How to Lose Fat AND Gain Muscle At The Same Time (Step By Step)

[00:00] build muscle lose fat pick what well

[00:04] what if I want to do both at the same

[00:06] time known as body recomposition many

[00:09] people believe this is impossible or

[00:11] only reserved for a small percentage of

[00:13] people but that's not entirely true most

[00:16] people definitely can build muscle and

[00:19] lose fat at the same time in fact it

[00:21] happens all the time in research and not

[00:23] just in beginners this study found

[00:25] positive body recomposition in pro

[00:28] football players already squatting over

[00:30] 382 pounds and benching over 289 pounds

[00:34] and even some women at extreme levels of

[00:37] leanness preparing for a bodybuilding

[00:39] show have been found to gain a bit of

[00:41] muscle during this process so what's the

[00:43] secret well the major problem with

[00:45] trying to build muscle and lose fat at

[00:47] the same time is their two opposing

[00:49] goals to typically you need to be in a

[00:52] calorie deficit to lose fat but because

[00:54] muscle building is such an energy

[00:56] demanding process this usually prevents

[00:58] you from building muscle however the

[01:01] energy your muscles need to grow doesn't

[01:03] just have to come from your diet with

[01:05] the right nutrition and training plan

[01:06] you can actually signal your body to use

[01:09] its existing fat stores as energy

[01:11] towards building muscle and as a result

[01:13] build muscle and lose fat simultaneously

[01:16] so how do we do it well there's three

[01:19] steps to this starting with nutrition

[01:20] now the most important part of your

[01:23] nutrition is your calorie intake and

[01:25] although you want to be in a calorie

[01:27] deficit to stimulate fat loss it

[01:29] shouldn't be as aggressive as it is

[01:31] during a typical diet and phase as for

[01:33] what that sweet spot is let's take a

[01:35] look at this 2021 meta-analysis

[01:38] researchers pull together 59 fat loss

[01:41] studies to try to find at what point a

[01:43] calorie deficit becomes too low for

[01:45] building muscle to be possible here is

[01:47] the graph of the results notice how many

[01:50] people were able able to build muscle

[01:51] when the deficit was small but as soon

[01:53] as it surpassed a deficit of around 300

[01:55] calories muscle growth came to a halt

[01:58] and even began to decrease as soon as

[02:00] the deficit grew larger than 500

[02:02] calories now keep in mind this data is

[02:05] from subjects following standard fitness

[02:07] programs employed in research studies

[02:09] which usually aren't the most ideal

[02:11] programs for building muscle so with the

[02:13] optimized training plan I'll show you

[02:14] later on in this video it's very

[02:16] possible you'll still be able to build

[02:17] muscle even in a 500 calorie deficit and

[02:20] Beyond however based on this data if you

[02:23] want to maximize your odds of being able

[02:25] to recop it's likely that a slight

[02:27] deficit of around 200 to 300 calories is

[02:29] best and if you do want some help

[02:31] calculating this you can head over to

[02:33] billtoscience.com calculator okay so we

[02:36] have calories figured out but what seems

[02:38] to be just as important is your protein

[02:40] intake you see a calorie deficit reduces

[02:43] your rates of muscle protein synthesis

[02:45] so less of the protein you eat will be

[02:47] used as a building block for building

[02:49] muscle E2 little protein and your body

[02:52] will start to look for it elsewhere such

[02:53] as your existing muscle mass as for how

[02:56] much to eat to counteract this let's

[02:58] take a look at three studies each of

[03:00] them had subjects eat in a calorie

[03:01] deficit but assigned them to either a

[03:03] low or high daily protein intake of

[03:06] different amounts every single study

[03:08] found Superior muscle growth in the high

[03:10] protein group and since subjects were

[03:12] still in a calorie deficit they managed

[03:14] to lose fat at the same time now

[03:16] unfortunately we don't yet have a study

[03:18] that compares protein intakes that are

[03:20] both relatively High during a calorie

[03:22] deficit such as 0.8 versus 1.2 grams per

[03:25] pound of body weight however I think

[03:27] it's pretty safe to say that you'll be

[03:29] pretty much close to maximizing your

[03:30] growth at about 0.8 grams per pound and

[03:33] if you really want to be on the safe

[03:34] side bump it up to one gram per pound so

[03:37] the next step is to pair your nutrition

[03:39] plan with a training plan designed to

[03:41] force your muscles to grow and there's a

[03:43] few relevant studies that can help us

[03:45] determine what the best approach might

[03:46] be one of them is a study published just

[03:49] last year where research just took 130

[03:51] subjects with at least six months

[03:53] trading experience and compared the

[03:55] effects of having them trained with

[03:56] heavy weights versus lighter weights

[03:58] while in a calorie deficit a common

[04:00] belief is that lighter waste for High

[04:02] Reps is better for fat loss whereas

[04:04] heavier weights for Less reps is best

[04:06] for building muscle but in this case

[04:09] both approaches resulted in a similar

[04:11] amount of fat loss as well as a little

[04:14] bit of muscle gain but this does heavily

[04:16] depend on one factor effort and this is

[04:20] honestly where I believe most of you

[04:21] guys are falling short you see in order

[04:24] to maximize growth you need to take each

[04:26] of your sets at least within three reps

[04:29] short of failure and in fact based on

[04:31] the new pre-print study it might be

[04:33] advantageous to take each set even

[04:35] closer to failure than this thing is

[04:37] most people don't train anywhere close

[04:39] to hard enough to reach this no you got

[04:41] more come on come on come on you have at

[04:44] least three more go and this brings me

[04:46] to an important point I want to make

[04:47] there really isn't a special body

[04:49] composition position training plan it's

[04:51] about doing the basics but doing the

[04:53] well polish hard enough during your sets

[04:55] train with enough volume work each

[04:57] muscle at least twice per week and most

[05:00] importantly stay consistent even if

[05:02] you're an experienced lifter fixing any

[05:04] one of these variables can very well be

[05:06] the stimulus your body needs to continue

[05:08] building muscle despite being in a

[05:10] deficit but before I cover who exactly

[05:12] body recomposition is best suited for

[05:15] there is one more variable you need to

[05:17] make sure you don't overlook sleep okay

[05:20] so the most relevant study we have

[05:21] regarding sleep and body recomposition

[05:23] was published back in 2020 researchers

[05:27] took untrained men and randomly assigned

[05:29] them to either a worker program

[05:30] consisting of two full body workouts per

[05:32] week or that same workout program plus a

[05:35] sleep education program designed to

[05:37] improve both the quantity and the

[05:40] quality of their sleep after 10 weeks

[05:42] both groups had similar increases of

[05:44] muscle with a trend favorite in the

[05:46] Sleep group when it came to Fat Loss

[05:48] however the Sleep group actually he

[05:50] ended up losing a significant amount of

[05:52] fat while the workout only group ended

[05:55] up gaining a little bit of fat other

[05:57] Studies have shown similar effects as

[05:58] well where sleep deprivation negatively

[06:00] affects both muscle gains and fat loss

[06:03] so to make sure you don't sabotage all

[06:05] the work you put into your nutrition and

[06:06] training try to get at least seven hours

[06:09] of sleep per night alright so now that

[06:10] we've covered how to recap let's discuss

[06:13] the most important part who body

[06:15] recomposition is best suited for and

[06:17] whether or not it's actually worth your

[06:18] time pursuing so first off the higher

[06:21] your potential for growth the more

[06:22] likely you'll be able to recall and

[06:24] there's three main groups of people who

[06:26] satisfy this criteria the first group

[06:28] are beginners who can basically touch a

[06:30] weight and end up growing the second

[06:32] group has to do with the fact that

[06:33] muscle regrows far easier than it took

[06:36] to initially grow it Lawrence one of our

[06:38] bill of science members is a good

[06:39] example of this he took some time off

[06:41] training and in his first two months

[06:43] back although his body weight didn't

[06:45] change very much he was able to build

[06:46] some muscle while losing a good amount

[06:48] of fat but the third group is where I

[06:51] think most people fall under and Nick

[06:53] another one of our build science members

[06:55] is a perfect example of this although he

[06:57] had been training for several years he

[06:59] was pretty much just going through the

[07:00] motions he never properly applied

[07:02] Progressive overload and had plenty of

[07:04] other areas where his training could

[07:05] improve I also just didn't know how to

[07:07] approach his nutrition after we helped

[07:09] optimize his plan he quickly saw results

[07:11] and experienced incredible body

[07:13] recomposition over the course of several

[07:16] months although his actual body weight

[07:18] didn't change too much he clearly built

[07:20] a good amount of muscle while losing a

[07:22] ton of fat in the process that said even

[07:25] if they do fall into one of these three

[07:27] groups there's still one more condition

[07:28] you should satisfy and the importance of

[07:31] this is highlighted in a recent 2023

[07:33] case study researchers analyzed a group

[07:36] of professional bodybuilders during the

[07:38] contest prep and found that as they got

[07:40] leaner building muscle became far less

[07:42] likely and eventually muscle loss became

[07:45] inevitable once they surpassed a certain

[07:47] level of leanness it is interesting

[07:49] however that a few of the female

[07:51] subjects were still able to build a

[07:53] little bit of muscle and another study

[07:55] has actually shown similar results it

[07:57] suggests that body recomposition may be

[07:59] more likely to occur in females even

[08:01] when relatively but we definitely need

[08:03] more research but overall although the

[08:06] exact minimum level of body fat required

[08:08] to recomb isn't entirely clear yet I'd

[08:11] say around 15 body fat for males and at

[08:14] least 22 percent for females is a good

[08:16] minimum but now it's time for the

[08:18] million dollar question is body

[08:20] recomposition even worth your time well

[08:23] first off if you're someone who's pretty

[08:24] lean or has been trained both hard and

[08:26] consistently for at least six months

[08:28] then you're probably gonna have a hard

[08:30] time trying to recall secondly even if

[08:33] you are likely to recall you should also

[08:35] consider what your main goal is right

[08:37] now I know you want to do both but

[08:39] what's truly more important to you right

[08:40] now building muscle or losing fat for

[08:43] example while you might end up building

[08:45] a little bit of muscle during a recomp

[08:47] most research suggests that a surplus or

[08:49] lean ball book is likely Superior

[08:51] whereas if your main goal is to lose fat

[08:53] then a slightly more aggressive deficit

[08:55] would definitely lead to more fat loss

[08:58] with the possibility that you'll still

[09:00] be able to gain a little bit of muscle

[09:01] it's also likely no coincidence that no

[09:04] bodybuilder on the planet at least that

[09:06] I'm aware of natural or enhanced tries

[09:08] to recomp their way to muscle growth

[09:10] they use Balkan and cutting cycles and

[09:12] end up looking better year after year

[09:14] and perhaps just as important we as

[09:17] humans like to see things go in the

[09:18] right direction during a recomp results

[09:21] can be slow and your body weight doesn't

[09:22] really help indicate whether things are

[09:24] going in the right direction so you have

[09:26] to rely on other metrics like small

[09:28] differences in progress photos

[09:29] strengthen the gym have your clothes are

[09:32] fitting and tracking your waist

[09:33] circumference over time without proper

[09:35] guidance this can be a lot more

[09:37] difficult to navigate than a traditional

[09:39] bulker cut where the scale and quicker

[09:41] body changes can lead the way that said

[09:44] I do think for some people it is worth a

[09:46] shot and at the very least it's helpful

[09:48] to be mindful of when dieting in the

[09:50] event that your weight is stuck and you

[09:52] think you're not making progress but

[09:54] you're really just building muscle and

[09:55] losing fat simultaneously and as a recap

[09:58] here's who is best suited for here's how

[10:00] to execute it and here's what to expect

[10:02] and how long it typically lasts and if

[10:05] you need some help optimizing your plan

[10:06] then head to buildtoothscience.com and

[10:09] take our 30 second quiz to find the best

[10:11] step-by-step training and nutrition plan

[10:13] for you and your body I highly recommend

[10:16] that you give this video watch next for

[10:17] some new science-based training

[10:19] techniques you can start applying today

[10:21] to speed up growth thanks for watching

[10:23] I'll see you next time