need some clarification

J

junkfoodbad

2
ok i need some clarification here, and im leaving this to the people who actually study this to help me out.

It has been said that you cant "trade" fat for muscle. The process of burning fat and building muscle are seperate. The process of burning fat takes place during aerobic activity when there is oxygen in the muscles.

Lifting weights is anaerobic and uses muscle glycogen for energy. Therefor there is no fat burning when lifting weights.

Muscle repair and just more muscle mass means a higher BMR. So your maintenence is higher...or it requires less work to burn more calories.

But at what time, other than during aerobic activity, its fat burned as fuel? Higher BMR means nothing if you cant coax your body into burning fat for fuel over glycogen. When does this occur?

This has always confused me. Any help would be greatly appreciated
 
Take a step back...

Think of it as a caloric deficit thing. If you need 3000 calories to function, 3000 calories is what your body is going to take. If you only ingest 2500, then its gonna pick up the calories elsewhere. Our bodies are lazy (not people, our bodies) and will try to get by on as little energy as possible, thats why we have to trick our bodies by lifting weights. Along with the rise in metabolism, this makes your body think the muscle is needed to function so it spares catabolism and burns fat.

The short answer is if you create a defecit, you burn fat all day long.
 
ah i see. so catabolism is actually easier for the body to gain energy, but lifting weights convinces the body that it needs the muscle for the next time we lift. makes sense now.
 
Sort of, but think of it this way.

Catabolism is the body's way of conserving energy, less muscle means less energy expended. That being said, the body will sacrifice muscle first instead of fat unless we coax the body to burn fat.
 
and part of that of course is eating just a little less. 10-20% under maintenance, which is often around 500 cals at 20%.

as long as the body doesn't think its starving, and is being asked for energy and tricked in to holding on to muscle mass...you burn fat.
 
i just wasnt clear on the fact that lifting weights convinced the body you NEED the muscles. What stops the body from saying, "screw those muscles, I dont need 'em" ?
 
junkfoodbad said:
i just wasnt clear on the fact that lifting weights convinced the body you NEED the muscles. What stops the body from saying, "screw those muscles, I dont need 'em" ?
Click to expand...
Remember when you first starting weight training? Your body's soreness and whatnot? That response is what triggers your body into saying, "hey, maybe I do need more muscle". If your body builds more and tougher muscle fibers, the less it needs to spend energy repairing them instead of simply feeding them.

Your body always tries to work as efficiently as it can...if you train it to feed muscle, then it will, and if you train it to burn fat, then it will.
 
junkfoodbad said:
i just wasnt clear on the fact that lifting weights convinced the body you NEED the muscles. What stops the body from saying, "screw those muscles, I dont need 'em" ?
Click to expand...

ahh, gotcha. yep, its the continued weight training that tells the body it can't just ditch the muscles. you really shouldn't lose lean mass when cutting as long as you don't dip calories way too low.

i'll say waht I've said before too, that I think lifting heavy lower reps when cutting is better. less trama to the muscle, so its a quicker recovery...you can still build strength...and the heavy weight liftin helps retain the muscle you have. i don't see a reason to lift in the hypertrophy range when cutting, at least not often, since you should be lacking teh calories need to really add mass...so why train that way.
 
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