How Do I Lose Fat and Gain Muscle at the Same Time?

Ah, the age-old question: How do I lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? Some say it’s impossible. We say anything is possible! 

The process of losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time is called body recomposition (or, often in the world of gym-goers, recomp). Body recomposition is desirable because it allows you to lose unwanted body fat while keeping your muscles strong and even building them to a greater extent. 

For many who simply “lose weight,” both muscle and fat are lost. Body recomposition, however, will allow you to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. 

How Do I Lose Fat?
The process of losing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously is not easy, but it is simple. To lose fat, we have to eat in a caloric deficit. What does this mean? 

Eating in a caloric deficit is the act of ingesting fewer calories than you put out. Doing so requires you to calculate how many calories you are burning (the “put out”) and how many calories you are taking in through your ingestion of food and drink. 
In order to calculate how many calories you are burning, it is recommended to utilize a TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculator. This will tell you your TDEE, or how many calories you burn in a day through your metabolism and the activities you perform. 

Take your TDEE and subtract 300-500. The resulting number is your calorie goal for each day. How do you reach that calorie goal? By tracking your food and drink, you can ensure that you stay within your goal. 

This will be much easier to stick with if you eat high volume, low-calorie foods, drink plenty of water, and get enough protein (which we’ll talk more about in a minute). 

How do I Gain Muscle? 
Gaining muscle requires four things: lifting heavy, recovery periods, consuming enough protein, and drinking enough water. Lifting heavy tears your muscles down, recovery periods rebuild them, and the building blocks of this process are…you guessed it! Protein and water. 

But what constitutes “enough” protein and water? And how long should my recovery periods be? 

When tracking your protein consumption, you will want to set your goal at about one gram of protein equal to every pound of your body weight (or two grams of protein for each kilogram of body weight), with a maximum of 250 grams of protein. For example, this means that a 150-pound person should be setting their protein goal at around 150 grams. 

In reference to water consumption, your goal should be to drink about half of an ounce, up to one ounce, of water per pound equating to your body weight. 

Your recovery periods need to be long enough for your muscles to well, recover. The number of rest days you will need varies by age, but we recommend lifting weights no more than five days per week in your prime, with those who are older doing so no more than two days per week. 

Following these principles, you will lose fat and gain muscle at the same time! We’ll have you looking like a chiseled Greek god in no time.