Start with Fat Loss or Building Muscle?

M

matt.martin87

0
Would it be more effective to try to lose weight first even if it means losing some muscle, then building myself back up? Or should I try to lose weight and lift at the same time. I'm confused because you are supposed to cut cals when losing weight, but add cals when adding muscle. Right now my BMI is 25.5. My body fat is approx 19% according to a friends fancy scale.

If it helps, here is what my body looks like as of now:
Both Pics I'm Flexing
sideflexing.jpg

frontflexing.jpg
 
Cutting calories doesn't mean you have to lose muscle. If you get a supplement (Like whey protien, Muscle Milk, or other things) or just use a protien-heavy diet you can accomplish both goals.

What you need to do, in your case, is probably circuit training. It's a mix of anaerobic and aerobic exericse along with weightlifting. Bodyweight exercises would probably help you as well. You can burn a good amount of calories doing this, but less than you would with a strict cardio program. The difference here is that the circuit training and bodyweight exercises continue to burn calories even after the workout is done.

As you gain more muscle mass, your resting metabolic rate will increase as well. The fat will come off as long as you watch your diet and do a good amount of exercise. Super High Intensity Training (that's what we call it in the army, I'll let you figure out the funny part) can build muscle. Eventually, as long as you eat correctly, you'll start to see your belly go away.

The most important thing is correct diet.
 
jrx said:
Cutting calories doesn't mean you have to lose muscle. If you get a supplement (Like whey protien, Muscle Milk, or other things) or just use a protien-heavy diet you can accomplish both goals.

What you need to do, in your case, is probably circuit training. It's a mix of anaerobic and aerobic exericse along with weightlifting. Bodyweight exercises would probably help you as well. You can burn a good amount of calories doing this, but less than you would with a strict cardio program. The difference here is that the circuit training and bodyweight exercises continue to burn calories even after the workout is done.

As you gain more muscle mass, your resting metabolic rate will increase as well. The fat will come off as long as you watch your diet and do a good amount of exercise. Super High Intensity Training (that's what we call it in the army, I'll let you figure out the funny part) can build muscle. Eventually, as long as you eat correctly, you'll start to see your belly go away.

The most important thing is correct diet.
Click to expand...

As of right now, I do HIIT sprints on Mon, Wed, Fri. I lift Tue, Thurs. I use protein powder right before I lift, and after I lift and run. At first I didn't see much of a change. I chalk this up to quitting smoking right around the time I started working out again. I'm not sure how much smoking speeds up your metabolism though. But now I have seen a loss of a little more weight in the last 2 weeks. Hopefully this trend continues.
 
It took me almost 5 months of hard work to really start to see results. You're smaller and have less fat than I do, so your results will start to come faster.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is to not keep it in mind. You'll look in the mirror one day and notice the changes, and that'll keep you going until the next time.
 
The best thing you need is patience. In time if you train with maximum intensity but don't overtrain, the results will start to come.

If you eat right, healthy foods etc the gain you have in muscle with help to burn off any access body fat.
 
The more muscle you have on your body, the more easily your body can burn fats. So if you get a steady routine to build muscle, if that is what you are after, it should help you lose fat mass as well and your body will be working more efficiently. Of course you will need to be on the right amount of reps and sets with a corresponding load.
for more info.
Trainer01
 
Dude first of all, forget the calorie counting. NOTHING in the real world is as accurate as the "fitness math" that some people will have you believe.

3500 calories equates to 1lbs of body weight. So technically... if you cut out 500 calories a day... for a month, that's a deficit of 15,000 calories. That would mean 4.28lbs of weight loss. But what are the chances of you hitting that goal? It's NOT that concrete I'll tell ya that from personal experience and testing.

But it CAN be used as a rough guideline. And on top of that, do you know if that's FAT LOSS or MUSCLE LOSS... since both have weight. If your goal is to get big... what you need to start doing right now is proper resistance training with free weights and then eating 6 square meals a day with adequate amount of protein. 1.5g per lbs of body weight.

Now, will you gain some extra fat in the process? Absolutely. Unless you want to take steroids, you need to let go of that belief that you can get huge and lean without any gain in fat. That's B-S! You WILL gain some fat... it's inevitable, but don't worry because after you have some solid lean muscle under your skin, burning fat will be easy... very easy.

So start eating, and start training like a beast. Do this for 4 months straight, then take about 2 months to burn fat and in just like that... in 6 short months you'll have that ripped, muscular and tank body you want.

Now the question is... are you willing to put in the work?

Good luck.
 
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