, and then I start cutting till I reach my goal. Goes on and on.

I tried doing both at the same time, I didn’t gain or lose anything. I was basically stuck at the same weight, measurement and my bodyfat even increased by 3%.

So this would be really interesting to read :-)

I’m trying … hope that “Cheat you way thin” works!!!!

@Mark – I’m with wordy Mark on this one Joel.
His method and approach appears in keeping with simple caloric utilization (or storage).

But still eager to hear your spill.

Having a hard time with an active job, 2 years post baby, to monitor my diet AND get to the gym. . .AND avoid the tiny daily temptations, a couple of chips here, a cookie there. . .I’m all for hearing more about this!

Is it possible? Yes. Is it acheived or achievable by most? not likely. It isn’t that it can’t be done it is more that people are confused a great deal by all of the (mis)information out there.

First of, a detrained or untrained person will have an easier time achieving both fat loss & muscle gain. Let’s assume we are not talking about that group because results in both directions are easier to achieve at the beginning because your body adapts faster and over time learns how to fight you on your goals. We all have to remember that our bodies are still very much like they were thousands of years ago. The human body is designed for survival and until probably around the industrial revolution starvation probably killed the most people. Our bodies want to maintain fat for reserve energy stores and limit calorie burning muscle to the bare minimum.

Fat storage is largely based on insulin. So if you control insulin you can control the fat. Insulin also carries nutrients to our muscles. In order to achieve fat loss and muscle gain you need to control insulin throughout the day by limiting carbohydrate intake to more of a vegetable based diet and other low glycemic carbs and utilize your heightened state of insulin sensitivity post workout by taking a liquid simple carbohydrate with a simple easiliy digested liquid protein.

By adjusting your diet to control insulin and not reducing your calories you can still provide the nutrients and calories needed to build muscle. This is assuming you are busting your ass to damage the muscle in the gym and giving it time & nutrients for recovery. Throw in some interval training on a few non weight training days for some extra fat burning and you should get some good results. Both weight training and interval training increase your resting metabolic rate for elevated periods. Depepnding on whose writing/research you use, that elevation lasts for 8 to 48 hours.

I would also put forth that if you are desiring a large change in either scope, fat loss or muscle gain, you may be better served by focusing on what is the larger priority at the moment. IOW, if you are a big fattie you may want to target fat loss first and worry about muscle later or if you are a 98 pound weakling that is skinny-fat it makes more sense to add some quality muscle to your frame before dreaming of the six-pack.

I am a former “in-shape” guy (6 foot, 205lb, 8%BF) that got lazy and fat. So while I want to lose a considerable amount of fat and I still have some decent muscle under my “winter coat” I am okay enough with being a “big” guy that adding muscle is important enough that I don’t mind losing fat at a slower pace to achieve both at the same time.

So I know it is possible as I have done it in the past but I think it is relevant reiterate that if you have an extreme goal of either fat loss or muscle gain that you may be better served to really hammer the diet & training to achieve which one is more important at the moment. Then go to a more balanced approach or hit the other side of the coin. I think a big mistake people make is using a “bulk cycle” as an excuse to eat sloppy and eat a lot. I think when “bulking” you should stay within 3% to 5% of your “standard” BF%.

OK….bring it on!

I agree to a certain extent with some of the posts that say you can only do one but not the other. However, I would say that you can do both, BUT you won’t be able to gain MAXIMAL muscle and loose MAXIMAL fat simultaneously. You need to choose one or the other for MAXIMAL (i.e. fastest time possible) results. It is possible to do both, but not maximally. Also, I believe the rate of muscle gain and fat loss depends on many variables such as genetics, body type, sex, type of exercise, intensity, frequency, and of course, diet to name a few.

It will definitely be interesting to see what Joel says, but I don’t expect him to provide information on how to do both maximally and simultaneously.

How do you guys get motivated to follow any diet and exercise program? I can’t seem to stick to a diet for longer than 3 days. And I tell myself that I really want to change my body. What is wrong with me?

Some say it is possible, but with my experience you need to focus on one or the other.

Looking forward to your information, Joel.
anne

I’ve been trying to do this for the past 3 years!!!!!