I Can Build Muscle, But Not Lose Fat

Plain Jane · 08-01-2007, 01:04 AM

I've noticed 2 things about my body:

1. It's superb at building muscle mass
2. It sucks at losing fat

Just a moderate amount of resistance training gives me pretty good results in muscle formation, but it seems all for naught because short of either doing keto or near starvation with crazy amounts of cardio, my body just seems loathe to drop fat. Right now I'm eating six balanced meals a day, for a total of 1800 well-balanced calories per day (a daily 600 calorie maintenance deficit). I've cleared my diet of almost all refined sugars and carbs --basically the only sugar I get is from soymilk or 100% fruit juice that I use in smoothies, from a daily 1 slice of sourdough bread (sandwich), or from yoghurt and kefir. Some people just seem to be blessed by the Fates to have great genetics--they can eat a tonne and still stay lean, never exercise and still have abs. Did I get the opposite? Suggestions?

Eliiias · 08-01-2007, 01:24 AM

cardio on empty stomach for 30-40mins done in the first month for 3 days/week then up it to 4 in the next month and so on till u do 6 days/week.
whats ur diet like? can u post it please? plus i think 1800calories and ur 192lbs is way too low.

Maxfits202 · 08-01-2007, 07:41 AM

yeah whats your diet like?

gfundaro · 08-01-2007, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plain Jane

I've noticed 2 things about my body:

1. It's superb at building muscle mass
2. It sucks at losing fat

Just a moderate amount of resistance training gives me pretty good results in muscle formation, but it seems all for naught because short of either doing keto or near starvation with crazy amounts of cardio, my body just seems loathe to drop fat. Right now I'm eating six balanced meals a day, for a total of 1800 well-balanced calories per day (a daily 600 calorie maintenance deficit). I've cleared my diet of almost all refined sugars and carbs --basically the only sugar I get is from soymilk or 100% fruit juice that I use in smoothies, from a daily 1 slice of sourdough bread (sandwich), or from yoghurt and kefir. Some people just seem to be blessed by the Fates to have great genetics--they can eat a tonne and still stay lean, never exercise and still have abs. Did I get the opposite? Suggestions?

Hey! We're in the same boat.

Try not to watch the scale. Instead, measure your body fat and how your clothing fits. I built muscle last month eating 1600 calories and performing cardio 4-5 days a week. I have no idea why, but we are considered lucky when it comes to BBing, so keep that in mind. And why not try keto? I'm doing it, I like it a lot.

Sometimes all it takes is a change in your routine to get the ball rolling.

Hotmoltenlava · 08-01-2007, 09:11 AM

Hey!

I am the same way. I can build muscle, even when I am trying to burn fat and can build muscle like crazy when I am trying to build muscle. My goal is to get down to a respectable body fat, so it is a strange position to be in. When I get my bf down and clean bulk, it is going to be pretty fun to see what happens. Until then, I need to lose body fat. For me, slow cardio doesn't work and HIIT doesn't work in losing fat. I have tried HIIT for a two month period, without a diet change from the previous months and actually gained muscle and fat. The thing that works for me is LOTS of cardio. I do at least 60 minutes of medium-high steady state 6 days a week. Then the fat starts dropping off like mad. Don't know if this will work for you, but the only way to find out is to try it.

Have a good one.

tnielsen91 · 08-01-2007, 09:49 AM

I am somewhat similar. It seems like I can put on mass and lose fat at the same rate. The end result is that I do not lose wight. I lost 6in on my waist and gained alot of mass and definition.. but only lost 4 lbs.

RaferAlston26 · 08-01-2007, 10:31 AM

Maybe a lot of you can put on some appreciable mass because you haven't been training that long in the iron game? Regardless, I think you should post your diet. Also, you have to distinguish between muscle gain and glycogen/water weight gain. Your body fat percentage can stay the same and weight go up and it could very well be glycogen and water weight and 90% of the time that's the case as building dry lean muscle is difficult regardless if you're genetically gifted or not.

Anyways, post up your full days diet including calories, grams of carbs, protein, and fats. Don't forget the times you eat them at. This will help us a lot better and we can point out the errors. Also, post up your weight lifting routine and what kind of cardio you do and how often. More info the better.

carlh_uk · 08-01-2007, 10:38 AM

Welcome to the wonderful life of an Endo(morph).

I spent months feeling starving eating a clean diet with fruit and clean carbs, but with no success at all. It seems low carb may also be the only way for you. I have been getting results with a TKD approach, eating carbs only around my workouts.

Im sure you will get some of the natural meso/ecto's going on about how **** keto is and eat your carbs etc etc. As i usually say, gotta just do what works for you...

See you in the keto section!

derickonfire · 08-01-2007, 10:53 AM

I think I'm in the same boat =/
I gain strength and muscle quickly, but I've been combating this fat for years.

I'm starting to watch my carbs and I cut them down significantly (not keto levels, but still low) and I am starting to notice more effectiveness.

Perhaps you should look into keto, or just lower your carbs, AND up your cardio. A lot.

therealmark · 08-01-2007, 11:29 AM

Last time when I made a positive change in my eating/exercise, it took months before the scale showed any difference. Hell the mirror was pretty disappointing too. I think my body takes some time to "react" to lose weight. I don't really know if there's any science behind it, but the feeling I had is after me being sedentary for years, it took some time for my metabolism to "ramp up" to a proper level.

For me I really started to notice a difference when I started walking a bunch. I mean a bunch, over 8km a day (4.2 km each way to and from work). I think part of what helped is, although I wasn't working off a ton of calories that way (something like 600), I was forcing my metabolism up for almost an hour... then just as it's coming back down, I'd walk home and force it up for another hour, then just as it was coming down, I'd be doing some nightly exercise (weight training, cycling, frisbee or whatever) and bump it up again. Pretty soon it just seemed like my metabolism realized "aw hell, I'm up here all the time anyways I might as well stay here." Obviously, I'm not very scientific about it

Anyways, all I can say is be patient, eat healthy and exercise as much as you can and it'll come.

M.

neamarie · 08-01-2007, 12:21 PM

I have had the same problem in the past. I have always wondered how the cats could gain weight in the winter and then lose it in the spring and summer. For the last 3 weeks we have had no air conditioning. My body suddenly decided it did not need so much extra fat. It has been dropping off of me with no extra effort, for the first time in my life. Try raising the temp of your house and work, if possible, 5 degrees to between 80 & 85. It may completely change what is happening with your bodies.

RaferAlston26 · 08-01-2007, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carlh_uk

Welcome to the wonderful life of an Endo(morph).

I spent months feeling starving eating a clean diet with fruit and clean carbs, but with no success at all. It seems low carb may also be the only way for you. I have been getting results with a TKD approach, eating carbs only around my workouts.

Im sure you will get some of the natural meso/ecto's going on about how **** keto is and eat your carbs etc etc. As i usually say, gotta just do what works for you...

See you in the keto section!

If you did it right, you shouldn't have felt like you were starving at all.