How to Build Muscle and Lose Fat at The Same Time

Can you actually build muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Let’s address the truth on how to build muscle and lose at the same time.

Can you actually do it? Is it even possible?

Often regarded as the “holy grail” of bodybuilding, building muscle and losing fat at the same time has been long said difficult, if not, impossible to do. Because let’s be real, 99% of us want this.

This is a very controversial topic in the fitness industry and media that you can either lose fat OR gain muscle and not both.

To do both at the same time is impossible.

I’ll be honest, at first, I thought it was a bunch fooey at first too. I thought bulking and cutting were one of the ten commandments. If you told me this back in 2010, I would have told you to f*ck off while I dirty bulked so I could eat my Domino’s in peace.

But after having coached clients and myself to do the same, now I’ve been converted.

Hopefully, by the end of this article, I can convince you to convert over, too. (I swear I didn’t plan these religious jokes.)

Before we dive in, we need to address what the controversial other guys says.

The other guys:

To lose fat, your body to be in a non-negotiable calorie deficit. Being in a calorie deficit results in a negative energy balance causing your body to use find its own source of energy to maintain tissue function, physical activity, and other bodily processes.

To build muscle, your body requires an excess amount of energy and adequate protein (amino acids) to repair and grow your muscles to handle more tension.

So, because your body requires excess energy to build muscle, it must mean we have to eat in a calorie surplus, right?!

Wrong. Well, not entirely, but not exactly the all-encompassing truth either.

Now that we addressed the other guys, let’s dive in. *cracks knuckles*

How To Build Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time – The Fat Loss Part

You’ve probably heard it before and know it all too well. Calories in vs calories out. To lose fat, you must consume fewer calories than you expend. This can be done by moving more or putting less stuff in your mouth (that’s what she said).

Simply put, your body requires a certain maintenance level of energy to function and keep you alive. And when you have less calories than that body requires, it will find a source of energy to keep you alive. Pretty stubborn of it, right? And this source can come from any energy-dense tissue in the body.

The two most energy-dense tissues in the body are muscle tissue and fat (adipose) tissue. And because we have evolved from being cavemen who are not just simply trying to get by, we would prefer it to be mostly, if not, all fat while maintaining (or even gaining muscle).

And it has been shown that the bigger the calorie deficit, the more likely the body will use muscle as an energy source. However, the more fat stores you have to lose, you will be able to get away with a bigger deficit because your energy stores are so much bigger.

So how much of a deficit?

It has been shown that for maximal long term results of not only losing the fat but keeping it off, anywhere between 0.5%-1.0% of your current body weight in fat loss per week is ideal. So for example, if you are 200 lb and want to lose fat, you will aim for (200 x 0.005 = 1 lb, 200 x 0.01 = 2 lb) 1 to 2 lb of fat loss per week.

And the conversion equation for 1 lb of fat loss is approximately 3500 calories. So if you are aiming for 1 lb to 2 lb of fat loss a week, that would a 500-1000 calorie deficit per day.

And again, the more fat stores you have to lose, the more you stick to the 1.0% side of the equation while the leaner you are, the more you stick to the 0.5% side of the equation or even less.

And so if we want to maximize fat loss and not muscle loss as much as possible, we want to a) maintain adequate protein intake, b) be in a moderate calorie deficit, and c) have an effective dose of training stimulus (strength/resistance training).

How To Build Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time – The Muscle Building Part

There are three (and the only three) things that are required to build muscle: training stimulus, diet, and rest.

Let’s break it down.

1. Training stimulus. Simple enough, lift heavy things, put them back down, breaks down muscle, the muscle needs to repair itself and adapt to lift heavier things. Bada bing bada boom.
2. Diet. Muscles are made of amino acids (the basic form of protein), your body can only make some amino acids, therefore you need amino acids to make amino acids into protein. Also, to go through the muscle building process, your body will require extra energy since it’s literally trying to grow your tissue.
3. Rest. You must rest just as hard as you train. Sleep is one of the most overlooked components of muscle building and fat loss. Make sure you’re getting at least 7-9 hours a night. Rest days are also just as important. Research shows that you should have at least 48 hours between training the same muscle group optimal growth and recovery.

Note that training plays an even bigger part in muscle retention than diet. Your diet could be on point but if you don’t adequately strength train, then your body has no point to keep any muscle. In fact, the research has shown that no training with adequate protein will still result in muscle loss. In your body’s point of view, because muscle is more metabolically active than fat, it’s literally dead weight and wasting calories. Simply put, if you don’t use it, you will lose it.

How To Build Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time – Combining The Best Of Both Worlds

So, let’s assume training and rest stay constant. At a certain point, more training and more rest won’t equate to more muscle gains. So, let’s focus on one of the main things we can manipulate: diet.

Let’s review.

Muscle building requires adequate protein and energy in the form of calories.

Fat loss requires a calorie deficit.

So logically, if we want to achieve both, we need to be in a calorie deficit (remember that this is non-negotiable) while also intaking adequate energy.

So imagine that you tried to do both at the same time, would your body just waste away into nothing?

Nope! Your body is an organism that has evolved over thousands over years. It is very efficient at what it does, and that’s keeping you alive. That is its first and foremost priority. And remember, it will use energy from wherever it can get it.

Now you may be asking, where is the energy going to come from if I’m not eating in a surplus?

Recall that the two most energy-dense tissues in the body are muscle and fat. Obviously we can’t use our own muscle to build more muscle…so the only way we’ll get this energy will be from our…you guessed it! Fat stores.

The calories required to build muscle can and will come from your fat stores.

Along with adequate calories, you will need to eat enough protein. A good starting point is 1g per pound of lean body mass (LBM). Or to make things simpler, 1g per pound of goal body weight. This should be more than enough for your protein needs. The research actually shows that much less protein is required for your retaining LBM.

And of course, this number will increase the leaner you get in order to retain and build more muscle. Therefore, an easier number is 1g per pound of normal body weight. But this doesn’t apply if you are extremely overweight as it can be quite hard to eat 300+ grams of protein in a day.

Now that diet is covered, let’s get into training. (If you want to the best exercises to lose weight, check out my article here!)

In order to build muscle, you need to strength train or at least have some sort of resistance where you can apply progressive overload.

What is that?

Progressive overload is the increasing the demands on your body by increasing the amount of stress or tension to the working muscles.

This can be done through increasing the weight, increasing the number of sets or reps, increasing time under tension, and so on and so forth.

So a quick recap of the things required to build muscle while losing fat:

1. Calorie deficit (aiming for 0.5%-1.0% of current body weight of fat loss per week). You have two options to calculate your calorie deficit. Note that these two equations are starting points because no equation is going to be 100% accurate. No one knows exactly how many calories you need. Most of you will need to adjust due to individual differences in metabolism and daily activity. Stick to your calorie targets for at least 3 weeks before deciding if adjustments are needed.
   1. Current BW (in lbs) x 15 = Estimated Maintenance Calorie Target (this is your estimated maintenance – calories to maintain your current bodyweight subtract 300-500 calories from this).
   2. LBW (Lean Bodyweight in lbs) OR Goal BW (in lbs) x 12 = Estimated Deficit Calorie Target (this is your estimated deficit – you do not need to subtract anymore from this number unless you need to make adjustments after the 3 week period; if any changes are needed, add or subtract 10% depending on how fast your progress is occurring).
2. Adequate protein (1g of protein per pound of body weight, unless you’re extremely overweight then 1g per pound of lean body mass/goal body weight)
3. Training with progressive overload (strength/resistance train with the purpose and intent to get stronger and do better)

How To Know If This Is All Working?

If you want to see results, it’s important to track your progress.

Whether it’s by using:

• scale weight
• body measurements
• pictures
• clothing size
• strength levels
• consistency
• mental improvements

Tracking your progress is essential to know if something you’re doing is working. If I told you to save money for a trip coming up, would you just guess at how much you’re saving only to find out 6 months later if you can go on that trip or not?

That being said, scale weight will not tell the entire story because you’re trying build muscle and lose fat at the same time which, news flash, both will carry weight.

Therefore, I would emphasize that use the other forms of measurements I listed above. The best three that provide the most consistency are:

• body measurements (using a tape measure and measuring the circumference of your bicep, chest, waist, and waist)
• strength levels (how much of an improvement the amount of weight you lift from session to session)
• pictures (taking pictures of yourself in your undies from the front and side views while unflexed and flexing)

Try these three things out and see what happens. The “holy grail” might not be a tall tale after all.

If you aren’t seeing results, you should double check:

• Are you really in a calorie deficit?
• Are your lifts improving over time?
• Are you eating enough protein in your meals?

The Bottom Line On How To Build Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time

You might have heard that building muscle in a deficit “isn’t optimal.” And I’m not going to lie to you, it’s not.

In fact, the optimal way to build muscle is by being at maintenance or a surplus. If any of these apply to you then you’re most likely in the clear for building muscle and losing fat at the same time:

• Novice or beginner in the gym
• Have a significant amount of fat mass to lose
• Restarting training after a long layoff

Otherwise, if you have a bit of experience under your belt, you need to be eating more calories because, as discussed, building muscle is an energy-intensive process.

Hope this helps get you that much closer to getting the body you deserve!

Talk soon,

-Aus

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• Customized nutrition plan tailored to your individual needs and goals
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