Can You Build Muscle & Lose Fat at the Same Time?
Jan 25th, 2008 by Mehdi Tags: Build Muscle, Lose Fat
Alex recommended StrongLifts 5×5 eBook on his blog Just Keep The Change. One of his readers, Adam, commented:
It’s impossible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. One requires a caloric surplus, the other requires a caloric deficit.
The only time both may happen is when an overweight individual first begins working out.
This is the reason that professionals go through cycles where they alternate between bulking and cutting.
Building Muscle. You need a caloric surplus to gain weight. And if you’re skinny you’ll want that weight gain to be muscle. But you can build muscle without gaining weight too. It comes down to:
- Stress. Strength training stresses your body. Your body adapts to the stress by growing stronger & building muscle.
- Nutrition. 1g/lbs protein daily at least to build muscle. Body-weight in lbs x 18kcal daily so your body doesn’t burn muscle for energy.
Losing Fat. I wrote a full guide on how to lose fat fast in the past. Here’s the short version:
- Burn More. Weight lifting & cardio burn calories. Muscle burn calories. More muscle means more calories burned, even when at rest.
- Eat Clean. Don’t worry about calories. Quit the junk food, eat clean & avoid hunger. Track your body fat weekly using a fat caliper.
Professionals. Bodybuilders play a different game. They cut to drop below 10% body fat. The lower you want to decrease your body fat, the more you have to look at the details. And one goal at a time is always easier.
But StrongLifts.com is not about bodybuilding. StrongLifts.com is about building muscle & losing fat while getting stronger. Besides, going lower than 10% body fat (15% for women) is impractical & unnecessary.
- Impractical. Your body is not made to stay below 10% body fat for long. Body fat is emergency storage. Trying to get lower for extensive periods means lots of cardio & counting calories.
- Unnecessary. Picture below: Russian strongman Michael Sidorychev. You can see his abs although his body fat is above 10%. Why? Because he’s strong.
Michael Sidorychev. Image credit: Pete90291
Building Muscle While Losing Fat. StrongLifts.com Forum has several examples of readers who built muscle & lost fat without their body-weight changing. Arms, legs & chest got bigger. Waist got smaller.
You can build muscle while losing fat. Just like you can build muscle without gaining weight. Or gain weight without gaining fat. Get stronger, eat healthy. Leave the details to the bodybuilders.
Tired of the way you look? You want to build muscle & lose fat while getting stronger? Click here to download my 52 pages 100% FREE eBook.
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Hm, what exactly does it mean to “eat clean”?
Nadim, I think it’s unprocessed, nutrient rich food. Don’t eat anything that comes in a box, that’s a good guideline
In September 2005 I reached 100lbs overweight status at 300lbs. Yea me. I began lifting weights with the simple desire to develop a healthy lifestyle and rehabilitate several of the small but limiting injuries I was accumulating. As a Network Administrator/Engineer, I spend a lot of time on my backside.
Two and a half years later, I still weigh about 300lbs, and am still overweight. However, now I do chinups/pullups, weighted dips, and exceeded my bodyweight a long time ago in most of the 5×5 lifts.
Losing weight is a poor goal for someone like myself who has always struggled with obesity. Adding another 10lbs to the lifts in my next workout is a better goal. It’s a struggle to get the appropriate amount of protein, so I am very conscious of what I eat.
I don’t really keep track of my fat loss and muscle gain, but by comparing photos and strength, I have easily put on 50lbs or more of muscle. I know I have lost fat and gained muscle consistently for the last couple of years. I lost 30lbs very quickly when I first started lifting. But obviously gained that back in muscle.
@mrOyF:
Sounds reasonable, thanks.
@BRobert:
Wow. That’s some serious strength, I’d say. 50lbs of muscles mass traded for 50 lbs of blubber sounds like a sweet deal while at the same bodyweight.
When I started Stronglifts 5×5 within a few weeks I went from 79kg (174 lbs) to 85kg (187 lbs) and my body fat has dropped about 3% since then. Which is only about 2-3 months ago. And I have only recently surpassed squatting my own bodyweight. I’m very much looking forward to the next year.
Interesting point about bodyfat below 10%. Mehdi, what evidence do you have that the male body is not made for being under 10%? Are there any dangers?
I could also use an explanation on what “eat clean” means.
Speaking of diet, Mehdi, what is your take on the amount of protein that can be absorbed at one sitting? The max of 40g has been thrown around numerous times in other reading that I’ve done. In other words, if you eat more than 40g in one meal your body will not be able to process the excess and it will [turn to fat, go to waste, etc].
Is it dependent on certain factors, such as body weight and build? I am 6′4, 205 lbs (~93 kg). Would my maximum protein absorption per meal be materially different than that of someone who is 5′5, 150 lbs (~68 kg)?
As always, great article and great work keeping your website relevant and updated! Thanks for creating such a great repository of your wisdom.
@David Hinchliffe
Your body needs fat to burn for energy while working out. If your body doesn’t have enough fat it will start to burn your muscle for energy. This will make you small and weak. 10% is just a safe estimate of where a healthy male should be. Unless you have any scientific proof saying that this isn’t healthy or that there is a better body fat percentage then I would stick with 10% as a goal. Going under this could lead to many malnutrition problems. My body is naturally under 10% so saying you are an ectomorph and you may as well be a litte lower but to low is dangerous for your body and means you are near starvation and need to start eating more.
Thanks young athlete. Can you point me to where you have seen that recommendation? Anything to add Mehdi?
@Nadim/Todd
Clean food would be the opposite of junk food. Unprocessed as MrOyf wrote is good advice. Oats, pasta, rice, fish, meats, etc all those healthy things. Worth a post.
@BRobert
Congraz on your achievement.
@Earl
That’s the kind of info that I don’t care about. I currently go for 1g/lbs protein, divide that by 5-6 meals, done.
@David
Nothing to add no.
You pointed out some interesting and important facts. Especially that about being below 10% body fat. I agree, although not unhealthy, I believe for the average person, being below 10% body fat will be impractical, since you’ll be spending too much time working against your bodies natural instinct to store atleast a bit of fat. (A point of diminishing returns maybe?)
I’ve also had many people tell me that they in fact feel a lot healthier when they’ve gone from too slim (10% or below), to being in the range of 15%+, especially their joints tended to feel better.
On the point of building muscle while losing fat: Yes it is indeed very possible. However, many find it more efficient (or easier) to build muscle along with a little extra fat, and then later work on losing fat. The two goals aren’t completely contradictory, but there is a small negative overlap.
It’s quite an individual thing as to the most efficient method of reaching their strength/health goals.
Well thats my two cents worth,
Cheers,
Patmanpato
I won’t argue that eating clean is “better” than not (that should be obvious, but this notion that just working out and eating clean will all take care of itself will only work if one doesn’t “overeat clean”…which is entirely possible. I hesitate to even mention this since it comes from a [grimace] bodybuilding site [grimace], but for those who care to read the article, it is quite revealing. The article can be found at
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1268956
With personal experience in gaining muscle while losing fat and not changing my scale weight at all, I can definitely say it is possible…but one has to care enough to monitor incoming calories, especially their composition. In the last month I moved from 14.1% body fat to 11% body, and my total body weight only changed by 0.05 lbs (it went down by that amount).
I too would like to see a reference to your comment about maintaining a body fat percentage below 10%…I’ve never heard or read that anywhere. Sure, most probably don’t…but that doesn’t mean it isn’t possible or even practical with the correct diet and exercise load.
It’s also a bit misleading to suggest that anyone’s abs will display at six-pack if they are muscular enough. this is a highly personal thing, and one person may well display the six-pack at 15%, where another would have trouble at 10%. A great six-pack is made primarily in the kitchen…not the gym.
Just my opinions though based on my own research…
Your body needs to store fat for bad times. It is a survival mechanism that you can’t trick for a long time. While the 10%BF are just an estimate, the precise amount of body fat which makes you look good depends from person to person, as Michael already said.
You can see boxers or other martial artists at weight ins with 5 or 6% BF, so that they fit in their weight class, but as soon as they step off the scale, they drink and eat huge amounts of food, to get their body the necessary energy to kick ass in the ring.
Then when you see them fighting, they still look all muscular and they are as fit as they can get. These guys continue to make great gains in strength while staying in their weight class.
Gaining and losing weight is simply a matter of the right nutrition.
@Patmanpato
Good point on the joints.
@Michael
If you drop your body fat, but have no abs to show, you still won’t see much. Building abs (strength) is as important. A lot of people think lowering your body fat is the solution, and while your abs won’t show if you carry 30% body fat, you can see them around 15% body fat. You’re familiar with t-nation, check Poliquin latest article, he says the same thing.
Mehdi,
While it is true that one has to have the abs to show…everyone has abs. Not everyone has them developed well (of course), but everyone has them. You mentioned Poliquin’s latest article on t-nation. I checked there and while a part of his answer says that “…the upper row of the abdominals can show up at 15%”, he not only starts his answer to the question “How low does your body fat percentage generally need to be in order to start seeing abs?” with the answer of 9.8%…but goes on to state “If you can see the linea alba (which means the “white line” ) — the vertical line in the middle of the rectus abdominis — that’s at least 9.8%. In other words, you’d see all the rows.”
That seems to blend in with what I’ve been reading elsewhere…that about 10% body fat is where the abs start to pop for “most” people. There are always exceptions, but most of us fall into the “rule”…not the “exception”. I’m not trying to knock the concept of a strong, well-developed core (for any number of reasons)…my comments are focused just on when one might expect to see them.
If all one truly cares about is increasing one’s overall strength, then just attaining and maintaining a healthy level (13 - 18% for us guys) is all that is really necessary. However, if part of the reason someone is chasing a fitness goal is to get that “six-pack”, knowing where the line is can sure make attaining that goal less frustrating.
After a hiatus from breaking my clavicle, I returned to lifting, cardio, and eating clean. In three weeks, I have gone from 185.4 lb (84.3 kg) @ 20.6 body fat to 183.2 lb (83.3 kg) @ 18.3% body fat. That calculates to a 4.7 lb (2.1 kg) loss of fat AND a 2.5 lb (1.1 kg) gain of muscle.
I eased back into this over three weeks ago so I doubt that loss fo water from restricted diet is at play. Plus, my pants are noticeable looser in the waist.
I’m still looking for research/evidence about the 10% BF safety mark.
Here is what I’ve found (just for the sake of conversation…
Site 1 - …”For men, essential body fat makes up about three percent of total body weight. The healthy ranges in men are from 8-19 percent for those between the ages of 18-39, from 11-21 percent for those aged 40 to 59 and 13-24 percent for those over 60.”
Site 2 - …”Your ideal weight and fat-lean ratio varies considerably for men and women and by age, but the minimum percent of body fat considered safe for good health is 5 percent for males and 12 percent for females.”
Site 3 - (based on US Army research for the Journal of Applied Physiology) …”Our results suggest that 4-6% BF or approximately 2.5 kg fat represents the lower limit for healthy men, as assessed by DEXA or by underwater weighing.”
From what I can tell, the overwhelming consensus seems to indicate that anything less than about 5 - 6% is getting too low. Perhaps the most revealing site is … where they actually recommend that one get to 10% or just slightly lower if one wishes to gain muscle while losing fat at peak efficiency.
Those sites are..
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA53794
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/fitnessevalandassessment/a/Body_Fat_Comp.htm
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/77/2/933
and…
http://bodybuilding.about.com/od/bodybuildingfaq/f/losefatgainmass.htm