How to Burn Fat and Build Muscle at the Same Time

[00:00] can you lose fat while gaining muscle at

[00:02] the same time this is one of the age-old

[00:05] fitness questions that people continue

[00:06] to be curious about and for good reason

[00:09] these are both excellent goals for one's

[00:11] overall health and fitness but there can

[00:13] be a little bit of confusion with this

[00:15] many say that you can lose fat and gain

[00:17] muscle at the same time While others say

[00:19] that you can't and need to alternate

[00:21] between phases of bulking or muscle

[00:22] building with phases of cutting or fat

[00:25] loss so which is correct well it is

[00:28] possible to lose fat and Gain muscle at

[00:30] the same time but it depends on multiple

[00:33] factors it doesn't work well for every

[00:35] single person so today we're going to

[00:37] discuss what type of person this can

[00:39] work well for talk about the best

[00:41] strategies on how to do it from calories

[00:43] to strength training and even get into

[00:45] if cardio is a good idea for trying to

[00:47] lose fat and gain muscle at the same

[00:49] time so let's get into this anatomical

[00:52] and physiological

[00:58] awesomeness losing fat and gaining

[01:00] muscle at the same time is known as body

[01:03] recomposition you are changing the

[01:05] composition of your body tissues and in

[01:07] this case decreasing the amount of fat

[01:09] while increasing the amount of muscle

[01:11] now some may Define true body

[01:13] recomposition as changing the

[01:15] proportions of these body tissues while

[01:17] maintaining the same total tissue Mass

[01:20] so in other words if you had a 180 lb

[01:22] person that person would stay at 180 lb

[01:25] but eventually less of that weight would

[01:27] be coming from fat and more of that

[01:28] weight would be coming from mus muscle

[01:30] but again you'd stay at 180 lb however

[01:32] there are situations where people may

[01:34] not want a complete pound-for-pound swap

[01:37] of fat for muscle and I'll give an

[01:39] example of that a little bit later on

[01:41] but what are some of the challenges with

[01:43] losing fat and gaining muscle at the

[01:44] same time well first losing this stuff

[01:48] atap POS tissue or fat requires a

[01:50] calorie deficit you need to burn more

[01:52] calories than you consumed so that your

[01:54] body starts to tap into the stored

[01:56] energy that is in the fat and as a

[01:58] reference a pound of fat F contains

[02:00] about 3500 calories so if you wanted to

[02:02] lose a pound of fat each week you'd want

[02:04] to average a calorie deficit of about

[02:07] 500 calories per day however building

[02:09] this tissue skeletal muscle tissue

[02:12] typically requires a calorie Surplus

[02:14] giving your body extra calories and

[02:16] energy to repair and grow muscle tissue

[02:18] after workouts and so obviously these

[02:21] seem to be contradictory goals because

[02:23] you can't be in a calorie deficit and a

[02:25] calorie Surplus at the same time another

[02:28] reason why body Rec composition is a

[02:31] difficult goal is because you can

[02:32] usually burn fat at a faster rate than

[02:34] you can build muscle just go back to

[02:37] that example again of losing fat if you

[02:39] were in a calorie deficit of 3500

[02:41] calories per week for 8 weeks you could

[02:44] potentially lose 8 PBS but imagine

[02:46] trying to add 8 lbs of muscle in that

[02:49] same 8we period that's difficult to do

[02:51] even in a calorie Surplus when someone

[02:53] is not trying to lose weight however

[02:56] there are situations where body

[02:58] recomposition does work and so let's

[03:00] cover some of those situations there are

[03:02] pretty much three categories of people

[03:04] that body recomposition works pretty

[03:05] well for the first category is beginners

[03:08] to resistance training and if that

[03:10] beginner is also a young person like in

[03:12] their teens and early 20s that further

[03:14] gives an advantage because of those

[03:16] raging pubescent hormones but with any

[03:18] beginner their bodies are so primed for

[03:20] muscle development because when the body

[03:22] is first exposed to such a powerful new

[03:24] stimulus like resistance training it

[03:26] creates an extremely strong drive for

[03:29] protein synthesis that it's almost as if

[03:31] the person is on natural steroids and

[03:33] you've probably seen someone or maybe

[03:35] notice with yourself that you gain

[03:36] strength and size very quickly in the

[03:38] beginning beginners can follow almost

[03:40] any resistance training protocols and

[03:42] get great gains in strength and size and

[03:45] so because of this strong drive for

[03:46] protein synthesis that beginners benefit

[03:49] from even in a calorie deficit the body

[03:52] will continue to liberate the energy

[03:53] from the fat in order to continue to

[03:56] provide the energy and resources to

[03:57] promote muscle growth begin could

[04:00] successfully burn fat and gain muscle

[04:01] for over a year in some cases but

[04:04] eventually this is going to be harder

[04:05] and harder to do which we'll address in

[04:07] just a second but the second category

[04:10] would be people that are returning to

[04:11] training so if you took a long break

[04:13] from exercise when you return you kind

[04:15] of benefit from those beginner gains

[04:17] again but this doesn't last as long as

[04:19] those true initial beginners gains

[04:21] because you typically gain muscle back

[04:23] more quickly than when you first gained

[04:25] it you could consider this a form of

[04:27] muscle memory and we actually have a

[04:29] whole video video explaining how you

[04:30] gain muscle back faster in our muscle

[04:32] memory video that I'll link at the end

[04:34] of this video the third category would

[04:36] be individuals with higher percentages

[04:38] of body fat if you have a higher

[04:40] percentage of body fat you'll obviously

[04:42] have more stored fat and in a way your

[04:44] body isn't going to respond to a calorie

[04:47] deficit the same way as if you had like

[04:49] 15% body fat with the extra fat your

[04:52] body can more easily tap into those fuel

[04:54] reserves while still building muscle and

[04:57] again if this person is highly

[04:58] overweight or obese most of the time the

[05:01] person usually isn't looking to do a

[05:03] pound-for-pound swap of fat for muscle

[05:06] usually the goal is to lose much more

[05:08] fat than the amount of muscle that they

[05:10] want to gain which also makes this body

[05:12] recomposition more doable in this

[05:14] particular situation but with all these

[05:16] situations they will only take you so

[05:18] far because as someone has less fat to

[05:21] lose and gets more and more advanced or

[05:23] in other words those that have been

[05:25] building muscle for an extended period

[05:26] of time these people know that it takes

[05:28] much more effort to continue to gain

[05:30] muscle even in a caloric Surplus let

[05:33] alone in a caloric deficit and so this

[05:36] is where it starts to make much more

[05:37] sense to focus on one goal at a time or

[05:40] shifting to this idea of going on a

[05:41] bulking phase where the focus can be

[05:44] purely on building muscle alternated

[05:46] with a cutting phase where the focus

[05:48] could be purely on losing fat and

[05:50] maintaining the muscle that was gained

[05:51] during the bulking phase because it is a

[05:54] much easier task to maintain muscle

[05:56] during a caloric deficit than it is to

[05:58] build muscle but if you find yourself in

[06:01] one of these three categories where

[06:02] losing fat and gaining muscle is

[06:04] feasible there are a few things that

[06:06] need to be done while attempting this

[06:08] first you must do resistance training

[06:10] now I know that seems like one of the

[06:12] more obvious ones but I've got to be

[06:13] thorough here because you could lose fat

[06:15] from a caloric deficit without working

[06:18] out but that would do nothing for your

[06:20] muscles and you would actually likely

[06:22] lose some muscle with the fat if you

[06:24] didn't combine the caloric deficit with

[06:26] resistance training because there is no

[06:28] way to get significant muscle growth

[06:30] without a strong stimulus and again that

[06:33] strong stimulus is lifting weights

[06:35] compound movements are going to be your

[06:36] biggest bang for buck here such as

[06:38] squats deadlifts bench press shoulder

[06:40] press pull-ups Etc you can throw in some

[06:43] isolation exercises as well but again

[06:45] the foundation should start with those

[06:46] compound movements you also want to

[06:48] apply the principle of progressive

[06:50] overload which is trying to add a little

[06:52] more weight to the bar every week or so

[06:55] Progressive overload could also come in

[06:56] the form of increasing the Reps and or

[06:58] overall volume

[07:00] and there are multiple ways to fit this

[07:01] into a given week you could potentially

[07:03] pull it off with two days of resistance

[07:05] training a week but those would likely

[07:07] need to be longer sessions 3 days a week

[07:09] is a place that I often start with many

[07:11] of my patients but we have some more

[07:13] detailed videos on how to build muscular

[07:15] size and how to implement this into your

[07:17] routine that I'll link at the end of

[07:19] this video next we need to start messing

[07:21] with the calories and even the

[07:22] macronutrients specifically the protein

[07:25] like we mentioned earlier a deficit of

[07:27] about 500 calories a day will cause you

[07:29] to lose about a pound per week but I

[07:31] usually recommend a 300 to 500 calorie

[07:34] deficit when you're first starting out

[07:36] and of course you need to make sure

[07:37] you're getting enough protein now

[07:39] protein recommendations are anywhere

[07:41] from 1.2 to 2.2 gam of protein per

[07:45] kilogram of body weight per day and the

[07:48] higher end of 2.2 is usually recommended

[07:51] for athletes and bodybuilders that are

[07:52] serious about putting on muscle now many

[07:55] of you may not consider yourself a major

[07:57] athlete or a bodybuilder however since

[07:59] we are in a calorie deficit some of the

[08:02] ingested protein will likely get pulled

[08:04] and utilized for energy instead of

[08:06] muscle building so because of this you

[08:08] would still want to hedge towards the

[08:10] higher end of 2.2 gam per kilogram of

[08:13] body weight which for us non-metric

[08:15] people just a gram of protein per pound

[08:17] of body weight to do the trick now a

[08:19] quick word on cardio I love cardio there

[08:22] are obviously some incredible fitness

[08:24] and health benefits to doing cardio one

[08:26] of those that it can be an effective way

[08:28] to lose fat and again a whole bunch of

[08:30] other benefits so I almost always

[08:32] recommend it however if the main goal is

[08:35] to lose fat while also stimulating

[08:37] muscle growth we need to be a little

[08:39] careful with how we implement the cardio

[08:41] there is such a thing as the

[08:43] interference effect which is if you were

[08:45] to perform cardio and strength training

[08:47] in the same exercise session the cardio

[08:49] could potentially interfere with maximal

[08:52] muscle growth now key word there was

[08:55] maximal muscle growth it's not going to

[08:57] completely blunt all muscle growth so so

[08:59] if you absolutely have to combine cardio

[09:01] and strength into the same workout it

[09:03] won't be the end of the world but we are

[09:06] already adding something else that can

[09:08] blunt muscle growth which is the calorie

[09:11] deficit so it's probably just going to

[09:13] be best to do your cardio and strength

[09:15] training on different days or if you

[09:17] have to do them on the same day try to

[09:19] do them in different workout sessions

[09:20] separated by hours at a time for example

[09:23] there are a couple days a week where I

[09:24] do two a days where I'll go for a run in

[09:27] the morning and then 6 to 8 hours later

[09:28] I'll do some strength training but a

[09:30] split I often start my patients off with

[09:33] is something like strength training on

[09:35] Monday Wednesday Fridays and then cardio

[09:37] on Tuesday Thursday Saturdays and taking

[09:39] Sundays off so hopefully that gave you

[09:41] some useful information on if body

[09:43] recomposition is right for you as well

[09:44] as a good starting point and thank you

[09:46] for supporting the channel let us know

[09:48] what you thought of today's video in the

[09:49] comments and we'll see you soon