How To Lose Fat And Gain Muscle

Losing fat and gaining muscle are two of the most common fitness goals out there, but trying to achieve them both at the same time? It ain’t no easy feat.

To lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit, meaning you’re burning more energy than you’re consuming. This could be through a reduced calorie intake with your diet or by increasing your physical activity to burn more energy. Although this can be challenging and requires discipline, the equation is simple enough. But without the right dietary and training approach, a calorie deficit can result in the loss of fat and muscle mass, which is not what you want if gaining strength is a goal of yours.

Building muscle requires a calorie surplus (you can’t make something from nothing) and a consistent dietary focus on protein which provides the building blocks for muscle tissue. The only thing is, being in a calorie surplus can mean you also put on fat mass, not just muscle.

These two pathways don’t go hand in hand super easily, hence another term you may have heard of - “bulking and cutting.” This is where you start with the gaining phase, lifting heavy and eating in a surplus to gain muscle (and potentially fat), before significantly reducing your calorie intake while still keeping your protein intake high to lose fat while maintaining the muscle you built.

If you’re going to try to achieve both at the same time - a process called body recomposition - or wondering why you’d even want to change your body composition in the first place, here’s what you need to know.

Understanding body composition

While not everyone has goals related to their body composition, it’s helpful to understand that trying to improve your body composition isn’t simply about how you look, it’s beneficial for your health, too.

As UCLA Health explains, what your body is made up of is a far better measure of your health than how heavy your body is - the fundamental reason why measuring BMI isn’t the gold standard of health. We typically define a weight loss approach as a success if the number on the scales drops, regardless of whether it’s fat or muscle you’re losing. In contrast, if you’re trying to improve your body recomposition you’ll be looking to lose fat and while maintaining or building your muscle mass.

Sarcopenia or low muscle mass is not a health outcome you want as it can lead to weakness and an overall loss of strength and stamina, but also negatively affect your balance, speed, metabolism, insulin resistance, posture and ability to perform everyday activities.

Although it’s essential for your body to have some fat, high levels of fat are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, some cancers and health conditions like type 2 diabetes, while higher levels of muscle are associated with lower risk.

When you build muscle mass through strength training, you also tend to strengthen your bones and joints, which reduces your risk of osteoporosis as you age, and improving your body composition can make all your daily movements a whole lot easier.

How to lose fat and gain muscle

One of the first things to know when it comes to your body recomposition is that you might want to rethink the scales as you’ll quickly find this shouldn’t be your primary measurement of progress. Muscle tissue is denser and therefore heavier than fat, therefore your body composition may dramatically change without you seeing a huge change in the number on the scales. To measure changes in body composition, you can either get body scans, skinfold tests, or judge your progress by a mixture of pictures and weightlifting progress.

Secondly, because you want to maintain or build your muscle mass and have the energy you need to train, you only want to be in a slight or moderate calorie deficit - 500 calories or less is a good sweet spot to aim for depending on your goals and lifestyle. A severe deficit will likely see you losing muscle as well as fat.

Thirdly, research shows you must be following a resistance training program that utilises progressive overload to continuously stimulate and challenge your muscles, whether that’s a bodyweight strength training program or a weight training program. No matter how or where you like to train, we’ve got you covered with plenty of options in the Sweat app.

And finally, your nutritional approach needs a strong focus on protein to help your muscles repair and grow after each workout, as well as keeping you satisfied for longer between meals. 2013 research looking at the effects of protein intake on changes in body composition found that higher protein intake during weight loss promotes the retention of lean body mass, so try to include a source of lean protein in every meal, aiming for 1.2-2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight each day.

Once fat loss is no longer a goal for you (or if it never was to begin with), you can switch your focus to gaining muscle by lifting heavier, keeping your protein intake high and slightly lifting your calorie intake.

Feel-good progress

If weight loss is your goal, it might be time to reconsider your approach and aim for body recomposition instead. Yes, it may require more patience, effort and discipline, but the healthiest version of you doesn’t mean a smaller version of you - she is strong and agile, and that’s why we will always encourage an approach that focuses on maintaining and building muscle mass. And the strength training programs in the Sweat app are the perfect place to start.