Losing fat but gaining muscle? & Diet

[Halflink]

Hey Guys,

I was unsure where to post this so I decided to chuck it in here in hope that more people will see it.

Basically my targets are to lose about 8-10% body fat, But I also wish to continue gaining muscle.

I have googled for hours on end trying to figure out a way to do this but nothing seems to be overly clear.

 

Do I have to first lose the fat and then build the muscle or is there actually a way to do both at the same time?

 

My second question is about diet, If i want to achieve a 10% body fat reduction what should my diet plan look like?

Should I be High protein, low fat ect?

 

I Am absolutely lost.

 

Currently im on a high protein diet and doing lots of weight training (Due to an ankle injury)

 

HELP :S

[notanartmajor]

Eating higher protein will help preserve muscle mass, but you'll still lose some most likely. Fortunately, you can gain it back once your body fat is where you want.

[Evicious]

I agree with Notanartmajor, you are more likely to succeed if you focus on shrinking the fat first and then building muscle. Doing so in that order allows you to truly know where you are on the Porky vs. Popeye scale; otherwise, you will constantly second-guess what's actually represented on the scale and in the mirror. Additionally, by decreasing your body fat % first, you'll see quicker results when you start focusing on gaining muscle mass - because you'll be able to actually see what you're gaining. Much more motivating than poking yourself and trying to guesstimate the composition of what you're poking!

[jehan60188]

you can do both at the same time.  lift big, eat clean.

keep at it, since it takes time.

track your progress (monthly pictures, daily food log, scale, workout logs of your lifts)

[Halflink]

Thanks Guys, Only reason I didn't want to start losing fat first then building muscle is because im still in the middle of a rugby season and I play Prop. So getting smaller will put me at a somewhat disadvantage against the 20st guys I usually prop against

[shiggles]

What are your current stats? Weight, and bf etc.

Where you start has a huge impact in terms of what you can do to achieve your goals.

[Halflink]

Thanks Athena, I dont have a high need to get bigger. Just if i can help it i dont want to get too small in a way that it effects my rugby I will continue with my low calorie but high protein diet and see how it goes

 

Current Stats:

 

Weight: 16st 5

Height: 6'2"

BF %: This i do not currently know. Im going to sort this out by next monday. I believe im at about 20-23%. I wish to get down to 10-15%.

[Waldo]

Its hard to get down to 10% on the first go round if you're not real close. The longer you've been dieting the more your body will fight against it and it will begin to try to preserve your fat. This means as you pass into sub 15%, if you've been dieting a while your body will try hard to downshift your metabolism and will start burning more and more muscle to preserve your fat. On top of that you have to slow down your rate of loss lest the muscle loss become even more dramatic.

Contrast this to starting out at 15%, it will take a while before your body adapts to the diet and starts to fight it, by that point you can be down quite a bit.

Cheat days can help stave off this effect but really its best to take a few weeks eating at least at maintenence before making that final push to 10%. If you want to gain muscle too, bulk for a little bit before getting back to cutting and pushing for 10%.

[Halflink]

Ok will do, thanks for the help!

[aj_rock]

I would urge you to reconsider starting a fat loss program while in season. Especially with an injury. 

 

You're much better off waiting until the end of the season, and even then, let the ankle heal before trying anything. Dieting down make injuries that much easier to come by.

[shiggles]

Well I wrote a very elegant reply and it got eaten by the forum monster.

 

Losing fat while gaining muscle is possible – it’s often called ‘body recomposition’ if you want to plug that into google.  But results will be slower than the traditional bulk/cut cycles that are widely used by strength/figure athletes so you must be patient.  But in the long run you can end up with the same or even better results. This is because when ‘bulking’ a lot of excess fat can be gained and when ‘cutting’ this fat off muscle is often lost at the same time.

 

It’s actually easier for someone who has significant fat stores as the excess energy stored in the fat can help build the muscle up when at Calorie deficit food intake wise.  But it does get more tricky at lower BF%.

 

There are a number of more fancy techniques that can be used to achieve this but I won’t go into details now but the basics are the following…

-Hit the weights hard.
-Eat plenty of protein
-Eat enough good fats
-Eat at an energy deficit but not a deficit that is as large as diets focused primarily on weight loss.  For example you might start at a deficit of 200 Cals and see how you go.   This is something you will probably have to fiddle with.  Too low Cals and your performance will suffer, but too high Cals and you won’t be losing weight.
-A general theme is to eat more around when you are training and eat less around days you are not training.
 

[Waldo]

It is also possible to go a very long time and make virtually no progress while attempting to "recomp."

 

Many people are just too darn afraid of bulking.  Bulking or cutting, I maintain my abs throughout.

 

I have a hard time believing that a beginner male could even come close to bulking/cutting results by trying to recomp.  A beginner male can gain 20 lbs of muscle and drop a few BF% in a year.

[Flex Luthor]

I'll second what Waldo said. I didn't do a body recomp because I didn't have much body fat to start with but I did do what's called a clean bulk. Essentially that's building muscle while staying at a low body fat. I got the results but it took a LONG time and most people are not as patient as me.

[shiggles]

Too much talk on the bulking side of things.

 

Halflink wants to 'cut' while gaining strength.  At his bodyfat he can do that if he trains hard and eats reasonable food.  While he could go straight to a bodybuilder of making weight type of 'cut' he doesn't need to do so before building muscle nor is it a good idea in the middle of the season as his performance will likely decline.

 

Just because you know results will be slower in coming doesn't mean you ignore them or keep going when none are evident.

[Brovatar Korra]

I agree with Notanartmajor, you are more likely to succeed if you focus on shrinking the fat first and then building muscle. Doing so in that order allows you to truly know where you are on the Porky vs. Popeye scale; otherwise, you will constantly second-guess what's actually represented on the scale and in the mirror. Additionally, by decreasing your body fat % first, you'll see quicker results when you start focusing on gaining muscle mass - because you'll be able to actually see what you're gaining. Much more motivating than poking yourself and trying to guesstimate the composition of what you're poking!

 

"Much more motivating than poking yourself and trying to guesstimate the composition of what you're poking!" OMG the story of my life so far

 

I am pretty overweight, so I am attacking weights 3 x week and 45 min cardio 2 x week. I'm also eating much healthier, but I'm having a really hard time discerning exactly how many calories I should take in, what should my deficit be to lose weight. It is a process of experimentation, luckily I am scientifically minded. I am also confused about the best ratio of resistance/cardio to achieve my goals, so I'm trying different combinations to find what works best for me!