losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time

[garlan5]

most say you cannot put on muscle on a cut, but I have. how is this possible.. i'm losing the fat slowly and actually adding muscle. my weight is staying around the same...at least since late may this year. I'm 500 cals short of my maintance cals. So how is this possible. its not a bad thing, but i dont see how. plus i'm not trying to add muscle right now. i really would prefer to get to my goal weight of 200lbs at 15% bf as quick as possible. Next may is my goal. I dont know if i'm eating too much maybe my maintance numbers are incorrect or my metabolism is odd or something. should i drop my daily intake to neg 1000 cals.. seems too low to me. that would be 2000 cals a day for me at 240lbs. any thoughts

[MrLovrLovr]

Dude the thing is how much of that 240 pounds is NOT fat ?
Are you really just cutting or are you now eating better than ever on a more strict form and all ?

[FunkDaddy]

You are probably dropping weight and getting leaner, but not putting on any muscle, just creating the illusion that you are as you lean out. Unless you are measuring your arms and they are increasing in size while your gut and waistline are shrinking...

[NoTimeLikeNow]

haha, this reminds me of a recent T-nation article. Here is an excerpt from Christian Thibaudeau

I'll grudgingly admit that it's possible to gain some muscle while losing some fat, for a short period of time, if you do everything perfectly. I imagine it's also possible to masturbate while riding a bicycle. In either case, though, trying to do both at the same time only ensures that you'll do neither one very effectively.

[martinibluex]

It's rare and it's short lived but its possible. The best way to know whether you ara gaining muscle and losing fat is to measure your biceps, calves, and waist. If the first two are growing (or at least the biceps anyhow; my calves have been pretty much the same since 10th grade lol) and the third one is getting smaller you are in business.
Then if somebody tells you that it is not possible that you've gained muscle while losing fat, you tell them "Then why is my biceps getting BIGGER?"
It worked for me at around 100 calories under BMR x 1.55 for about 4.5 weeks.
The other time when I ever came close is when I gained 14 pounds in 6 months while adding 1/3 inch to my waist as a beginner.
I believe that it is possible because the body has its own microcycles and doesnt count "daily" calories but the calories for its own cycles. Somehow you probably hit the spot.

[SK1989]

Don't know if it's really possible to gain muscle and lose fat. You could weight train to help preserve your muscle or keep it at it's current state but it's a small chance you can do both, depends on your genetics I guess?

[AlexMR]

In my first two months on weight training I was training basically to lose fat. I did lose fat (15pounds of it) and gained muscle (4pounds of it).

I am now in a different routine and I felt i was getting bigger and stronger but at the same time I feel a little more fat too. I bought a caliper and it says I have 24.4% BF, which is the same I had two weeks ago when the doctor measured it. I've lost almost 4 pounds since then. That means a little error/variation on th measure or that I started losing some lean mass. It seems that it is too good to be true (llosing fat+adding lbm) so I wont pay too much attention to it and will cut until I feel it's a good moment to start adding mass. As one of the previous poster said, it is likely that a program designed to lose fat and add muscle fails at either one or at least would be less optimal than doing it the traditional way (bulk/cut phases) (according to what I've read).

PS.: I have been doing it successfully though. . Im going to try to keep at it for as long as it works.

[chrischap01]

It's possible, because I have done it. Most of my muscle gain came during the first 6 months of working out after not lifting for years, though. I have added more since then, but at a much slower rate. I have continued to lose fat, though.

I think the key is to stay calorie deficient to cut fat, but get the bulk of the calories you do eat from protein. The only high carb foods I eat come shortly after my workout, and I make sure to get a good dose of protein before and after my workout. The rest of the day, I pretty much only eat protein and grean leafy veggies.

[7evens]

Been doing it for almost two years.....

[maxed-out]

Originally Posted by NoTimeLikeNow

haha, this reminds me of a recent T-nation article. Here is an excerpt from Christian Thibaudeau

Do you still have the link to this article? I'd like to read it