How do you Build Muscle and Lose Weight at the Same Time?

How do you build muscle and lose body fat at the same time, there's a few main things that you want to make sure that you're focusing on.

So let's go over those the first thing that you want to focus on is making sure that you're actually lifting weights. So in order to build muscle and lose body fat, and actually lose body fat and not muscle, we want to make sure that we're lifting weights, and we're sending our body the signal that says, Hey, hold on to this muscle, get rid of the body fat. So it's really, really important to not change your exercise routine when you're looking to lose body fat, especially if you're looking to maintain your muscle or build muscle. So a lot of people make the mistake thinking that you know, when they go on a diet, or they go on a fat loss phase, that they should be switching up their exercise routine, doing less, or, you know, doing more cardio, but really, that's not the case, if you want to make sure that you're you know, building muscle or at least maintaining your muscle, while you're also losing body fat, you need to make sure that you are lifting, and you're following a progressive program where you can, you know, progress week to week, by making sure that you're you know, maybe lifting a little bit heavier, you're maybe doing another rep, these are all forms of progressive overload, which is super, super important to make sure that you are actually just doing a little bit more each week, which will in turn result in building muscle or at least maintaining muscle while you're losing body fat.

So one of the biggest things if you want to lose body fat and build muscle, or at least maintain your muscle is making sure that you're lifting weights, and you're doing it in a way that is structured smart, you're following a progressive program, you're focusing on being very intentional on what you're doing. So you're going into the gym, and you're, you know, paying attention to the exercises that you're doing, you're not just going in there and kind of going through random exercises, you're actually following a program, you're being you know, super diligent about what you're doing, you have good form good technique, you're kind of checking all those boxes, that's gonna be the number one thing to make sure that you're doing. If you want to lose body fat and build muscle.

Another thing that you want to make sure that you're paying attention to is that you're not going too deep in a calorie deficit. So we know that we have to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose body fat. But if we want to maintain or build as much muscle as possible, while losing body fat, we have to make sure that we're not going too deep into a calorie deficit, because that is going to hinder muscle growth and muscle maintenance. So you know, if you're just think about it, practically, if you go too deep into a calorie deficit, you're going to have a lot less energy and fuel coming in. So you're not going to have enough energy for your workouts right, you're not going to feel great during your workouts, so you're not going to work as hard. And that's going to kind of you know, stack itself over time. And that we don't want that to happen, right. So just making sure that you're not going too deep into a calorie deficit. Also realize that the deeper you go into a calorie deficit that you know, the less calories that you have coming in, the harder is going to be to maintain your muscle mass or your lean body mass.

So if you're looking to lose body fat and build muscle at the same time, just don't go too deep into a calorie deficit. Typically 10 to 15% deficit is going to be just where you need to be anything you know, 20% or beyond 25% or beyond is going to be a little bit too aggressive. And that can risk loss of muscle mass, it can risk loss of just energy levels throughout the day, and you won't be able to train as hard to build that muscle or maintain that muscle. So just make sure that if you're looking to lose body fat and build muscle at the same time, that you're not going too deep into a calorie deficit.

And you can maintain your energy levels and therefore maintain your muscle mass. The next thing that you want to pay attention to if you're looking to lose body fat and build muscle or at least maintain muscle while you're losing body fat is eating enough protein. So protein is going to be essential protein is the building blocks of your muscles. So we need to make sure that we get enough protein throughout the day to ensure that you are you know, holding on to that muscle and building as much muscle as possible.

So if you don't have enough protein coming in, and you're you know, working hard in the gym, you're actually doing yourself a huge disservice because you need that protein to repair the muscle tissue to grow, right. So protein is super, super important. If you're not eating enough protein, you're just again doing yourself a huge disservice. So make sure you're getting enough protein typically I recommend for most people a good range is between 0.8 and 1.2 grams per pound of body weight. That is a pretty big range. For most people sticking around point eight to one gram per pound of body weight is a good place to start off if you are overweight. If you have a lot of body fat to lose, around one gram per pound of ideal body weight is a way that you can start off or you can just take your height and centimeters and use that as your starting point for grandparent. per day, so high in centimeters would be, you know, if you are 160 centimeters 160 grams of protein on a daily basis, if you're looking for one gram per pound of body weight, that would just be, you know, if you weigh 150 pounds, that would be 150 pounds per day.

Sorry, if you weigh 150 pounds, that'd be 150 grams of protein per day. So there's some easy calculations you can make, just making sure that you're getting enough protein is gonna be super, super beneficial. And again, protein is just that's the building blocks of your muscles. So you need to make sure you're getting enough. And a little, you know, beyond that, I would say that if your main goal is to make sure that you are, you know, holding on to as much muscle as possible, or building as much muscle as possible, while losing body fat, is making sure that you're spreading your protein out throughout the day and getting a good amount of protein at each main meal.

So typically, I recommend for most people, at least 25 grams of protein at the minimum and each meal, specially you know, your main meals of the day, especially post workout meals, that's going to be super important to make sure that you're getting enough of the essential amino acids to help repair the muscle that you've just broken down when you worked out. So the reason I say about 25 grams is the bare minimum is because we want to make sure that we're getting enough of the essential amino acids, especially the branched chain amino acids, which are going to be important for muscle protein synthesis. And that's simply just your muscles growing. So muscle protein synthesis is the act that happens in your body, where you are putting on new muscle tissue, you're repairing the muscle tissue that was broken down, when you're working out.

So making sure that you're getting enough essential amino acids. 25 grams is a good minimum for most people, because that's going to ensure that you're getting enough of those essential amino acids, specially the BCAAs, like I mentioned, leucine, isoleucine, and veiling are the base BCAAs, those are super, super important for optimizing muscle protein synthesis. So getting, you know, 25 to 30 grams of protein, and each major meal is going to be important for that. And that's gonna allow you to hit what we call the leucine threshold. So this is a little bit nerdy, but Leucine is one of the main amino acids that you need to kind of turn on the switch that says, hey, muscle protein synthesis turn on. So leucine, you can kind of think of the BCAAs and leucine itself, I like to give this analogy of a car, turning on a car and a gas tank.

So you need a key to turn the car on, right. So the key would be leucine. But if you don't have any gas in the tank, then the car's not going to go anywhere. So the key is leucine, and the gas in the tank is all the other amino acids, you need all of them combined. But if you don't have enough leucine, you're not going to hit that muscle protein synthesis. So making sure that you're around that 25 grams or above, in your like for your protein for each meal is going to be important. And that's gonna be a little nitty gritty. But that's really, really important, especially if you want to optimize muscle growth and optimize muscle retention, while you're losing body fat. Last but not least, paying attention to sleep. So this is definitely not the least important thing. It's only last because it was the last thing I thought of on the list. But getting enough sleep is going to be super, super important.

We have tons of research that shows that lack of sleep can actually impair muscle growth. So if you're not sleeping enough, you are really doing yourself a disservice. It's something that sounds very, very simple, but I promise you that it's going to go a long way. So making sure that you're staying on top of your sleep, about seven to nine hours is kind of the the range that we want to optimize for sleep a little bit less some people can golf a little bit less, some people a little bit more, but just making sure that you're paying attention to sleep is going to go a long way. So that is going to be kind of the last big thing to pay attention to if you want to build muscle and lose body fat at the same time. Those aren't the only things but those are the kind of the main things that you should keep in mind. And you're going to those are going to take you a long way.

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