Building muscle vs. strengthening muscle

[capsfan70]

Building muscle vs. strengthening muscle: is there a difference?

Every thread on this site states that you can't build muscle on calorie defecit. However, I am currently working out (resistance and cardio - granted, not any heavy lifting yet) and eating ~300 calories under maintenance and I have noticed significant improvement in my muscles. My ab, triceps, calves, and thighs have gotten much harder and stronger...yet, I've also lost a lot of fat on my torso and upper body.

So the whole "can't lose fat and built muscle at the same time" concept kind of confuses me, because it seems to me that I've done both?? Unless you can strengthen your muscles without gaining muscle? PLUS, it's proven that muscle burns more calories than fat, so technically if you lose fat by building muscle, doesn't that qualify as doing both at the same time...?

Looking for some discussion on this!!

(P.S. I wasn't quite sure where to post this, sorry if it doesn't belong)

[magician27]

an obese untrained beginner can gain muscle on slight deficit. but not for very long , and not at optimal rate. and your muscles getting harder doesnt necessarily mean you are gaining muscle, that more likely means you are losing fat and that soft fat tissue is getting off your muscles.
At beginner stage , your strength gains will be rapid just from neural adaptations(especially first 2-3 months), you most likely double all your lifts within couple months, that doesnt mean you doubled your muscle mass. train for 6 months, then get lean enough(10-12% bf), then try eating on deficit , see how much stronger you get from there. Muscle gain is already extremely slow, there is no need to slow it down further eating on a deficit.

[STEFANOSSS]

Hypertrophy means your muscles adapt to exercise-induced stress by repairing the micro tears inflicted from the weight used.

In order for that to happen you need to eat plenty of quality food so that your body can repair itself effectively.

If you are in a caloric deficit your body simply does not have the right fuel to make the muscle grow bigger so it wil use muscle itself and fat to feed.

Strengthening the muscle means your goal is to lift as much weight as possible so the same principle applies here as well.Eat right and rest.

Strength does not only mean bigger size,it's about ligaments and tendons too.

Lu Xiaojun is only 77kg (170lbs) yet he squats 260kg (573bs) without looking like Jay Cutler or something...Maybe an extreme example but you get the idea.