By Sahil Handa. Sahil is a student at Harvard University as well as a health and fitness aficionado.
Ah, the promised land: making progress towards two goals at the same time. It’s inevitable that this question will come up somewhere along your fitness journey, because the thought of losing your hard-earned gains during a fat loss phase is equally horrible as the idea of putting on a few extra pounds of fat while building muscle. I’m here to put your queries to rest and tell you whether or not it is truly possible; so sit back, relax, and, get ready for some answers.
The short answer:
Firstly, it’s important to understand that muscle cannot be turned into fat, or vice versa.
If you are new to lifting weights and have a relatively high body fat percentage, yes – it is possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.[1] This occurs through something called a body recomposition.[2]
If you are a previous gym-goer who is returning to fitness after a long time off, yes – it is possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.[3]
If you are in genetically gifted (top 1% of genetics for muscle gain/fat loss) or are using anabolic steroids, yes. (These are both highly unlikely and I strongly warn against the latter)
If you’ve been lifting for over a year and are a regular human being, no. Even if you do experience both at this stage, the results will be so slow that you’re better off focusing on either slowly gaining muscle (and putting on a minimal amount of fat) or slowly losing fat (and accepting a small amount of muscle loss).
For a more detailed explanation, keep reading:
If you are asking whether it is possible to lose fat and build muscle at the same time, it is important to understand what the body requires to accomplish either task.
- Losing fat is all about being in a a caloric deficit (consuming fewer calories than you expend).
- Gaining muscle is all about your body being in an anabolic state (a state in which your body is able to build or repair muscle tissue.) It requires taxing your muscles enough to break down muscle tissue and then having a positive Nitrogen balance (a state that occurs when your nitrogen intake is greater than your nitrogen output). The greater the positive balance, the faster you recover from your workout and the more muscle you can potentially gain. The optimal way to ensure a positive Nitrogen Balance is remaining in a caloric surplus while consuming an adequate amount of protein in your diet.[4]
If you have been lifting for a while, are not using anabolic steroids and do not have almost super-human genetics, you cannot achieve both of these states simultaneously. Any progress made attempting to do so will be negligible, so you are better off picking a goal and sticking at it for a while. If you choose to gain muscle, make sure you are not in a massive caloric surplus so that you don’t gain unnecessary amounts fat. (small fat gain is inevitable, because your body simply cannot turn all the excess calories into muscle). That way, you will have less fat to lose (and therefore a lower risk of experiencing muscle lose) when you decide to switch goals, and you will also not sacrifice muscle gain because after a certain point there is no correlation between higher amounts of food and higher rates of tissue repair. If you choose to lose fat, do so slowly so that you do not sacrifice all your hard work and time that you spent building muscle.[5]
However, if you belong to one of the other categories (you are a beginner/long term absentee to fitness, have a significant amount of fat and have never properly or consistently lifted weights, you can undergo something called a “Body Recomposition.” Let me explain what this means:
Your body contains a somewhat consistent number of fat cells. If you are in a significant caloric surplus, your fat cells can swell up so large that they begin to replicate. The important thing to realize is that the number of fat cells in your body can increase but not decrease. This is part of the reason why your becoming significantly overweight once increases the likelihood of it occurring again. These cells can grow bigger or smaller depending on how much of a caloric surplus or deficit you are in.
Now, when you are new to the gym or are returning from a long time off, you have what are called adipocytes (insulin resistant fat cells). Insulin is a hormone that regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats by triggering the absorption of glucose.
These adipocytes mean that, if you eat slightly above your caloric maintenance level (the number of calories that your body type and activity level dictate you require to stay at the same weight), the small surplus of calories that you consume will not be as readily absorbed by your fat cells. Therefore, they can instead be used to contribute to further muscle building.
Your state as a relative beginner also means that you can remain in a positive nitrogen balance when you are slightly below your maintenance calories. The training will be such an extreme stimulation for your body at the beginning that your muscles are likely to experience their most rapid growth at the cost of extremely little (or even reversed) fat gain. You can tick the box of being in a caloric deficit whilst also ticking the box of staying in an anabolic state.[6]
If you are one of the people in the first three categories, focus on eating an adequate amount protein (around 0.85g-1g/lb of body weight per day) and staying around your caloric maintenance level. Also ensure you keep achieving progressive overload by increasing your strength on compound lifts over time.[7] This period will not last forever, so make the most of it and be ready to alter your goals as your body continues to become more used to the stimulus.
If you are, like me and most of the human population, in the final category, don’t be discouraged. It’s definitely possible to achieve a great body without building muscle and losing fat at the same time. Simply diet down to a bodyfat percentage that you are comfortable with and then begin your muscle gaining phase from there. You might hear this referred to as “cutting” and “bulking” phases, but that’s the wrong way to think of it. Simply eat enough to consistently gain strength in the gym when you want to build muscle and reduce your intake enough to consistently lose weight when you want to lose fat. If you do these things, you’ll make consistent progress; even if you won’t be progressing towards two goals at the same time.
Works Cited
https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19553470/research-proves-you-can-gain-muscle-and-lose-fat-at-the-same-time/
https://builtwithscience.com/body-recomposition/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160127132741.htm
https://bayesianbodybuilding.com/gain-muscle-and-lose-fat-at-the-same-time/
http://sciencedrivennutrition.com/lose-fat-and-gain-muscle/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10838463
[1] https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19553470/research-proves-you-can-gain-muscle-and-lose-fat-at-the-same-time/
[2] https://builtwithscience.com/body-recomposition/
[3] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160127132741.htm
[4] https://bayesianbodybuilding.com/gain-muscle-and-lose-fat-at-the-same-time/
[5] http://sciencedrivennutrition.com/lose-fat-and-gain-muscle/
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10838463
[7] https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/28-days-of-gains-a-realistic-case-study
