Losing body fat while gaining muscle mass

[ScienceIsMagic]

Hello everyone, I was wondering if it was possible to gain muscle mass and lose your body fat at the same time? I'm 5'11" and weight 172lbs. My ideal weight is around 180-190lbs, but I have 25%-30% body fat. I don't think I have that much muscle mass, since my arms are really skinny compared to my huge stomach. So is there anyway to possibly bring down my body fat to ~10% or even lower, but at the same time gain muscle mass. And by losing body fat, wouldn't my weight go down? However gaining muscle mass itself, will counteract my loss in weight? BTW, I've been eating high protein and mixed carbs meals, but never went into a fitness spree. I just started now to commit on getting fit.

[SuffolkPunch]

You will be able to for a while since you are new and have highish body fat

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...ng-fat-qa.html

Experience tells me that it's a bad idea to rely on this... you must be objective about your progress. As soon as your strength gains stop coming, you need to either focus on muscle gain or fat loss. If you need to do both then do 1 month fat loss followed by 3 month slow mass gain phases

Basic info that may help:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...#post847953543

[ScienceIsMagic]

Thanks for your answer(can't quote your answer, since I'm restricted from posting links).

Since you mentioned it, I guess my focus for now would be reducing my body fat from 25% to 10%(Is it possible to lose 15% body fat in a month?), then gaining muscle mass. So should I do more cardio exercises?
Currently I've been doing 3 days of weightlifting and 3 days of cardio in a week.
Weightlifting
Cardio
Weightlifting
Cardio
Weightlifting
Cardio
Rest.

Would this work fine?

I'm also new to do this, would you elaborate on exactly what you mean in strength gain and muscle gain?

Thanks again!

[JayNotts]

make some goals and stick to them.

either way, eat clean and train hard and muscle will come and fat will go...

at that bf% id think about cutting first. try 'myfitnesspal' (phone app) to keep track of calories your eating etc

[ipower1]

I recommend losing fat first since its hard to do both at same time. Do for a month 20 mind cardio then weight lifting small weights more reps like 15/set. End ur exercise with 20mins cardio. Since you have lots of body fat you will start losing it noticeably. Most importantly though for this to work you have to eat right that is to say less carbs more veggies and protein foods and two fruits a day(stay aeay from juices)and drink 3L of water a day.

[ScienceIsMagic]

I recommend losing fat first since its hard to do both at same time. Do for a month 20 mind cardio then weight lifting small weights more reps like 15/set. End ur exercise with 20mins cardio. Since you have lots of body fat you will start losing it noticeably. Most importantly though for this to work you have to eat right that is to say less carbs more veggies and protein foods and two fruits a day(stay aeay from juices)and drink 3L of water a day.

Yeah i decided to lose my body fat first, so should i just do cardio for the first month? Or should i incorporate some weightlifting as well?

EDIT:
Scratch what i just said, my question was answered in your reply.

Anyways, can you list specific examples of cardio exercises? Besides just running on the treadmill or jogging. OR should I say just doing 1hr of jogging considered as enough cardio for the day. (30min jogging before weightlifting and 30min after).

Also should i weight lift every other day?

[Brandon0212]

Hello everyone, I was wondering if it was possible to gain muscle mass and lose your body fat at the same time? I'm 5'11" and weight 172lbs. My ideal weight is around 180-190lbs, but I have 25%-30% body fat. I don't think I have that much muscle mass, since my arms are really skinny compared to my huge stomach. So is there anyway to possibly bring down my body fat to ~10% or even lower, but at the same time gain muscle mass. And by losing body fat, wouldn't my weight go down? However gaining muscle mass itself, will counteract my loss in weight? BTW, I've been eating high protein and mixed carbs meals, but never went into a fitness spree. I just started now to commit on getting fit.

Definitely lose the a lot of the fat before going real big on heavy lifting. I would keep the lifting very moderate with respectively lighter weight. Focus more on cardio and kill your abs. Once you have lost your goal in body fat that's when you can start really lifting heavy and start bulking (with the same amount of cardio as before). You losing weight in the beginning will be fat loss so if you are lifting as well that doesn't mean you aren't gaining any muscle. Remember that muscle weight takes a long time to put on.

[SuffolkPunch]

^^ If you read the advice link I posted, you'll see that weight training is essential even when losing fat.

Control calories, lose about 2lbs a month. Can you reach your goal in a month? Do the sums @ 2lbs per week and see.

[Briah2013]

Yeah i decided to lose my body fat first, so should i just do cardio for the first month? Or should i incorporate some weightlifting as well?

EDIT:
Scratch what i just said, my question was answered in your reply.

Anyways, can you list specific examples of cardio exercises? Besides just running on the treadmill or jogging. OR should I say just doing 1hr of jogging considered as enough cardio for the day. (30min jogging before weightlifting and 30min after).

Also should i weight lift every other day?

A few machines I think work wonders are the elliptical, bike and stair master. Everyday I burn 650 calories on the elliptical with the intensity lvl of 13/ 10% incline, 200 on the bike/intensity lvl 13 an 100 on the stair master. I base my workouts off of how much calories I burn cause I base my workouts on my dietary intake. It helps me control and experience new dietary meals to see what foods work well with my body.

[jaydaring]

I am in the same boat as you.what I did was insanity which is a killer and kept me sore for ages.


I now changed to the following exercises which have worked wonders for my fat loss.


5 pulls no rest then
16 bicep curls no rest
12 bench press/wide press ups if no bench
16 tri cep pull downs
20 squats no weights
25 sit ups

1 minute 30 seconds break and repeat until you have done 4 rotations of this circuit.

I do every day at home in my living room and it only takes 35 mins and ya heart rate is high and boy you sweat. Eat clean all the time. Good luck

[goalie1113]

cardio is overrated to an extent. first and foremost, you need to eat/drink clean.... make water your main beverage, cut back on alcohol if you drink... no sodas (not even diet)....

in combination with proper diet, hit the weights hard and get your proper protein intake (at least 150 g a day if you want build muscle).... and dont just workout your upper body.... don't overwork your abs, treat them like any other muscle and let them rest/recover (you cant specifically target fat you want to burn)... and legs are a must as well!!! the more total muscle you have on your body,the higher your metabolism will be.... you burn a LOT more calories in the 22 hours a day OUTSIDE of the gym than you do in the 2 hours of work IN the gym....

and instead if regular cardio, do interval training (google it if your are unfamiliar... TONS of info out there)... basically going at a sprint speed (bike, elliptical, treadmill, etc) for a short time, followed by quick resting period.... rinse and repeat. you will save a lot of time and burn a lot more calories doing this (good interval session only needs to be like 20-30 mins)

and a final, often ignored tip in fat loss... get your 8 hours of sleep a night! it will help with muscle recovery from working out, as well as burning fat.